ricoh

One of my legs is shorter than the other so I frequently find the pictures I take are a little crooked, unless, of course, I'm standing on a slight grade. The newly announced 10-megapixel Ricoh R10 would solve my problem (well, the cockeyed photos at least; not my legs) as it borrows a feature from 2007's GR DIGITALII and the GX200 launched this July--an electronic level indicator on the camera's 3.0-inch LCD. An acceleration sensor lets you know when you're tilting, so you can straighten out your shots before you click the shutter.

The R10 … Read more

Ricoh has announced the second firmware upgrade to its 10MP GR Digital II 28mm single focal length compact camera, launched last November. This update, version 2.10, offers several function-enhancing changes.

Added is the option to finely adjust white balance color tones. It's now possible to specify noise reduction processing based on ISO sensitivity. You now have the ability to automatically shift aperture value in aperture priority mode. Now when the ISO is set to auto and you press the shutter button halfway, the selected ISO sensitivity will be displayed. There is also a more detailed information display when … Read more

If the question "Where am I?" is a recurring issue for you, Ricoh has added a feature to its GPS-ready digital camera that you may want to check out.

The Ricoh 500SE GPS camera now includes something called an SE-3 GPS module, a three-axis compass developed by Honeywell that nails down the position and direction (azimuth), then displays it on the camera's LCD.

The data, in the form of point coordinates, is embedded into an image as it is captured.

This gives the user a 3D "cones-of-view" perspective, indicating the direction the camera was facing. … Read more

Ricoh continues inching its way back into the U.S. market, this time with an update to its Caplio GX100 point-and-shoot camera, the GX200. The real distinguishing characteristic of the GX models is the 24-72mm-equivalent 3x zoom lens; 24mm is a fairly wide-angle view for a snapshot model.

The GX200 isn't a huge upgrade over the GX100; basically, it's got a higher-resolution 12-megapixel sensor compared with the GX100's 10-megapixel CCD, and it sports a slightly larger, higher-resolution 2.7-inch LCD, versus 2.5 inches for the GX100. Ricoh claims its updated image-processing engine, Smooth Imaging Engine III, … Read more

After a several-year hiatus, Ricoh re-entered the U.S. digital camera market last year with the GR Digital II. That camera should feel a bit less lonely on the shelves now that Ricoh has announced another U.S.-bound model: the R8.

The compact R8 uses a 1/2.3-inch 10-megapixel CCD and features a relatively slow but relatively wide f/3.3-5.2 28mm-200mm-equivalent 7.5x zoom lens. It also incorporates CCD-shift image stabilization and a somewhat high-resolution 460,000-pixel 2.7-inch LCD display. Although it offers the ability to select your autofocus/autoexposure target point, it lacks aperture- … Read more

Ricoh announced its GR Digital II this week, the second-generation digital model in an unusual camera family geared for landscape specialists and enthusiasts with similar photographic needs.

Unlike virtually all other compact cameras sold these days, the GR Digital II's lens has a fixed focal length, the equivalent of 28mm on a 35mm film camera. The new six-element lens emphasizes sharpness and contrast, and has a maximum aperture of f/2.4, the company said. Other differences from the 8-megapixel predecessor include the new GR Engine II image-processing chip, a resolution bump to 10 megapixels, and the ability to … Read more

Ricoh may not be the best-known name in the camera business, and you won't find the Caplio R7 in Argos. But we've been excited about the R7 since first hearing about it, and now we've got our hands on one we think it may be worth you tracking down. We also decided to put on our investigative journalism hat (the one we wear when browsing Wikipedia--it has "PRESS" written on it) and find out more about the Japanese company.

Ricoh was founded in 1936. It's now best known for making photocopiers. Fact!

The R7 … Read more

Update: This posting previously included an incorrect picture next to a caption. It has been replaced by the intended photograph of the Canon PowerShot G7.

In the course of writing a story about compact cameras that have some characteristics of higher-end SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras, I informally tested some cameras to see how they fared.

The bad news is that I was a bit disappointed, though I recognize the impossibility of affordably reproducing the full abilities of a bulky, big-sensor SLR in a pocket-size package.

The good news is that there's progress on the horizon. In the month since … Read more

Camera makers can be pretty cagey about their future plans--maybe they don't want to undermine sales of products with such a fleeting shelf life--so it can be frustrating to try to find out who's interested in meeting the demand for high-end compact cameras that cater to the SLR (single-lens reflex) crowd.

One company that's trying its best to fill that niche is Ricoh, a Japanese manufacturer in the shadow of giants such as Canon and Nikon. But Ricoh has been trying to lure high-end compact camera buyers with its GX100, a 10-megapixel compact camera that features a … Read more