Ricoh Caplio R4 Digital Camera
 

I have been reading all the camera posts for sometime, there have been lots of suggestions but I just can't seem to make up my mind.

I have looked at the Canon A700 and the Panasonic TZ1 and saw the Ricoh yesterday for the first time.

I was wondering if anyone has one of the above camera's and are you happy with it.

It has a wide angle and good zoom, anti shake but no view finder. Many people say you don't need a view finder at all but others have purchased camera's with one but never used it. I guess the LCD needs to be a good one in that case. The camera doesn't seem to appear too often on many of the review sites and not at all on some.

Any help would be appreciated. I am so confused but in the end I guess you get used to whatever you buy - I just don't want to waste my money.

I have seriously considered the R4 because of its wide angle capability. In the end I ended up not getting it.

None of the brick and mortar store in my town carried it. I had to order it over the net sight unseen.

It did not have an optical view finder. This does not seem to bother many folks, but when it is really sunny, I just can't see a thing on these LCD to frame the shots.

It uses a speciality battery. I have been burned using such a camera before: battery died; couldn't get a replacement; camera had to go prematurely.

Hi Greg,
I really like the idea of the wide angle it looked great using in the shop.
So what did you buy?

Maudie

I'm laughing because you sound like you are living through my last month!

We got a Panasonic Lumix about a year ago. I didn't think I could get used to not having a view finder but I did except the LCD but this one is of no use if the sun is out. Maybe they have improved it.

Holding it outside next with my new Casio and there is a huge difference in what I can see.

Other than that the Lumix is fine with a 6x.

I was looking for a very small camera which limited my choices.
Good luck!

I have a Ricoh Caplio G4 Camera which I love and have had great results with - it has a special battery but also can be used with ordinary AA Batteries - which I find is excellent as I just keep some of those to hand in case.
I am in Australia and purchased it locally but I imagine it is similar worldwide.

wnab1g,
Yes I was reading your post too and replied to it. Why does it have to be so hard???? And yes the older we get the harder it is to see LCD screens in the sun, surely the people that design them can do something about this.

Prue - I will check the G4 out - I am an Aussie too.

My wish list is viewfinder, image stabilization, a reasonable zoom (more than 3x), good macro, wide angle wood be nice but don't need huge megapixels. I guess I am just hard to please.

Go for as much optical zoom as you can get in the price range you set !