Review: Ricoh Caplio R6 digital camera

It was only last September that Ricoh announced the 7.1x optical zoom, vibration reduction-equipped R5 compact.

But already it has been usurped by the R6, which not only has trendy face-recognition technology, but is claimed to be “the world’s thinnest camera (with wide-angle 7.1x optical zoom and at its thinnest point)”.

Riders aside, the R6 appears a svelte and sprightly beast, the zoom barrelling out of a reassuringly solid housing in less than a second.

The 2.7in LCD at rear is ghosting-free, although it suffers under bright sunlight, but there’s no complaint about rapidity of autofocus. There is a slight pause when an image is captured, but the camera’s ready for the next frame in less than a second.

As is common to compact digicams, there's a host of scene modes, one of the more intriguing being Skew Correction. Take a shot of a scene with converging verticals or horizontals, and the camera will straighten them up without recourse to Photoshop’s perspective transform.

Because of the LCD’s sheer size, the R6’s on-body controls are miniscule and the flash is situated right below the over-feisty zoom lever surrounding the shutter button. That said, layout is logical, even if the selector switch between standard, scene and custom-configurable My Modes is tricky to use accurately.

Image quality is commendable, with a moderate amount of digital noise appearing at higher ISO values.

However, the small but powerful zoom induces little distortion, such aberrations as purple fringing along high-contrast edges are mercifully absent - perhaps a nod to the in-camera processing. Face recognition is a welcome and effective bonus.

The Ricoh R6 is one of the more capable compacts currently available, and its lens range makes it more flexible than most, but those with large fingers will struggle with the controls.