I am in no way a photographic prodigy. I can just about point and click successfully. So I jumped at the chance to test out Ricoh’s CX4 Digital Camera, as it’s pitched at just my level. It has auto pretty much everything as well as some cool features to fiddle with. Read on to find out how it fared…
Review
Lets start with a quick whip through the specs, then we can get to the good stuff.
The CX4 is an upgrade to the not-so-long-ago-released CX3. It boasts a 10.7x reach (ranging from a 35mm equivalent 28mm at its widest setting to 300mm at the maximum zoom). You get 10-megapixel resolution from a back-illuminated 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor which apparently makes for increased light gathering. As well as photos shot in a range of creative modes (more on them in a min) you can also film HD video. All of this can be viewed on a 3-inch, 920k-dot resolution LCD screen at the back end. You can extend the internal memory with a SD card.
If all of that sounds a bit complicated then don’t worry. There’re also some features which make life easier for the novice photographer. My favourite of these is the spirit level across the bottom which lets you know if your photo will come out straight or wonky – a life saver for posed shots. There is also a subject tracking auto focus which aims to reduce blur on fast moving objects, making it great for sports photography. And there’s a even a specific scene mode for taking pictures of your cat. Everything is accessable with the swivel of a wheel, tap of a joystick, or press of a button. And there’s an auto select scene mode for those who just don’t get it, preventing unnecessary worry about ruined once in a life time photos.
All impressive specs you have to admit. But how does it actually hold up in person? Or in gadget anyway.
My first impression on opening the box was that it was prettier than expected. Ricoh have been criticized for making blocky boring cameras (the CX4 has also been released in pink to show that they can be a little bit wacky). And yes, it isn’t going to win any design awards I have to admit. But it’s light weight, functional with a clear screen and it looks like it won’t suffer from being chucked in the bot
tom of bag. Arguably what you want from a camera aimed at the travel market. The only design quibbles I have are that the joystick is fiddly and unobvious (my father stole the camera briefly and quickly gave it back when he couldn’t work out how to flick through the pictures), and that there could be a bit more in the way of grip on the front side.
Whatever design flaws it may or may not have are banished from your mind on taking your first photo. I was just messing about with the standard auto selected scene and was amazed how easy it was the frame and focus a decent looking shot. You can pull up a grid on screen to help center your subject, and the aforementioned spirit level helps keep things on the straight and narrow. Then simply push the capture button in half way to focus and click. Voila! And the zoom is fantastic – objects across the room in my flat (which I have trouble seeing without glasses) were suddenly as in my face as the X Factor. Except less unwanted of course.
So nicely posed photographs are simple to do and come out looking nifty. This isn’t inherently impressive though, so I put it through it’s paces at my other half’s TaeKwonDo Club, to test out the heavily touted blur reduction. As you can see from the photos below, even faces photographed during a full pace staff routine were kept mostly in focus (and the blur from the staff itself just adds to the effect).
At this point I also decided to test out some of the creative shooting modes (also used earlier on my willing model, Grey Donkey). The CX4 doesn’t just take nice clear photos, oh no. It can make us all look that little bit artistic. Modes include Dynamic Range (two photos combined to record a greater range of tones), Miniaturize (objects look like miniatures – works best taken from a high angle), High Contrast Black and White (for a gritty ‘Sin City’ look), Soft Focus (for a romantic look), Cross Process (for a messing-up-the-colours look) and Toy (which reproduces photographs similar to those taken with toy cameras).
These modes are fun to experiment with (you can see an example of each above) and do give some nice looking results. It probably isn’t a function most casual photographers will use, but is a great way to add a little bit of extra dimension to otherwise boring holiday photos – for example, using the Miniaturize mode to photograph buildings.
My final test came at the Sheffield Arena, during a production of Lord of the Dance. I was sat probably as far as it is possible to get from the stage. Even with the screens showing live video feed I couldn’t really make out things like faces (never mind feet) on the fast paced Irish dancers. Not a problem for the CX4. Even at full zoom the pictures came out clear as day, and that blur reduction really worked over time to crystallise the moment.
The Gaj-it Verdict
Design: 6/10
Usability: 9/10
Features: 8/10
Value: 7/10
We Say…
Averaging out at a price of £250, the Ricoh CX4 can be seen as a high priced basic camera, or a low priced sophisticated camera. It’s a fair price for a camera which will do as much or as little as you like. I felt like I actually had some degree of talent using it – of course, the fact that the auto-everything was doing most of the work is irrelevant! Don’t be put off if you’re a knowledgeable photographer though. It might not be in the same league as some of the all singing all dancing cameras, but Ricoh’s CX4 can more than hold it’s own.
Photos are from the Ricoh website or taken by the author. Thanks to Charyu TaeKwonDo, Pontefract.
Further info available at Alpha Digital Services.
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