Don't know about the R10, but I bought the very similar R8 as a pocket toy camera. It failed at this job. Even at ISO64 the images feel noisy. Fine for facebook pictures or something.
Apparently the GX100/GX200 are much better, with real manual controls and a hotshoe to overcome Ricoh's useless flash (useless flash defined as won't illuminate past 4 feet).
Mine became a gift for someone who wanted to take happysnaps.
manyquestions wrote:
Don't know about the R10, but I bought the very similar R8 as a pocket toy camera. It failed at this job.
Thanks manyquestions...
I should have mentioned that the old R8 is known to be a rather bad camera - reviews say that the R10 is a big improvement over the R8.
Maybe the R10 is still "too new" and not many people bought it yet...
The R10 seems to sell for about £100 less than the GX200 over here in the UK - and the difference in IQ is probably accounted for at least in part by this price difference. I've just purchased the GX200 and at ISO64 and ISXO100 I am very very pleased with it. However, at ISO200 noise starts to creep in, and by ISO400 the performance is quite disappointing. Most reviewers seem to prefer the Panasonic Lumix LX3 rather than the GX200 - it has better IQ at ISOs >200 and is about the same price. Also, it has the ability to better exposure bracketing. If your friend can stretch to this price range then I'd go for the Lumix LX3 - check out a few review sites like Dpreview and you'll see what I mean.
PS see the following links for GX200 images of mine
Ricoh usually get their menus and layouts in order, I have the GRD 2, which is an excellent camera, handlingwise and pocketable for sure. It is decent up to ISO 200, ok at ISO 400 and useless above (unless you shoot B&W, then 800 is OK).
The prints come out nicely up to ISO 400 and if the R10 is anything like it it isn't bad.
