The Ricoh Caplio R4 is a minor update to the Ricoh Caplio R3, with a higher resolution 6 megapixel sensor, a higher resolution screen, and longer battery life. I suspect that there have been more improvements made in the background as the camera seems quicker in operation, and I’ve been more impressed with image quality this time, particularly with the rich colours and good exposure.
The Ricoh Caplio R4 is a stylish digital camera with a wide angle 7.1x optical zoom lens packed into a very compact metal body. The 6 megapixel camera features a 2.5″ screen and built in vibration correction - this helps produce blur free photos in low light or at full zoom. When using the camera you do need to be careful that ISO isn’t set to AUTO, otherwise you’ll end up with high noise in photos, but if you can manage to stick to ISO64 or IS100 then you should end up with some great photos - despite the camera having more megapixels - noise doesn’t seem higher than the R3.
If having a lot of zoom power in a very compact camera is a priority then this is definitely worth considering. Ricoh are to be commended for innovation in providing such a large amount of zoom with image stabilsation in such a small and speedy camera. The Ricoh Caplio R4 is well worth considering as there are very few alternate digital cameras that offer so much, at such a competitive price.