Ricoh RDC-6000

The Ricoh RDC-6000 was purchased at the beginning of an important holiday. I subsequently spent all my time trying to get a halfway decent photo out of it. It is a supremely annoying camera, a product Ricoh must be truly ashamed of, and one which has put me off Ricoh products for life.

It takes a long time to start up, resulting in many potentially good photo opportunities being lost. Then the camera shuts off very soon afterward (the maximum 3-minute shut-off setting is much less in practice), meaning you constantly have to switch it back on and wait another good 30 seconds. The date and time are lost when the battery is removed, but the battery MUST be removed or it will be drained in a day or two, even when not used. Therefore, it takes even longer to start up. By the time you've surfed the LCD's menu to set the date and time, the photo opportunity is long gone. The time between switching functions is acceptable; some are slow to respond. Indecisive focus. AVI-movie function is a plus. Images can only be transferred to a PC when the camera is plugged into the mains; otherwise, it will hang after one photo trf, even with a fully-charged battery. Expensive (cost £400 in 2001) for its sluggish performance, electron-hungry CPU, chunky-cheap feeling and performance.

Overall, the camera is great for beginners and intermediates alike.

8/10

I bought this Ricoh RDC6000 digital camera about a year ago for £275. I am very disappointed that it is so difficult to get a picture in focus. Although the auto-focus should fix on subjects at the centre of the picture, it almost always fails and the subject is out of focus.

If you want the highest quality images, then expect to wait a considerable number of seconds between pitcures, while the camera processes the image. Don't even think about multiple shots of the same scene, unless you're photographing a snail or tortoise going down the road.

Software installs without problem, and images are transferred easily to the PC.

Don't use the viewfinder to frame the photograph... it's not very accurate. However, obviously using the LCD screen makes the battery run out quicker.

Shame there's no optical zoom.

Like the previous reviewer suggested, it would be a good camera to give the kids, if you can afford to do this.

The Ricoh RDC-6000 was my first digital camera and it is a great beginners camera. Most images are awesome but there are some problems with blurring at times. The zoom SUCKS. The card errors drive me crazy and I have lost a lot of special pics. I will give my 7 & 11 yr. old this cam and I will go buy me a Fuji next!

I owned this product for about 18 hours. In this time I found out that it was about the worst choice I could have made. It sucks the big one. The software DID NOT WORK. I had to download new drivers, the res did not match up to a 3 year old kodak 1mp cam. DON'T BUY ONE OF THESE. At any cost it is to much! There are lots of other things wrong with it, but I'm sick of typing.

good digital camera which is let down by the lcd screen which is totally black indoors also feels very fragile in your hands but otherwise ok. I would not buy a ricoh digital camera again.

seems to be an on-going problem with card errors and if like me you cherish your photo's then i would think hard before purchasing this digital camera, other than that i have no other bad points except the speed that it operates at but that goes back to the saying "you get what you paid for" but to lose all your cherished holiday photo's is totally unacceptable.

I would think hard about buying another Ricoh digital camera

This is my second ricoh rdc6000 camera that has broke. Both times it has come up card error & damaged the smartmedia card so it is unusable. THINK VERY CAREFULLY BEFORE BUYING ONE!!!! Make sure you buy from a reputable shop with good customer support.

This is my first digital camera. The ease of use and quality of the pictures is excellent.The picture were almost as good as my friends 3.34 Megapixel Sony camera.

I was however disappointed with the picture quality using the digital zoom.

Access to the Smartmedia card is very tricky because of the feeble door and catch.

The LCD screen is very dark when used indoors. I have had a few pictures that have not taken properly when you take pictures over a short period of time.

Overall excellent value.