Great camera if you work at it! (Ricoh RDC-7)

Name: didbygraham

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Product:	Ricoh RDC-7
Date:	03/08/04 (105 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lots of features, Hinged viewing screen, pocket sized

Disadvantages: hard to locate some features, feels flimsy, awkward to hold for long periods

I had the opportunity to purchase this camera secondhand at a bargain price as my first digital camera. Scine then I have not looked back as it has taken over 7500 photos in the 18 months I have owned it.
The camera itself is a nice slimline model which fits easily into the pocket like the old 110 cameras from years ago. its not the easiest to hold though and the strap feels flimsy but it has never let me down. The best way to use this camera is to use the hinged viewing screen. this can be twisted left and right to allow for easy viewing and gives a clear image but in bright conditions can be hard to see. underneath the screen there are several buttons which allow you to move through the menus. These are fairly easy to use but occasionally if you press to hard it seems to turn the camera off - most annoying but once you get used to it you soon learn to avoid it.
There are so many feature to this camera it becomes hard to remember them all and I am still finding news one now. I have only just learned how to turn the auto focus off and as a result am taking much better pictures of moving objects - there is an annoying delay when taking pictures so you can miss moving objects.
With this camera you can record very small but quite good quality video, reasonable sound clips, but the main feature is the photographs it takes.
I have found that be leaving it on the fine setting on the highest size I can get 54 good quality photos on my 64mb Smart Media card. the Normal setting gives 105 good pictures. you can go right down to economy 640 sized in which case you get 1300 pictures! - cant say I have ever used this though.
The picture quality is usually excellent in good day light. It can sometimes overexpose in really bright conditions and when using the flash it can sometimes be out of sync so the pictures come out too dark. However there are so many setting you can play with its worth spending time trying them all out as you can often get around some
of these problems.

The rechargable battery is good for 50 pics when using the viewer and flash. I would prefer to use normal rechargables as a spare battery will set me back about £40. The camear viewing screen does feel very flimsy but again it has lasted me very well with no problems.

All in all this is a good camera but not perhaps ideal for the beginner as there are too many controls. if you are prepared to do your homework and experiment then you will get excellent results

Summary: