Amateur Photographer Magazine

Ricoh CX3 digital camera boasts HD movie mode

Wednesday 3rd February 2010

Chris Cheesman

Ricoh has today announced the CX3, a 10-million-pixel digital compact camera featuring a 'back-illuminated' CMOS sensor to help deliver more detail in low light.

'With a back-illuminated CMOS sensor and a noise reduction function incorporating the algorithm used on the GR Digital III, the new CX3 has dramatically improved image quality performance when shooting in low light scenes,' claimed a Ricoh spokesman.

The user can set the noise reduction level to Off, Auto, Weak, Strong or Max.

The CX3 sports a lens designed to deliver the 35mm viewing angle equivalent of a 28-300mm zoom, and a 3in (920,000 pixels) LCD screen.

The Ricoh CX3 also features an HD movie option (1280x720 pixels).

CX3 – 'Major Specifications', as supplied by Ricoh UK:

No. of Effective Pixels (Camera):

Approximately 10.00 million pixels

Image Sensor:

1/2.3-inch CMOS (total pixels: approx. 10.60 million pixels)

Lens:

Focal length: f=4.9-52.5 mm

(Equivalent to 28-300 mm for 35 mm film cameras. With Step Zoom set, focal lengths can be fixed at eight steps: 28 mm, 35 mm, 50 mm, 85 mm, 105 mm, 135 mm, 200 mm, and 300 mm)

F-aperture: F3.5 (Wide) - F5.6 (Telephoto)

Shooting Distance: Normal shooting: Approx. 30 cm - infinity (Wide), approx. 1.5 m - infinity

(Telephoto) (from the front of the lens)

Macro: Approx. 1 cm - infinity (Wide), approx. 28 cm - infinity (Telephoto), approx. 1 cm -infinity (Zoom Macro) (from the front of the lens)

Lens Construction: 10 elements in 7 groups (aspheric lens: 4 elements and 5 surfaces)

Zoom Magnification:

Optical: 10.7x zoom (equivalent to 28-300 mm focal length for 35 mm cameras)

Digital: 4.8x up to 51.4x (equivalent to 1440 mm) when used with optical zoom

Auto Resize: 5.7x*1 up to 61.0x*1 (equivalent to 1710 mm) when used with optical zoom

Focus Modes:

Multi AF (Contrast AF method) / Spot AF (Contrast AF method) / Face-Priority

AF / Continuous AF / Multi-target AF / MF / Snap / ∞ (with AF Auxiliary Light)

Motion Blur Reduction:

Image sensor shift method image stabilizer

Shutter Speed: *2

Still image: 8, 4, 2, 1 - 1/2000 sec. / Movie: 1/30 - 1/2000 sec.

Continuous Shooting:

Continuous shooting speed: *3 approx. 5 frames/sec. (10M 4:3F shooting time; shooting speed after 12 pictures is approx. 3 frames/sec.)

Continuous shooting capacity: 999 pictures

Exposure Control:

Exposure Metering Mode: Multi Light Metering (256 segments) / Centre-weighted Light Metering / Spot Metering

Exposure Mode: Program AE

Exposure Compensation: Manual Exposure Compensation +/-2.0EV (1/3EV Steps), Auto Bracket Function (-0.5EV, ±0, +0.5EV)

ISO Sensitivity (Standard Output Sensitivity):

AUTO, ISO80 / ISO100 / ISO200 / ISO400 / ISO800 / ISO1600 / ISO3200

White Balance Mode:

Auto / Multi-pattern Auto / Outdoors / Cloudy / Incandescent Lamp / Incandescent Lamp 2 / Fluorescent Lamp / Manual Settings, White balance bracket function

Flash:

Flash Mode: Auto flash (fires automatically in low-light conditions and when the subject is backlit) / Red-eye Flash / Flash On / Flash Synchro. / Flash Off

Built-in flash range: Approx. 20 cm - 4.0 m (Wide), approx. 28 cm - 4.0 m (Telephoto) (ISO Auto/ISO1600, from the front of the lens)

Flash compensation: +/-2.0EV (1/3EV Steps)

Monitor:

3.0-inch Transparent LCD (approx. 920,000 dots)

Shooting Mode:

Auto shooting mode / Scene auto mode / Dynamic range double shot mode / Continuous mode /Scene mode (Portrait / Sports / Pets /Night. Port. / Nightscape / Miniaturize / Landscape / High Sens / High Contrast B&W / Discreet Mode / Zoom Macro / Text Mode / Skew Correct Mode) / My settings mode / Movie mode

Picture Quality Mode: *4

F(Fine) / N(Normal)

No. of Pixels Recorded:

Still image/multi-picture: 3648 x 2736, 3648 x 2432, 2736 x 2736, 3648 x 2048, 2592 x 1944, 2048 x 1536, 1728 x 1296 (multi-picture only), 1280 x 960, 640 x 480

Movie: 1280 x 720, 640 x 480, 320 x 240

Text: 3648 x 2736, 2048 x 1536

Recording Media:

SD memory card

SDHC memory card (up to 32 GB), Internal memory (approx. 88 MB)

Storage Capacity (Pictures/Time): *5 (internal memory approx. 88MB):

Still image/multi-picture: 3648 x 2736 (F: 22, N: 38), 3648 x 2432 (F: 25), 2736 x 2736 (F: 30), 3648 x 2048 (F: 30), 2592 x 1944 (F: 34), 2048 x 1536 (F: 54), 1728×1296 (N: 133) (M-Cont Plus), 1280 x 960 (F: 98), 640 x 480 (F: 402), 640 x 480 (N: 705)(Speed Cont)

Movie:*6 1280 x 720 (17 sec.), 640 x 480 (50 sec.), 320 × 240 (2 min. 1 sec.)

Recording File Format:

Still Image: JPEG (Exif ver. 2.21) *7

Multi-picture: CIPA DC-007-2009 Multi-Picture Format

Movie: AVI (Open DML Motion JPEG Format compliant)

Compression method: JPEG Baseline method compliant

Other Major Shooting Functions:

Continuous, Self-Timer (operation time: approx. 10 sec. / approx. 2 sec. / custom self-timer), Interval Timer (Shooting interval: 5 sec. - 1 hour (5 sec. steps), Color Bracket function, Focus Bracket function, AE/AF Target Shift, Histogram, Grid Guide, Electronic Level

Other Major Playback Functions:

Grid View, Enlarged Display (maximum 16x), Resize, Level Compensation, White Balance Compensation, Trim, Flag, Slideshow, DPOF Setting

Interface:

USB 2.0 (High-Speed USB) Mini-B, Mass storage compatible*8 / AV Out 1.0Vp-p (75Ω)

Video Signal Format:

NTSC, PAL switchable

Power Supply:

Rechargeable Battery: DB-100 x1

Battery Consumption: *9

Based on CIPA Standard: Using the DB-100, approx. 310 pictures (when LCD Dim is on) *10

External Dimensions:

101.5 mm (W) x 58.3 mm (H) x 29.4 mm (D) (according to CIPA guidelines)

Weight:

Approx. 206 g (including the supplied battery and SD memory card)

Approx. 185 g (body only)

Operating Temperature Range:

0ºC-40ºC

• 1. VGA image size
  
• 2. Shutter speed upper and lower limits vary depending on Shooting Mode and Flash Mode.
  
• 3. Values measured under Ricoh measurement conditions using a Panasonic PRO HIGH SPEED 8GB SDHC memory card. The continuous shooting speed and number of pictures will vary depending on the shooting conditions, the type of recording media used, the condition of the recording media, etc.
  
• 4. The picture quality modes which can be set vary depending on the image size.
  
• 5. Estimated number of still images it is possible to record and estimated amount of movie recording time.
  
• 6. The maximum length for one instance of movie recording is 29 minutes.
  
• 7. Compatible with DCF and DPOF. DCF is the abbreviation of the JEITA standard “Design rule for Camera File system.” (Full compatibility with other devices is not guaranteed.)
  
• 8. Mass storage driver is compatible with Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS9.0-9.2.2, and Mac OSX10.1.2-10.6.1
  
• 9 Shooting capacity was measured using CIPA-standard parameters. This is only an estimate, and performance may vary according to usage conditions.
  
• 10 When LCD Auto Dim is off: approx. 290 pictures
  
• Windows is a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S.A. and other countries.
  
• Mac OS is a registered trademark of Apple Inc. in the U.S.A. and other countries.

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