RICOH CX1 REVIEW (by NickBland)

[Chris Dennehy]

It is interesting to see a review by somebody who has access to one of the biggest guns around (Nikon D3) and who is perfectly happy to use a camera powered by a sensor which is miniscule - size wise- compared to full frame.

It is also interesting to note the opinion that there is quite an amount of room for maneuvering on jpegs - something which I have noted in Aperture - and that Raw is not an absolute essential for everyday photography - but useful more as a backup for difficult lighting conditions.

Thank You

CD

[Nevin]

I just noticed this extensive review by you, Nick. Thank you. I would have bought the CX1 much sooner if I read this earlier. I am rounding up my user's impression of the CX1 tomorrow. I'll see if I can add any observations of mine here.

The CX1 is squarely targeted at advanced users. Just look at the pages of the user's instruction.

[Nevin]

At long last, my conclusion on the CX1 done some weeks ago:

Strengths of CX1

Manual Controls: The CX1 is of the pedigree of Ricoh's higher grade cameras in terms of functionality, which is of course offered at a reduced fashion. Take for example, the white balance correction can only be done via in-camera post-processing instead of application to the image at the time of shooting. That's fair to me. The customisable Fn, quick menu and MY settings are not ornamental but really work. The elbowroom to tune the EV, flash output, slower shutter speed and minimum aperture is good news for serious compact users, who are mainly control freaks like me.

Lens: The 28mm widest focal length is without little barrel distortion. The longest zoom at 200mm offers sharp (but cannot be said crisp – well this is a P&S after all) optical quality in images as we saw yesterday. I haven't noticed any flare issue. Anything beyond 200mm is not usually necessary under most shooting occasions. And I bet that the users will find composition awkward with a longer zoom lens except for special works, say, photographing birds. I would be wise about money and probably get the CX1 instead of the CX2 or a camera of other brands with a similar longer lens.

Ergonomics: The quick menu and the customisable functions add to the smooth ADJ jog stick to give a fairly pleasant user's experience. The camera may feel a wee bit oversized for a lady's hand (but depending on how big or small the hand is) but just right for most men. The built is solid. The CX1 can require the thumb and the index finger only to operate. It is a responsive beast in terms of start-up and focusing.

Image Quality: Good enough up to ISO400. As we saw in the bushwalking post, the CX1's images fare quite well even up to ISO1600. The multi-segmented white balance is a gem of the camera, successful in reducing whiteout areas in the images. The DR function is very useful for pushing up the EV coverage for the more contrasty scenes, making the final images look better overall.

Others: There are other functions I haven't tested, mainly, the array of continuous shooting and focusing modes. The skew correction mode and the test mode are inherited from the GRDs and GXs, which have been proved useful. The electronic level is what you will wish for in every camera. The 920k LCD display is in the class of Sony's A850, about which Ricoh is really generous. The display is coated with a anti-grease paint, which really save it dirty finger prints even after almost two months by now.

Weaknesses

There is not really much I complain about the CX1. Two tedious points.

First, the arrangement of modes on the Mode Dial should be improved, which is Auto, MY1, MY2, Video, Scene, Easy (Fire-and-Forget shooting), Continuous, DR (,back to Auto).

Since the digital macro and skew correction options are inside the Scene mode, which are more commonly used than the DR mode, the Scene mode should be swapped with the DR. In this way, the users can be spared repeated turning of the dial from one end (Auto) to another (Scene). After all, those who use the Easy mode is less likely to bother about turning the dial to use other modes. And the DR mode is used for specific scenes and on a tripod. It is usually selected before powering up the camera. Therefore, the chance of users turning from other modes to the DR mode is minimal.

Second, the tripod mount is integrated with the door to the battery/ card slot. When dismounting a tripod, the door will be accidently opened. It happens all the time.

Another minor point is that the CX1 retains the mechanical characteristic of Ricoh's camera: a more audible noise of the camera's mechanical operations. It is not loud enough to be a nuisance. But just in case you're new to Ricoh, now you know.

In case you care about the full review: http://ricoh-gx.blogspot.com/2009/09/links-to-ricoh-cx1-review.html