Ricoh R10 Comments

I'm a great fan of this series (succession) of cameras. Not being convinced that an ever-increasing pixel count brings any real advantage for normal shooting, I've stuck with an R4, with 7 megapixels. As a small, pocketable device, it's incredibly versatile. I've even used it for copying old photographs by daylight, and it does a very good job. My first Ricoh was its only 110 model, and this had a stunningly good f 2.8 lens, capable of sharp (if of course grainy) b/w enlargements up to full-plate. One or two were successfully used in a book I wrote.

I bought the R10 last October to replace a Ricoh RR30 which had given good service over six years. I agree with the review, it does have issues with noise and occasional odd white balance errors (in a series of images every now and again I'll get one with a bad blue colour cast). To be honest if I'd waited for the reviews I wouldn't have bought the camera. It's not all bad, in good light it performs well and even night shots are acceptable as can be seen on my Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/7944055@N08/

Cliff, you wrote "Why Ricoh didn’t switch to the excellent 1/1.75-inch sensor from the GR Digital II is a mystery." Is it? With a larger sensor, which is indeed physically better suited for low noise and/or high ISO, they couldn't have squeezed a 7.1x zoom into a body that small. However, Panasonic has proven with the TZ5 and the FZ28, that it is possible to obtain a reasonable balance of noise and detail even out of a 1/2.3 inch / 10 MP sensor, if you combine a high-quality sensor with clever processing. (Would be interesting, what Panasonic processing made out of the Ricoh sensor and vice-versa...)
Greetings! theimer

No viewfinder, , , again.
Must be a goverment edict for compacts, I can't believe the manufacturers just operate a 'Simply not an option' sort of consumer service.

I had the R6. I loved the zoom range and the ultra compact body. The menus were well designed and it had a lot of features for such a small camera. I don't think it's fair to compare it to the excellent TZ5 as that is just a bit too bulky to put in your pocket and forget about. It's not an ultra compact. I did sell my R6 due to the grain - especially noticeable on overcast days. Fine for holiday snaps (in the sun!). Got a Fujifilm f100fd now which has a decent zoom and much better sensor.

I think this camera has something special by not being perfect, a collecters item for artistic users, I made a download of pics of its competitors in another review site and the ricoh came out best for me.