Ricoh CX1 Review (Updated 5/4/2009)

Ricoh’s CX1 features unique new kit that combine to help create what seems to be a very special digital compact, but is it any good? Doug Harman Investigates in this the CX1's Best4Reviews test.

The Ricoh CX1 is a neat and undoubtedly well-made compact; an all metal camera that oozes build quality even if it looks otherwise unremarkable. The cameras (I had the black liveried version) has a rather simple control layout that belies an underlying complexity.

On the top, a small mode dial perched on the rear corner joins a small on/off button and a combined zoom control and shutter button. The lens zoom lever controls the excellent 28-200mm (35mm equivalent) lens that has a respectable F/3.3 to F/5.2 maximum aperture range and provides a pin sharp set of optics that help get the most from the first of the CX1’s stand out features…

The camera’s specially designed 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor has an effective 9.29MP resolution and beats at the heart of series of specially developed technologies to help provide better quality images. To start, there’s a new image engine, the Smooth Imaging Engine IV that combines with the new sensor to give high-speed image processing for up to 4fps shooting – that’s as good as some entry level DSLRs.

It can also shoot in an “enhanced” continuous mode that provides VGA sized images at up to 120fps. These images are combined into one final Multi-Picture Format image. An M-Continuous Shooting Plus mode joins these high-speed snapping systems and provides a way to shoot images at 15fps or 30fps, the camera storing the one or two seconds worth of frames just prior to removing your finger from the shutter release.

The screen stays active throughout these fast paced shooting modes, so you can pan with fast moving action although the LCD refresh rate is reduced. Ricoh’s high-speed shooting system works very well, with a caveat that the image file size DROPs to only 2MP in order to achieve such speeds.

Another feature developed for the CX1 is the rather tongue twisting Dynamic Range Double Shot Mode, or simply (and thankfully) DR. DR is designed to boost the camera’s effective dynamic range – something often seen as the Achilles heel of digital cameras – to around 12EV, at least according to Ricoh. In essence, the system works by combining two images (or rather, the properly exposed portions of two images) shot at different exposures, one biased to the highlights, the other shadows.

An obvious downside of DR is immediately evident if you try this hand held, or with moving subjects, the combined image is blurred. It’s only really effective on static subjects that are shot using a support such as a tripod. The clever (and I believe) unique bit about this feature, however, is Ricoh’s boffins developed an algorithm that compensates for overexposure within the green segments of the R, G, B, Bayer colour filter matrix (green allows more wavelengths of light through than the red and blue sectors of the matrix) used to reconstruct colour in the images. By re-calculating lost green values from surrounding blue and red sections of the Bayer filter colour is much improved.

The CX1 has a dedicated processor for this, so it does not slow image capture or image processing and it is always active and can be used in the DR mode, on two images (as described above) to give a much more dramatic boost if needed. Another big plus for those needing high quality images, is this system works without changes to the effective sensitivity and so, as such, does not have the adverse problem of increasing noise within shot images.

The CX1’s white balance control has also had a significant tweak, Multi-Pattern Auto White Balance. The camera can define the “correct” white balance (WB) for each section of the image and fit the white balance to the proper level for each zone within the image.

This is great for fill-flash work on, say, portraits where you have mixed lighting, with or without flash, and you still have the “normal” presets to choose between such as sunlight, cloudy and shadows; plus a very simple-to-set manual WB setting via a single press of the display button on the camera’s back, once selected from the menus.

And I’ll delve more into the menus shortly, as they’re rather daunting at first glance, in the meantime though the next feature of note is the focus system. The AF is very good on the CX1, a multi-AF set up works well and will pick a range of options within a complex scene to give a correct focus range or, you can pick a single (central for example) focus point if preferred.

Alternatively there’s a Multi-Target AF mode that shoots seven quick-fire images, with a variety of focus points based on elements within he scene, and you can then choose the most appropriately focused image. Ricoh recommends this focus mode for macro work and given the excellent 1cm closest focus point available, it can help get the correct focus point if you don’t have the time to set up on a tripod, for example.

Metering modes on offer include multi, centre-weighted and spot metering, each is very good on the CX1, in fact exposure control overall is excellent, particularly given exposure compensation can be quickly accessed via the ADJ(ust)/OK button on the back as well.

This ADJ(ust)/OK button is in fact a mini joystick control and while a little fiddly to use, also provides fast access to WB, resolution, ISO and focus controls; adding to the camera’s armoury, you also have an auto exposure bracketing mode and there’s even flash exposure compensation too.

Other back plate controls include a Fn (or function) button that can be assigned up to 11 separate functions, from Macro focus point selection to WB bracketing or limiting a minimum aperture that can be used by the camera.

Another very useful tool I loved, is a digital spirit level that uses a small graph-style indicator on the screen to show whether the camera’s perfectly horizontal or vertical and helps greatly when trying to get horizons straight in landscapes, for example; it is another excellent handling bonus on such a svelte camera.

All this complexity is reached via menus presented in two large lists, one for camera settings and one for set up and control. The very detailed menus are easy to read, thanks largely to the stunning 3-nch LCD and its high-resolution, 920,000-pixels.

The menu lists look rather daunting, as there’s a lot to go through with many many options available and while the more enthusiast user will not be put off, most point and shoot users will gulp loudly as they dip in, should something simple need tweaking, such as date and time settings.

In terms of image quality, the CX1 is extremely good indeed with (perhaps) over saturated colour out of the box being a slight niggle. Sensitivity is usually the key to image quality, or rather noise at higher ISOs. For the CX1, things are fine below ISO 400, at ISO 800 noise is obvious and at the top ISO 1600 setting, as expected, noise is very intrusive.

But, interestingly, detail does not suffer as I’d expected, it seems the way the new image processing works is to preserve detail even if that means more visible noise in the final shot. Yes, images do look very noisy at the top two settings, but the film-grain like quality at least allows you to make a more (arguably) creative decision on its inclusion should the high ISO modes be your only option, particularly pertinent given there’s no optical image stabilisation of offer here.

On the flip side, detail could be retained more effectively in lower ISO shots, where there appears to be a slight smoothing effective, the default sharpness is a bit on the conservative side. Nevertheless, overall, the image quality, metering, focus and WB set up are excellent and the new image processing designed to pull detail out of highlights, does actually work, it really does help get the most from more subtle tones within highlights and boost detail within shadows.

• (Ricoh has now also announced the launch of a dedicated CX1 website – www.ricohcx1.co.uk ( click here ). Ricoh says is designed to be: "...a source of key information for the CX1...").