Review: Ricoh CX2 (From The Northern Echo)

Review: Ricoh CX2

4:40pm Tuesday 2nd February 2010 in

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DO you sometimes find yourself wishing you could get a little closer to the action with your camera?

Most compact cameras have a 3X optical zoom – in 35mm terms this will run from a wide angle (35mm) to a moderate telephoto (140mm).

In most cases this will be fine, but if you are ambitious both the wide end and the zoom will be a severe limitation on your creativity.

The zoom lens in the Ricoh CX 2 stretches from a wide 28mm all the way out to 300mm – that’s an incredible 10.7X, which is the sort of focal length usually reserved for prolevel SLRs. But the Ricoh packs this amazing pulling power into a smart metal body that’s barely any larger than a standard compact.

Around the back there’s an impressive 3in screen, which is highly detailed thanks to a very dense pixel count.

When you use the zoom to its fullest extent, camera shake becomes an inevitable problem. The Ricoh helps counter this with an optical image stabilisation set-up.

Better and more sophisticated than cheaper “electronic” anti-shake systems, the Ricoh’s stabilisation means the difference between a usable snap at 300mm and a blurry mess.

The sensor packs in nine mega-pixels for large prints.

Some compacts have more pixels but at high resolutions the quality of the lens is more important than the image sensor.

Don’t believe me? Enlarge a photo taken on a cheap 12M compact and compare its detail to the same scene taken on the Ricoh. I guarantee you’ll find more detail in the CX2 picture because its expensive lens is capable of resolving more of a scene.

Smaller cameras still suffer from the dreaded lag – a pause between the moment you press the shutter button and the picture is actually taken.

The CX2 impressed with its super high speed shooting modes. Thanks to a larger memory buffer, it can shoot full resolution shots at a rate of five per second – which is more than fast enough to capture the action at a kids’ party or even freeze a speeding car.

I was surprised not to find shutter speed and aperture priority modes but the Ricoh’s auto mode does such a good job you probably don’t need them.

A hot-shot attachment would also be a handy extra so you could attach a beefier external flash. But don’t be put off: the CX2 is a true photographic studio you can slip into your pocket capable of giving bulky SLRs a real run for their money.

One for the true enthusiast.