Digital Lifestyle has reviewed the Ricoh Caplio R4 which is very tastefully designed and has an impressive 28-200mm equiv, F3.3-4.8, 7.1x optical zoom lens. The camera is pretty simple to use and doesn’t disappoint when it comes to image quality and features. However banding was visible at times and the recessed on/off control is awkward to activate.

The Ricoh Caplio R4 when comes to features is a clear winner. It packs a 7.1x optical wide zoom, (28-200 mm, 35 mm equiv), image stabilization, 6 mega pixels CCD and big LCD monitor quite effortlessly in its compact body. It has a large and bright 2.5" LCD 253k pixels screen and offers auto scene modes like portrait, sports, landscape, night scene and text. There is also a unique skew correction mode' which detects the trapezoids in images and corrects the perspective. The image stabilization is present to avoid camera shake especially in telephoto modes. It includes an internal memory of 256 MB which can be expanded via SD Cards and movie clips can be recorded too.

This is what the website had to say about the camera “The mid-range digital compact market is already saturated with some heavyweight contenders, but we feel the Ricoh's compelling feature set, image stabilization and enormous lens makes it a camera worthy of anyone's shortlist. Although we did have one or two problems with banding, we were won over by the R4's speedy operation, easy-to-understand controls and comfortable handling. Most of all, we loved having a proper wide-angle zoom, with the 28mm setting adding real versatility to the camera - now you won't have to herd your friends together into impossibly tight spaces when taking group shots. Add to that the impressive 200mm telephoto range and the user-friendly controls all wrapped up in a pocket sized package and we think that Ricoh's got a winner on its hands with the R4”