Ricoh WG-80 Evaluation: A Highly effective Digicam throughout the Incorrect Line of Work

Ricoh WG-80 Review

The Ricoh WG-80 is an fascinating prospect as a result of it encompasses a highly-durable improvement that’s exceedingly waterproof and crushproof, plus it has the pliability to optically zoom and shoot macro pictures. On paper, there’s rather a lot to like.

Degree-and-shoot cameras priced throughout the few-hundred-dollar fluctuate aren’t ineffective however, and rising they’re coming inside the kind of what we see with the Ricoh WG-80. To differentiate additional clearly from smartphones, this model of waterproof cameras offers elevated security, larger zoom capabilities, and a few additional choices not merely replicable in cell models.

Let’s try the WG-80 and resolve the place its potential is best realized.

Assemble Prime quality

The Ricoh WG-80 measures 4.8 inches enormous, 2.4 inches tall, and is 1.2 inches at its thickest. On the scale, it weighs 6.8 ounces (195 grams) with every the battery and SD card put in. The size and weight combination do give an impression of hardiness as there’s barely little little bit of heft to it.

Ricoh WG-80

The surface is principally comprised of textured plastic that feels good throughout the arms, and there is a metallic plate spanning the doorway face that should current additional sturdiness. When the digicam is moist, it would not seem to affect the grip and it will not get slippery.

Printed correct on the once more of the digicam are numerous stats about its ruggedness. The WG-80 has been examined to be waterproof as a lot as 45 toes (14 meters), crushproof in opposition to weights as a lot as 220 kilos of energy (100 kilograms), freezeproof to temperatures as little as 14 ranges Fahrenheit (-10 ranges Celsius), and shockproof in opposition to falls from a prime of as a lot as 5.2 toes (1.6 meters). It’s safe to say that this digicam will preserve up larger than most typical digicam our our bodies referring to accidents and will proceed to be used in extra circumstances, like underwater, with out specialised gear.

Ricoh WG-80

Part of what helps earn its toughness is that apart from the buttons, there should not any transferring parts on the pores and skin. Although the Ricoh WG-80 has a 28-140mm f/3.5-5.5 optical zoom lens (full-frame equal), it would not extend open air the doorway defending element and solely strikes encased behind it. From the look of it, the doorway element is held in place with six screws and a plastic panel, however it would not appear that Ricoh offers substitute glass direct to prospects to be merely replaceable. This was surprising to me, and I assumed for sure I could be able to resolve one up cheaply in case of damage like how GoPro does it.

LCD Show display screen

For monitoring, there is no such thing as a such factor as a viewfinder constructed into the digicam, so there’s a sturdy reliance on the LCD show display screen to be good. Sadly, this present won’t be on the digicam’s guidelines of strengths. It’s 2.7 inches which feels cramped, and worse, it’s solely 230,000 dots of resolution which suggests the whole thing appears pixelated and you will’t really inform within the occasion you purchased a subject in focus until the pictures and video are off the digicam.

Ricoh WG-80 rear.

There’s an anti-reflection coating on the show display screen, which is a minimal of a bit helpful for viewing in sunny conditions, however it is not going to take away the difficulty in a method {{that a}} brighter show display screen may help. Inside the menu selections, there’s an “Outdoors View Setting” mode which is not helpful for sunny conditions. This mode could also be set to -2, -1, Off, +1, or +2.

Using -2 or -1 is nice for when it’s darkish, and you do not want the show display screen brightness at full power and blinding you. Off is the default, and +1 and +2 do not change the exact show display screen brightness the least bit compared with Off. All this does is lighten the perceived publicity and reduce the excellence of what is on the show display screen, however it would not make the exact show display screen luminance brighter. It merely makes monitoring in sunny conditions worse than leaving it at Off.

