It is Awful Lonely in Here!

[Ancientritual]

Back in the day when film cameras ruled the world, I had a Ricoh 35mm SLR which I was very fond of. Now fast foward to the digital world and I have yet to purchase a Ricoh digital camera. Always wanted to, but without the ability to test drive a Ricoh model I always turned my head the other way. Well yesterday after spending hours and hours of research I found one Ricoh camera the received very high reviews. When you read Superb image quality, best camera Ricoh has ever made, and no other camera in its class comes close, trickles of faith and the pursuit of finding one at a reasonable price became first priority. Found a brand new Ricoh CX1 on ebay from a top rated seller in the U.S. for a basement price. This all metal body Ricoh even has a spirit level on screen. Will take 2 pictures and fuse them together for better DR. This camera came out in march 2009 and already Ricoh has made the CX2 and CX3. From my understanding based on reviews the CX1 remains the best of the bunch. Will find out come friday. I will test this camera and post test photos. It will be going up against a Lumix FX500, TZ5, Sony H20, Cannon G9, and an Olympus E520 just to make things interesting.

[Hards80]

looking forward to seeing your test results. i have heard good things about that camera, but they remain pretty scarce and a novelty, at least here in the states.

[shoturtle]

Not in NYC, they have it on display at adorama and BH. The guys at Adorama said it is a very good camera, just that ricoh is not that well known anymore. The incamera hdr is nice. And it actually has a decent burst rate for a point and shoot.

[jjs]

I just purchased one and it arrived a few days ago. I ordered it from Popflash.com. Their prices are terrific and so was their service. So far so good. I'll be happy to post more information after I've used it a bit.

[Ancientritual]

Originally Posted by jjs

I just purchased one and it arrived a few days ago. I ordered it from Popflash.com. Their prices are terrific and so was their service. So far so good. I'll be happy to post more information after I've used it a bit.

Bought my camera from the same place with the same results. Maybe we can bring some life into this lonely Ricoh forum....

[Ancientritual]

Update:

The Ricoh CX1 arrived today. Missed the delivery yesterday due to work. This is a very small camera about the same size as a Lumix FX500. No doubt about the build quality on this camera, it is very nice. Will post some test shots NLT saturday night.
Hurry up battery charger you are taking to much time.....

[Ancientritual]

The first photo's taken with the Ricoh CX1. Charged the battery and took a hour or so to review the menu. Saved some settings and off I went. By the time I arrived in the city it was 5:30 PM. Just enough time to set up and take some scouting shots.The two pictures below are basically straight out of the camera. The only thing I did was resize the picture (requirement for this forum) and added a small amount of unsharp mask trying to duplicate the full size JPEG. All the settings in camera for contrast, sharpness, and color were at 0. Dusk and night shots are difficult for digicams and a great time to test this new camera. There is a 10 minute gap between the first one and the second. Was playing around with the WB presets on both shots. Came to a quick conclusion that custom WB will be required. I was very pleased when pixel peeping at the full size JPEGS. Will have some more within a couple of days...

[Hards80]

glad to hear first impressions were good, look forward to seeing more.

[Ancientritual]

Originally Posted by Hards80

glad to hear first impressions were good, look forward to seeing more.

Even though it was a nice day, there was a thin layer of clouds which soften the sunlight to much to test the DR mode. Saturday we are supposed to have showers in the morning followed by Tstorms late in the afternoon. If that is the case I will be reshoot the above photo. I had visions of underworld when taking that shot today. Gargoyles always remind me of storms (to many horror flicks).

[jjs]

Here are some of the first pictures I have taken with my new CX1. All camera settings are currently at the default settings.


This elevator shot was taken hand held at 1/4 sec with a 400 iso.


This winter shot was taken hand held in my backyard at 1/97 sec with a 80 iso.

I need to work more with the custom settings.
So far I find the CX1 to be extremely well made and the controls are terrific. This camera can be used as a simple point and shoot, but it is much more than that.
I am extremely happy with my purchase.