Ricoh Caplio R7 Digital Point & Shoot Camera, 8mp, with 7.1x Optical Zoom, 4.8x Digital Zoom, 2.7" LCD Display - Black Finish - U.S.A. Warranty

by Ricoh

Product Details

• Item Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• ASIN: B000W6AUUM
• Item model number: R7
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,255 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 28, 2005

Product Description

new Caplio R7 digital camera. With a new image processing engine and a 7.1x optical wide zoom lens (28-200 mm in 35 mm camera format) mounted on a slim body only 20.6 mm at its thinnest point, the Caplio R7 takes digital photography to an even higher level of image quality. The new Caplio R7 is the successor model to the award winning Caplio R6, which earned high popularity for its slim body, wide-angle zoom lens, vibration correction, and face recognition mode. Retaining the best features of earlier models, the Caplio R7 further enhances the line's established reputation for high image quality with the introduction of: (1) Smooth Imaging Engine III, a new image processing engine capable of even more sophisticated image processing, and (2) an effective 8.15 megapixel CCD for outstanding results. In addition, the Caplio R7 makes a variety of other evolutionary advances in fun and easy photography with enhanced usability for its unique ADJ. (Adjust) button function, which makes it easy to set exposure compensation and white balance, and the introduction of brightness and color-tone correction functions, which enable still image brightness and color tone to be adjusted in the camera after the photo is taken.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Camera is great, but buy earplugs, December 20, 2007

By 

Colin Purrington (Swarthmore, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ricoh Caplio R7 Digital Point & Shoot Camera, 8mp, with 7.1x Optical Zoom, 4.8x Digital Zoom, 2.7" LCD Display - Black Finish - U.S.A. Warranty (Electronics)

Bought it because the macro mode is great. After you hit the macro button, you can lean the camera forward until the lens hits the table to create a tripod (dipod, I guess). Then you can focus on an object as close as 1 cm away. Really is great at food photography when at a restaurant. Also bought it because it has a time lapse function, so I can document grass growing (I actually do that kind of thing). 8x optical zoom is also nice. On bad side, lens noise is almost laughably bad. A 5 year old today asked "what's wrong with your camera?" when I turned it on. The sound it makes is akin to that made when releasing the top during a game of skittles. This makes the camera too loud to use in a quiet setting like a museum where no photographs are allowed, which is too bad because I like to do that. Indoor photographs aren't great, though I might have the settings wrong -- flash seems underpowered, and noise (the pixel kind) seems to be substantial even when flash is used. I wish I could set aperture on the camera -- I think Pentax offers that, but it is a rare (perhaps unneeded) feature in point and shoots. Still, if you are used to an SLR, it feels awkward to relinquish control to the camera. Overall, I love the camera. Check out "R7" groups on flickr if you want to see what type of photographs this beast takes.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Camera Pocket size super zoom!, March 25, 2008

By 

Alex - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ricoh Caplio R7 Digital Point & Shoot Camera, 8mp, with 7.1x Optical Zoom, 4.8x Digital Zoom, 2.7" LCD Display - Black Finish - U.S.A. Warranty (Electronics)

I bought this camera after lots of research. The only thing that made me doubt was the other reviews in Amazon but I gave it a shot as all other reviews (profesional) said that it was a great camera. Just google Caplio R7 reviews!. I am very picky about cameras and have had a few. My latest camera was a Canon sd400 which I loved as it took great pictures and you could fit it in any pocket. The trouble with these small compact cameras is that they have very little zoom...well, till I found the Ricoh. It is compact, takes really great pictures and has a 7x zoom. Many here have complained that it is too noisy and to tell you the truth it is a bit noisy but not as much as I imagined it to be. The real escense of a camera is to take good pictures (colorwise). The rest is a bonus. What is the use of a camera that has 2000 gadgets but pictures come out bad. If it were an ipod I would be concerned about the noise but it is a camera and it does what a camera should do, take great pictures. Not like the sony t10 that I had that couldn't get the colors right and I could not even fix it with photoshop (it always oversaturated the blues - sony trademark). Apart from the quality of the photos (I have tried it in almost all situations) the camera has almost no shutter lag (it even has an option for snap shots that reduces shutter lag to 0). It has face detection which I havn't used that much because you have to enable it, the flash is very strong for such a compact camera which is good for night shots, it has the manual shutter speed which I love to take more artistic photographs, controls are very easy to access and you can save your favorite settings which you can access in a rush. Battery lasts forever. I'll try and upload a few pics so that you can see what this little camera can do. So far the best compact camera I have owned. If you are still not satisfied go for a Canon, they are always the safe choice.

5.0 out of 5 stars Smallest lightest 7X zoom camera with wide angle, July 5, 2008

By 

D. Brodsky - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ricoh Caplio R7 Digital Point & Shoot Camera, 8mp, with 7.1x Optical Zoom, 4.8x Digital Zoom, 2.7" LCD Display - Black Finish - U.S.A. Warranty (Electronics)

I've had Ricoh R7 for about a month. I also own Canon 40D DSLR, Fuji S6000fd, Fuji F30. I've gone through another 10-15 cameras in the last 2 years so I have something to compare to.

I replaced Panasonic TZ5 with it. Panasonic TZ5 is a larger camera which died on me within 2 weeks showing display error. Addly, Panasonic TZ5 ergonomically is not a very comfortable to hold. The lens is one side, you hold it on the other side, so center of mass is not in the middle for sure. And it will not fit into your jeans pocket, and you will always know its there if you do (relatively heavy camera.)

After I returned my TZ5 to Adorama I replaced it with Ricoh R7. I did not want Ricoh R8, because it was a larger camera with more Megapixels which I did not want due to more noise. I wanted smallest lightest camera with a lot of optical zoom and wide angle. I have Fuji F30 which is a unique legendary camera but it is not a wide angle camera. I wanted wide angle. I also wanted something that I could sneak to concerts and actually use its zoom. I cannot sneak in my Canon 40d or my Fuji S6000fd these are excellent, but huge.

I received my Ricoh R7 and it was just like I thought. It weighs 150 grams, It is very thin. It is so light you will not feel it in your pocket. My Fuji F30 is built more solid but weighs more. However, regarding the build, R7 fell from my pocket on the ground, the battery came out, but the camera was absolutely fine, just put the battery back in. Thus despite the fact that camera may look plastic, the built is ok.

Regarding the picture quality: I am used to DSLR quality so I am very picky about noise, pixelpeeping, etc. Often times I carry both my Fuji F30 and Ricoh R7 and would take pictures of same subjects from the same positions just to see whether R7 could deal with low light and other issues. Here is my conclusion. My Fuji F30 can easily do ISO800 and sometimes ISO1600 is ok. ISO3200 on Fuji is a stretch, it is too noisy. Howevever, Fuji has no image stabilization.

Ricoh R7, in addition to wide angle (meaning you can actually take picture of someone sitting at the small table across from you at the restaurant without getting up and moving back) also has Optical Image Stabilization which is great. It is so great I can do 1 second shutter speed shots with it and they come out clear and sharp. So in automatic mode you can leave Ricoh on ISO64 and ISO100 during a day. In dark conditions, or at night, you can switch it to "Night mode" and flash,and with "IS"'kicking in, you will achieve great photos with background exposed in addition to your subject. And you can hand-hold these!

BTW, this camera has 7.1X zoom at 8PM but, just like Panasonics, you can up it to around 11X when reducing to 5PM and 3PM. If you looking for a light high zoom camera with wide angle, this is on your short list.

Also it is greatly overstated how loud the lens is. My Fuji F30 is probably as loud as Ricoh R7. So that is not a problem at all for me.