Image Prime quality

The digicam depends spherical a 16-megapixel 1/2.3-inch backside-illuminated CMOS sensor. On account of this could be a point-and-shoot digicam, I’m going to offer the reference stage that an iPhone 13 is 12 megapixels nevertheless makes use of a barely greater 1/1.9-inch backside-illuminated sensor. The WG-80 shoots JPEG pictures solely, no RAW, and has an ISO fluctuate of 125 to 6,400.

The 5x optical zoom lens is a 28-140mm equal focal dimension and makes use of 11 parts in 9 groups, 5 of which might be aspherical. The aperture cannot be manually chosen, nevertheless evidently on the large end, the aperture fluctuate is f/3.5 to f/4.2, and on the telephoto end, it’s f/5.5 to f/6.6. It’s a versatile zoom fluctuate considering it’s all transferring internally, and I can seize variety of pictures which have a singular actually really feel to them based totally on the focal dimension chosen.

Ricoh WG-80 at 1x zoom.
1x zoom.
Ricoh WG-80 at 2.2x zoom.
2.2x zoom.
5x zoom.
Ricoh WG-80 ISO comparison.
ISO comparability. 100% cropped.

picture top quality, I’m not impressed with the outcomes. The precept draw back is a noticeable lack of readability, and many particulars get washed away at any ISO. Even for a person who’s searching for to grab moments in life, not primarily fantastic photographs, I don’t assume they’d be all that happy with the smeariness in people’s faces nor would they admire beautiful landscapes and journey pictures which could be decreased down to color and distinction because of the factor is just not being resolved in a method we anticipate in 2022.

I don’t indicate to slam the WG-80 too harshly because of we now need to ponder that this digicam is $330. Nonetheless, in a world the place many people have competent cameras on their smartphones, there could also be positively an expectation {{that a}} standalone digicam should, at minimal, be merely almost nearly as good, and I don’t assume that’s the case proper right here referring to image top quality . Positive, it can have additional zoom and better coping with, nevertheless I’m discovering that the outcomes are barely sturdy to love.

Ricoh WG-80 sample photo.

Ricoh WG-80 sample photo.
HDR mode off.
Ricoh WG-80 sample photo.
HDR mode on.
Ricoh WG-80 sample photo.
Shot in portrait mode which is supposed to make pores and pores and skin tones look best.

In Program mode, I’ll manually set the ISO sensitivity and set the publicity value (EV) between -2 to +2, which is beneficial. One issue that could be irritating in regards to the WG-80 is that a lot of the picture settings are reset to default as quickly because the digicam is turned off and once more on as soon as extra. These embrace the EV, white steadiness, ISO, and even the Auto ISO fluctuate. This might probably be by design to steer clear of confusion with first-time digicam patrons who fiddle and set the digicam a way and days later get confused as to why their pictures are coming out making an attempt blue with terrible publicity. That said, I really feel Ricoh should have merely let the Auto Picture mode cope with this form of client and let these settings be remembered in Program mode.

Considered one of many benefits of using the WG-80 is its terribly shut focusing distance in Macro and Digital Microscope modes. In Digital Microscope mode, it may probably focus as shut as one centimeter and helps optical zooming as a lot as 1.8x. Inside the area of the WG-80 is a “macro stand,” which is a plastic ring that clips to the tip of the lens. It might be used to set the digicam on a flat ground, lens pointed down, to get regular extreme closeups.

Ricoh WG-80 sample photo.

Ricoh WG-80 sample photo.

Ricoh WG-80 sample photo.

For many who’re contemplating there will be no gentle coming by and subsequently be not doable to shoot like this, you’d be correct if it weren’t for the reality that the digicam has six built-in LEDs circling the tip of the lens to mild up shut objects. In addition to, a menu selection permits me to fine-tune the sunshine output with 5 intensities, and in response to Ricoh, it’s now double the brightness of its predecessor. Oddly, I cannot change depth in Digital Microscope mode, nevertheless I can with widespread macro capturing.

