Ricoh's compact cameras have consistently impressed with their image quality and classy features.

They can shoot at extreme wide angle, which is handy for group portraits or landscapes; or in low light at full resolution to avoid the bleaching effects of flash.

The 7.24-megapixel Ricoh Capilo R5 offers both options with its 7.1x wide-angle zoom (equivalent to a 28-200mm lens in 35mm camera terms) plus high ISO1600 sensitivity.

Unfortunately, the attendant bugbears of a long-ish zoom and low-light shooting are camera shake (blurry shots) and image noise (grainy images).

Ricoh has attempted to get around the former by building in vibration correction, and the latter with a new technology called the Smooth Imaging Engine II.

Coming after Ricoh's superb GR Digital, the R5's build feels slightly disappointing, being mainly plastic with a hint of metal. However, with rechargeable battery and optional SD (Secure Digital) memory card inserted the R5 is weighty enough to withstand a few knocks in the heat of the action.

Impressively, it powers up in just over a second and the previously hidden lens immediately extends to maximum wide angle.

To get closer to your subject use the zoom lever at the rear, which is very responsive, despite being small, while the mechanics of the lens are noisy.

The recessed power button avoids accidental activation, but it must be the smallest we've seen on a digital camera, while the function buttons to the rear are miniscule and fiddly.

We did have a problem with the camera freezing up on occasion, though we'll put this down to an early production glitch.

While evenly exposed results can be achieved with the R5, images taken at extreme telephoto were occasionally soft, despite the vibration correction feature, with performance obviously best in bright conditions - and the former corrected with use of a tripod.

However the camera's noisy lens, buttons that are too small with a plastic feel all mean it falls short of the high standards set by its forebears. Still, if you shoot a mix of close-ups and wide angles, the R5's keen pricing could make it worth a look.

Also consider
Fujifilm Finepix F30
Overall: Low light sensitivity up to ISO3200 at full resolution puts this 6-megapixel camera in a class of its own.
Rating: 4/5
Price: £280

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