I’ve been following Ricoh’s digital camera development with interest for a number of years. The first digital camera I ever owned was a Ricoh RDC-5000 back in 1999. It was one of the first 2.3-megapixel cameras to be launched, and at the time it was the most compact and powerful digital camera on the market.
Of course by today’s standards it resembles a housebrick with a lens, and could eat a set of four AA batteries in about 20 minutes, but even then it had some innovative features that we now take for granted, such as a metal body, an automatic lens cover, a USB port and 4cm macro focusing. Ricoh has continued to innovate and improve over the years, and its products have seldom been far from the cutting edge of digital camera design. Models such as the Caplio R3, the R5 and the excellent R6 launched earlier this year have all scored high marks in reviews, although they never seem to get the market share they deserve. It must be down to poor advertising, because in terms of quality and capability Ricoh’s cameras are a match for the very best of the competition.
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