From my testing, the macro gentle just isn’t pretty good ample to make plenty of an affect when there’s affordable lighting already. Even throughout the shade on a sunny day, I’d not uncover any distinction between the macro gentle on and off if I wasn’t explicitly searching for the very refined distinction throughout the shadows. Indoors, the excellence is slightly extra apparent for macro subjects, and beneath are examples shot with out the macro gentle, with the macro gentle, and with the standard flash.

Ricoh WG-80 sample photo.
Macrolight comparability. Off, Macro gentle on (full power), Frequent Flash.

Macro pictures endure from the equivalent draw back that plagues widespread capturing on the WG-80, that there’s not rather a lot factor being resolved. It’s going to probably focus intently, nevertheless being in focus with this digicam can usually indicate “when it appears least blurry.” Even after setting the digicam on a tripod and using the two-second timer to steer clear of digicam shake, I’m not happy with the smeary image top quality whole. The sweet spot for this digicam seems to be focusing from an arm’s dimension away to probably 10 to fifteen toes away; when it’s not so shut you truly see the scarcity of readability, and when it’s not so far-off the whole thing is melted collectively and likewise you solely get an impression of a scene.

Arduous on the Open air, Delicate on the Inside

Delicate picture top quality factors aside, I don’t assume I would ponder the WG-80 an entire failure. It’s a straightforward digicam to perform, it may probably shoot close-up photographs and has macro lights in-built for dimly lit conditions, and the assemble top quality is made to remaining. Perhaps it’s a failure in imaginative and prescient. There are a heck of a wide range of random digicam modes on this issue and all kinds of fluff that distract from the precise truth this may most probably make for a reasonably good job-site digicam. A relatively low-cost digicam that doesn’t surrender may have additional value than a weaker digicam that takes wonderful imagery.

Ricoh WG-80 sample photo.

Are There Alternate choices?

One varied to the WG-80 will be the Ricoh WG-6. This waterproof point-and-shoot digicam acquired right here out in early 2019 and choices a lot of the related favorable elements as a result of the WG-80 such as a result of the macro capabilities and six-LED macro gentle. Although it’s older, the digicam might be very shut in value and has a few upgrades. On the very best, there is a devoted mode dial as a substitute of pressing a button and biking by an on-screen menu. It is usually 20 megapixels and will shoot 4K video. The rear present is a contact greater at 3 inches versus 2.7 inches, nevertheless the pixel resolution is considerably higher at 1.04-million-dots versus 230,000 dots.

Elevating the funds to $450, there’s moreover the Olympus Highly effective TG-6 to ponder. The downsides to this digicam may be that it’s 12 megapixels, wouldn’t attain as far on the telephoto end, and the macro gentle is a $100 add-on piece. Nonetheless, there are secure enhancements on present as successfully: it may probably shoot RAW pictures, the aperture opens as a lot as f/2 on the large end, it has 25 focus components pretty than 9, and it may probably do 20 frames per second regular capturing for as a lot as 14 RAW frames or limitless JPEGs until the cardboard fills. It even has a Skilled Seize mode for getting 5 frames earlier to pressing the shutter button. Almost about the toughness components like waterproofing, dustproofing, crushproofing, freezeproofing, and shockproofing, the TG-6 matches or barely exceeds the WG-80.

Lastly, barely open air the product class nevertheless value mentioning Nonetheless is the trusty GoPro HERO 10. As an movement digicam, it will not be capable to zoom to shut a 140mm equal similar to the Ricoh. Nonetheless, the digicam is pretty sturdy for most people and will go underwater as a lot as 33 toes (10.1 meters). The stabilization and 5.3K 60p video moreover blow the pants off of what the WG-80 offers. As of publication time, the HERO 10 was on sale for $400, which is $70 better than the WG-80.

Should You Buy It?

No, not for paintings. The Ricoh WG-80 most probably just isn’t going to be ample for you in case you’re aiming for a digicam that takes the proper pictures. Having said that, I can nonetheless see the utility in having a digicam like this for documenting and work-related duties which is little query a purpose for Ricoh.

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