Ricoh Caplio GX Review



Record Mode Screens & Menus
The screen display in the Automatic record mode. Icons across the top indicate that
the flash is disabled, there is a SD card in the camera, Auto record mode. The red hand
indicates the shutter speed its too slow to handhold the shot without blurring.
The image size is 2592 (5-megapixels), quality is Fine and there's
space left on the SD card to take 226 more pictures. On the bottom is the zoom lens
slide gauge, the battery condition icon and the aperture and shutter speed.
The green crosshairs indicate a good auto focus lock.
Aperture-Manual exposure mode allows you to select both the shutter speed and aperture for
the exposure. In the Aperture mode you can select one of three aperture settings
(Open, halfway, minimum) with the sub command dial and the camera will match a
shutter speed automatically.
In the lower right corner is the realtime histogram display, it is enabled by
pressing the DISP button.
For full Manual exposure you select a shutter speed from the menu (1/2000, 1/1000, 1/500,
1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, 4, 8, 15 or 30 secs.) and select
the aperture with the sub command dial. An onscreen exposure guide is displayed to
help you select the proper settings whenever the shutter is half-pressed.
In Auto, Aperture or Manual mode you press the ADJust button to set the exposure
compensation, white balance or ISO speed. These can also be set via the menu.
Auto, Aperture, Manual mode MENU options:
FOCUS - Auto, Manual, Snap, Infinity PHOTOMETRY - Multi, Center, Spot SHARPNESS - Sharp, Normal, Soft CONT. MODE - Off, Continuous, S-Continuous, M-Continuous (records 16 images in 3 secs. and saves as a single image) AUTO BRACKET - Off, On, White balance bracketing MANUAL EXPOSURE - Off, 1/2000 - 30 secs shutter speed INTERVAL - Time-lapse recording delay IMAGE WITH SOUND - Enable/disable sound with still image capture DATE IMPRINT - Off, date, or time EXPOSURE COMP. - Override metering +/-2.0EV in 0.3 steps WHITE BALANCE - Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Manual ISO SETTING - Auto, 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 APERTURE SETTING - Open, Half, Minimum RESTORE DEFAULTS - Return all settings to default
The SCENE exposure mode gives you access to six pre-programmed modes for taking pictures
in normally difficult situations. Shown here is the High Sensitivity mode, the camera
sets the ISO speed to 1600 and the color LCD "gains up" to help you frame in very
dim lighting. This is an illuminated subwoofer speaker that is under my computer desk.
the room was dark except for the blue light inside the speaker.
When you turn the mode dial to SCENE this is the menu that lets you select which of the
scene modes you want to use. Once in Scene mode you push the 4-way controller "up" to
access this menu to change to another scene mode.
Scene mode MENU options:
FOCUS - Auto, Manual, Snap, Infinity IMAGE WITH SOUND - Enable/disable sound with still image capture DATE IMPRINT - Off, date, or time EXPOSURE COMP. - Override metering +/-2.0EV in 0.3 steps WHITE BALANCE - Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Manual
The focus mode is selectable between Auto, Manual, Snap and Infinity. Shown here is the manual focus mode, you adjust focus with the "up" and "down" buttons. The image can be enlarged by pressing the OK button.
The Snap focus mode gives you a large depth of field so most everything from close to
distant will be in focus and eliminates the auto focus delay for nearly instantaneous
shutter release time. Infinity is good for landscapes or open-sky pictures where the
auto focus would often fail otherwise.
Press the DISP button to toggle between no overlay info, overlay info, info + histogram
or these framing grids.
The GX has a very respectable macro focusing mode. The Macro focus range is from 1cm (0.4
in.) to infinity in Wide angle or from 8cm (3.2 in.) to infinity in Telephoto.
The GX can record movie clips with audio at 15 frames per second in 320x240 resolution for
up to 80 seconds or 160x120 resolution for up to 5 minutes. Movie clips are recorded in
Motion JPEG format and saved as AVI files.
Movie mode MENU options:
FOCUS - Auto, Manual, Snap, Infinity WHITE BALANCE - Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Manual
The GX can also record sound only. The length of sound that can be recorded depends on how much memory you have. |
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