The new Caplio RR30 is friendly digital camera for hobbyists who want to take quality photographs with minimal photography knowledge.
The Caplio RR30's tidy design makes it look more like a conventional camera with curves and wheel selectors rather than the box-like looks and clunky buttons of many digital cameras. At a closer inspection the silver and black camera has some nice features that you might expect to see in more high end digital cameras on the market. Added to that the ability to capture video with sound and you have a very attractive mid-priced camera indeed.
The Caplio features a 3.34 megapixel CCD with a 10.2x zoom, comprised of a 3x optical zoom and 3.4x digital zoom. The camera can capture still JPEG images at resolutions from 2048x1536 to 640x120. Video can be recorded in AVI format at either 320x240 or 160x120 resolution. The one thing we found most impressive with the Caplio was the shutter speed. With most digital cameras in this price range there's a very noticeable delay between shots as the image is processed. The Caplio has a claimed shutter response speed of 0.22 seconds inbetween shots, and in our testing it bore this out. Combine that with the capability to take 16 shots in a 2 second period and the RR30 is effectively instantaneous for most users.
Taking pictures in different formats is something that Ricoh have made easy for enthusiasts with six predefined modes including portrait shots, action shots, landscape shots, night shots, capture text shots, and high sensitivity mode. That's great for new users, although those who favour more manual tweaking features may want to look elsewhere.
The internal memory of 8MB is relatively small and you'll have to buy a SD memory card if you plan to take more than a few pictures or a small video. The Ricoh RR30 supports SD cards up to 256MB.
The Caplio RR30 supports either standard AA alkaline batteries -- as long as you like watching batteries drain fast -- as well as a rechargeable lithium-ion battery included in the package. The Li-Ion battery lasted longer than the two weeks we had to test the camera, which is a good sign, although it does take eight hours to charge up fully. Ricoh also recommend that users do not leave batteries out of the camera for more than two weeks as you risk losing the camera´s internal settings.
While the supplied transfer software wasn't as friendly as the camera itself, transfers via USB were relatively quick. The pictures taken in a variety of formats were surprisingly good and made our rather amateurish photography skills look almost professional. The video footage captured was very shaky, however the camera does have a port to hold a tripod for stability. The Caplio RR30 also supports output to television if slideshows are your thing, or if you don't have a PC handy.
Overall the Caplio RR30 would most suit those looking to make fast, quality pictures who don´t have the time for manual settings.
Ricoh Caplio RR30
Company: Ricoh Australia
Price: AU$799
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1300 363 741
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Ricoh Caplio RR30 camera