Ricoh CX2 Comments

Seems like a very nice P&S to carry around! I would like to see the tilt-shift gimmick in action though, sound like a really cute feature!

If only they had an electronic finder similar to the Panasonic G1's built-in, or even an accessory electronic finder, this would be close to perfect!

Thanks for this review Cliff

I was waiting to see if this would add enough to make me pay the premium over the CX1, and I'm not quite convinced. You're going to get a massive discount on the old one now that this is out, and it still has most of the benefits of the CX2 as far as I can see. I think that's where my pennies will be going!

No HD video? To me that seems a suprising omission given this is becoming something of a standard feature on even sub-£170 cameras (Pentax P80). Am I missing something? Is HD video on a compact camera for some reason not worthwhile/desirable (due to battery/capacity/quality constraints)?

HDR: For those people who want to make their pictures look like a mushy, lurid, watercolour mess. This effect has become even more cliqued then fisheye and lomo. If I see one more picture of an interior of a cathedral with eye burning bright orange, brown and reds and I think I'll scream..

Nice camera apart from that though, Ricohs have always have a wonderful understated design.

@Noodles - You must have only seen some bad examples of HDR, then. I hate blanket statements where people proclaim HDR as some kind of Devil worship, when in reality it's just another photographic tool. I've seen people lavish praise on photos they didn't even recognise as an HDR, then when they find out they go back and try and justify how horrible and 'unnatural' it looks.

While it's quite tricky to get right, an HDR composite can offer a much truer image and appear far more natural than a single exposure where the dynamic range of the camera cannot capture the same amount of detail as a human eye can in difficult lighting conditions.

If you don't like bright colours then you need to learn to turn the saturation down a notch! ;)

@Smc8788 - You're right, I have seen some good subtle examples, used when it would have been otherwise impossible to get acceptable shots from using standard methods. And I have used them myself for this purpose. For example, interior shots to keep in window detail, and architectural shots on those hellishly overcast british summers, to prevent blown out skies.

The trouble is, and the cause of my HDR hate, is that the good images are completely swamped and near impossible to find in amongst the super saturated, eye watering shots of things that don't need to be HDR'd, like peoples pets, cars and many landscapes. Flickr is just awash with orange buildings and foaming seas, the people there simply HDR absolutely everything, regardless if it's needed or not. It's kind of like me meeting a prospective client with a portfolio of just fisheye shots, it will get old very quickly unless you only use the method for it's best purpose.

Having read this review brings me to the question what is the use of bying compacts like the LX-3 (which I own) or a Fuij ER200 with these bigger 1/1,6" sensors compared to this excellent performing CX-2. With other words 1/1,6 sensor do not make any sense!!!!!

@Noodles - some of what you refer to on Flickr is often down to people using a 'recipe' to polish their turds... no photos.

1) Boost saturation
2) Boost contrast
3) Sharpen the sh*t out of the image
4) Tweak levels using histogram to extract every last detail out of the bright/mid/dark sections.
5) Sharpen again.

The result, as you say, looks pretty artificial... perhaps the photographic equivalent of silicon implants and fake orangey tan?

@Cliff - comparing this against the Panasonic TZ7, which would you say takes the better picture?

Do the CX1/CX2 come with manual controls? I'm considering this as my first camera, and I want something to learn on which I won't grow out of too quickly.

Must echo Steven Frankels' wishes, in fact I actually don't understand how a camera can be described as point and shoot, without a viewfinder.

Hi Cliff, it's an omission or the CX2 does not have the memo sound clip (to add a memo to the shots for example when in travel you need to memorize the name of one person, one location , one monument, square etc...).
Once more I see that one important plus (in my opinion) : the remote control is completely forgotten