The follow up to the GX100 - a quality compact combining portability with full manual control.
Main Specifications :
- 12 megapixel CCD sensor with sensor based image stabilisation.
- 24-72mm zoom lens with a maximum f/2.5-4.4 aperture
- JPEG and RAW format (DNG)
- 2.7 inch LCD
- optical removable electronic viewfinder
Lens wise, landscape photographers such as myself will love the wide-angle setting, of this camera, something that is available in very few compacts. Although 72mm isnt very long it does inevitably offer better quality than a longer zoom. Ricoh also offer an optional wide angle adapter lens which provides 19mm focal length!
Also available is the TC-1 telephoto conversion lens which provides a much longer focal length of 135mm but it's important to note that the teleconverter is only designed to work at the longer focal length (zoom) settings for the camera. If you have the TC1 fitted and zoom out then there is serious vignetting.
In terms of handling and usage, the Ricoh hosts a variety of assignable and accessible buttons. Although they are not immediately easy to use, once the functions are assigned to where you want them it all becomes clear. The 'Fn1' and 'Fn2' buttons, (Fn1 on top of the camera, Fn2 on the directional pad on the back) can be assigned user-defined control, flicking between auto focus to manual focus, white balance control, ISO etc. To add to this the ADJ wheel to the rear of the camera is essentially a quick-access menu; pressing it brings up the proprietary options including exposure compensation, white balance, ISO, quality and AE/AF all for quick and easy use.
The Ricoh GX200 also has three user-defined 'MY' settings on the top rotation wheel (MY1, MY2, MY3) these are useful for setting up your preferred shooting modes for different situations. Once you're set to go and familiar with the layout it begins to come much more naturally and there's considerably less trawling through menus - which, ultimately, saves you time.
Viewfinder :
The electronic viewfinder sits in the hot shoe and gives a 100% view of the scene and menus. It also flips up to give different viewing positions. The rubber eyepiece rotates for dioptic adjustments, which is useful for those like me with less than perfect eyesight. The viewfinder is clear and bright.
If you prefer to use the monitor for composition that of the GX200 is sized at a more than respectable 2.7 inches. The screen is high quality, producing clear and sharp images and a wide viewing angle.
Other features :
- An electronic spirit level detector in the camera also tell you how accurate horizontal or vertical alignment is, assisting with hand held shooting.
- The Ricoh GX200 has the capacity to shoot up to 5 RAW frames (in Adobe DNG format) consecutively at 1.2 frames per second. After 5 frames the camera will take around 10 seconds to write all the information to the SD card.
- A rather funky lens cap made from 3 flaps that open as the lens emerges
- The close-up macro mode is very good and with objects as close as 1cm away from the lens, it's possible to auto or manually focus with ease and capture in sharp detail.
Cons :
Auto - flash :
The Ricoh GX200 offers the addition of a manual flash mode, so that the flash power can be adjusted. Whilst this offers much better flash control, auto flash fails to consider subject distance, shooting at full power and causing significant overexposure.
Noise :
Some previous Ricoh cameras have been criticised for their high noise levels, especially at higher ISO settings. Whilst the noise issue hasn't been solved by any means, the new Smooth Imaging Engine III which the company claims reduces noise without sacrificing colour saturation or image resolution, makes some improvements. From ISO 64-200 it does well, but in dimly lit conditions even ISO 400 shows presence of noise and at 1600 you might as well forget it. Incidently, upping the same-sized CCD sensor from 10.1 megapixels as found in the GX100 to 12.2 megapixels hasnt helped matters.
Conclusion :
Few people carry a DSLR everywhere, so cameras such as this are an ideal pocket alternative and the GX200 is the perfect compact for the photographer who wants something smaller for happy snaps. It manages to feel less like a digital compact and more like a real photographers camera. The 24mm wide angle is great and the macro mode very good compared to other compacts. Raw shooting in Adobe DNG and the level detector also make for some excellent features as do the manual controls. If you need a compact and want all-manual controls, then this is perhaps the best solution.
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