Ricoh Caplio R7

In a world packed with megapixel monsters it’s tough for manufacturers to differentiate their products from the competition by using this measure. So the eight on offer here is the same as can be found on many sub-$200 cameras.

But what this camera has that none of the competition can boast is a 7.1x optical zoom lens. This wide-angle beauty offers the 35mm equivalent of 28 to 200mm – that covers everything from extreme close up to top-draw landscape photography.

Other features include the now ubiquitous face-recognition technology, plus the first implementation of the new Smooth Imaging Engine III processing engine, which promises such niceties as getting rid of some of the unwanted noise that blights shots taken at higher ISO settings.

Add in a choice of vibration controls and a high-speed start off and you have a very impressive base for what could be an excellent value camera.

Build is bum
Build quality is a bit iffy, mind. We don’t particularly like the look of the camera, which is one thing, but the buttons aren’t really aligned properly, and the lens sounds like its grating as it creaks it’s way out of the body.

Also, we can see the point of the large screen – there’s no optical viewfinder for starters – but it takes up vast swathes of the back panel and sucks battery life like an LCD vampire.