I couldn’t agree more that pretty much any DSLR will blow the pants off point and shoots and the ‘megazoom’ cameras we see around now, but I would never recommend getting a DSLR unless you have some experience in photography already. Unless you have incredible natural talent (which I certainly don’t), you simply won’t get anything like the results the camera is capable of. I think it’s much better for anyone who’s thinking of getting even semi-seriously into photography to start off with a full function camera like the Fuji S5600, Canon S3 IS or similar, learn how the camera actually does what it does, learn the shooting modes and how they work, and then when you pick up a DSLR for the first time, you should already have enough knowledge to get instantly good results.

Paul

Sound Advice there Paul. Spot on.

RIck

Caplio R5

I’m actually looking at getting a new camera myself, and have set my sights on this, the Ricoh_Caplio_R6.

It’s got a good resolution at 7.2 Mega pixels, 7.1 optical zoom (which is excellent considering how slim and compact it is), a good sized LCD screen and an easy to use interface.

Just to give you a little bit of info here on the Ricoh Caplio R5, I wanted a nice compact for my holiday with a decent optical zoom and around 7.0 mega pixels.

I paid £140 for it in May 2007. i had looked at this in Jan 07 but it was over budget for a “trip” camera, It was at £210 in Jessops around Jan, Feb 2007.

I saw a good deal on the Ricoh Caplio R5. The basic info is its got a 7.1 Optical Zoom, running at 7.0 Mega Pixels.

Specifications / Features:

7.0 Mega pixel CCD Sensor
7.1x Optical Zoom Lens f=4.6-33, 1:3.3-4.8 (28 – 200mm equiv.)
2.5″ TFT screen, 230,000 pixels
Vibration Correction (anti-shake CCD sensor)
3.6x Digital Zoom / Auto resize*
ISO AUTO, 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600
Video mode: 640 x 480 pixels, 30 fps with sound
1cm Macro mode
Pictbridge support
10 Scene modes including: TIFF Text mode, Skew correction etc
2 Custom Scene modes
380 shot battery life

See the below website for the review..

http://www.digicamreview.co.uk/ricoh_caplio_r5_review.htm

Below are selection of photos i took with it.. (all photos are on AUTO, the reason for this was i picked the camera up on the morning i was going on holiday, i did not get chance to do any reading, just pointed and shot.)

ALL the below photos are in a RAW and not adjusted. With a bot of tweaking I’m sure you would be able to get these better.

Below is a selection of photos which show the level of detail of the camera on AUTO settings.

The Sea..

The below is taken from a Taxi doing about 30 MPH..

Water feature…

Below is the view from the Balcony window..

Below is using the Optical zoom to full.

Further photos below..

Cheers

Rick

There is a thread over in the GA regarding this..

RickT

I have just read on the Colin Mcrae forum the below.

Link to forum.

http://www.colinmcrae.com/thread.asp?int_thread_id=162

“I have just heard that Colin and his son 8 were on the helicopter when it crashed, this has not yet been confirmed yet and i seriously hope that it isn t true.”

The above source is unconfirmed.. Let pray this is not the case.

But if he was not on the heli i would of expected a statement to have been relased stating he was not present.

if this is ture, im gutted, RIP to a pure legend.

RickT

Its a great car, im more of a fan of the earlier days ones.. ie Mk1… but yes,, your free to hang out over there! lol

RickT