Ricoh RDC-i700
Steve Bavister

Three megapixel is now pretty much established as the standard for digital photography. The resolution is big enough to for a quality A4 inkjet - sufficient for what most amateurs require - though no doubt we will see increases to 4 million and six million pixels over the next eighteen months.

Currently lots of interest is focusing on cameras such as the Fujifilm S1, Nikon D1 and the Canon EOS D30 - interchangeable lens models that handle like traditional SLRs. But not everyone can afford the £2000+ it costs for one of these state-of-the-art machines. And, then again, not everyone needs the professional specification they offer.

Most the of the other three megapixel models sell for £600 upwards - which is relatively more affordable. A vibrant, expanding market means there's plenty to choose from, and one of the most interesting cameras to come onto the market in recent times is the Ricoh RDC-i700, which sells for just under £1000.
It's certainly not your average digital camera. In fact, Ricoh don't even call it a camera at all. Proudly emblazoned on the top of this sleek, stylish machine is 'Image Capturing Device'. While it doesn't exactly trip off the tongue, it's certainly a more accurate description. If anything, it errs on the side of understatement - though calling it an 'Image Capturing, Sending, Browsing, Recording, Emailing, Device' is even less catchy.It's certainly not your average digital camera. In fact, Ricoh don't even call it a camera at all. Proudly emblazoned on the top of this sleek, stylish machine is 'Image Capturing Device'. While it doesn't exactly trip off the tongue, it's certainly a more accurate description. If anything, it errs on the side of understatement - though calling it an 'Image Capturing, Sending, Browsing, Recording, Emailing, Device' is even less catchy.

Pick the RDC-i700 up and you immediately feel that it's different. It's a solid, substantial piece of kit, but you'll find the handling is not what you're used to. The same thickness as a standard VHS video cassette, but slightly smaller, it cradles extremely comfortably in your hand, with your fingers underneath, and with two shutter releases conveniently placed - one on top and the other on the front, near your index finger.

Flip open the lid and you reveal not only a superbly laid out and clearly marked set of controls but also a 3.5 inch TFT colour screen. With four times the area of the typical monitor on a digital camera, it make it a lot easier composing the picture and inputting commands - though the image is slight grainier and softer than on most smaller screens. However, the screen is touch-sensitive - and, using the stylus that neatly slides into a slot under the optical viewfinder, operation is more intuitive and much quicker than most of the i-700's rivals.
Things which are fiddly to do on other cameras are perfectly straightforward, since you're not having to scroll though endlessly to get to what you want. It's a lot like using a mouse, and once you've tried it, going back to the old menu-driven system on most digital cameras seems hopelessly antiquated.
The simplicity of the Ricoh's layout, though, is deceptive. In fact, the sophistication of the unit is such that three instruction manuals, with over 460 pages of English language information with no padding, are required to explain all the features. Plenty of night-time reading there!
Images can be captured at various resolutions and levels of compression, up to the maximum of 2048x1536 pixels - which when de-compressed produces a 9Mb file.

There's a 3x zoom lens, equivalent to 35-105mm in the 35mm format, and adequate for most general photography,. You can always crop in after capture if you want to get closer to the subject, but landscape and travel photographers might find the wide-angle coverage a little limiting. The close focusing of 1cm, though, makes the Ricoh perfect for eye-popping macro shots.
The only real omission for creative photographers is that there's no direct control over shutter speed and aperture - although readily accessible controls for exposure compensation, flash strength and white balance do give some degree of user control.

Power comes from rechargeable batteries - with two supplied along with a well designed charger. They're special cells, though, which means you can't just buy a pack of As to get you out of trouble. Like all digital cameras, the amount of use you get from a single charge depends to a large degree upon the amount of time you have the screen switched and how many flash pictures you take. Overall, battery life seems on a par with comparable models.

In use, the RDC-i700 performs well. It's quick to power-up, and ready for use in just five seconds. The write-time, whether to the internal 6Mb memory or to the removable CompactFlash card, is equally impressive. These are important issues often not considered by prospective purchasers of digital cameras, but there's nothing worse than waiting around for things to happen - especially when photographing people or fast-changing situations.

Once you've loaded the software, getting images from the camera to the PC is straightforward, via USB or serial connection. You can even control the camera remotely from the computer using a standard web browser such as Internet Explorer. Alternatively, and more conveniently, you can drop the CompactFlash card straight into an external card reader and access the images immediately without having to wait for them to download - which, at maximum resolution, can take a few minutes.

However, it's the advanced communications options on the camera which really get the juices flowing. Having captured images you can email them directly; upload content to the web in HTML format; surf the web using the i700's browser; transmit files to a remote PC - and much, much more. You can even use it to record audio or capture a short burst of moving image at low resolution. While few photographers are likely to take advantage of these facilities immediately, if at all, it's always comforting to know that a camera offers 'growing room' for the future.
In summary, I'd say the RDC-i700 is a first-class digital camera. Well-designed, a pleasure to use, capable of quality results, and with lots of interesting features to explore. Definitely one for the shortlist.