C to the X to the 6

Introduction

I've said it before, but it is a fact that Ricoh are bringing out cameras at a rate of knots. It seems like just yesterday I was looking at the CX2, the CX3, and the CX4, the CX5 and the PX.



We now have the CX6, with 10.7× zoom, and lens that ranges from wide-angle (28 mm) to telephoto (300 mm), with digital zoom on top of that (with resulting loss of quality of course!) An improved hybrid AF system (first introduced on the CX5) now has focusing times as fast as 0.1 seconds.

A new LCD screen is approximately 1.7 times brighter than the previous model and aperture/shutter-speed priority modes have been added alongside a button to shoot video, with a wider range of functions available when filming.

In Use

Easy to use, like all of the other cameras in the range. It has a lot of modes, most of which I've encountered before on other cameras in the CX range, as well as some modes seen on the PX model (although annoyingly not all of them).

Some of the most interesting modes - night landscape multi-shot, dynamic range, a toy camera mode (which produces nice pinhole style effects), the usual miniaturisation mode, a bleach bypass mode, a cross process mode and the high contrast black and white mode.



The dedicated sepia mode from the PX range has gone, so once again you have to create it yourself and save it as one of the "My" modes. Not too much hassle to do this, just a shame that the firmware doesn't keep adding in modes rather than swapping them between models.



As with most cameras (and I've said this before too), all of these effects can be achieved in post processing, but it's much easier for an ordinary camera user to let the camera do it all first to save you spending hours tweaking photos. I like to share my photos straight away, not shoot 1000 photos and spend a year tweaking them before anyone else who was there gets to see them. Each to their own of course folks.

One final thing - unlike the PX, you can't charge it via USB, so you need a separate battery charger again. Battery life is good - you can get at least 300 shots per charge.

Conclusion

Another good little camera from Ricoh. Very pleased with the results from this one, it produces very nice photos. The menu system is easy to navigate as usual, and it's very quick to get to all of the modes in time to capture your image. The images have good levels of colour and detail.



The digital macro mode is still very good (some excellent close up shots) and the new aperture/shutter priority modes produce some nice results too.



Definitely worth a look if you're in the market for a nice compact that produces nice photos. Lots of useful modes and pretty good results. Probably the best compact I've had my hands on so far...

How long until the CX7?