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Despite several shortcomings in the usability of the camera, the Ricoh CX4 actually delivers pretty good results. The colours are bright, punchy and sharp although the auto white balance can provide some odd results at times, so you might need to watch that, especially as you can't shoot RAW files and correct later.
You have the option to shoot in 4 different formats, 4:3, 3:2, 16:9 and 1:1 which is good for creative photographers, and the filters (miniaturisation, dynamic range, high contrast black and white, soft focus, cross process and toy camera) are quite fun and work reasonably well. Miniature mode does a decent job of recreating a tilt-shift lens effect, while cross process will gives the lomo look that is trendy right now.
Sensitivity can be altered on "My Settings" mode in one-stop increments ranging from ISO 100-3200. Noise is minimal up to ISO 400, but as with most compact cameras after this the images become increasingly noisy from 800. In fact they are virtually unusable at the highest end of 3200, unless prints are to be kept very small. Overall, it's a solid performance from a compact of this price range.
Ricoh CX4 ISO Comparison test
Ricoh CX4 - ISO 100 (Click to view full size image)
Ricoh CX4 - ISO 100 - 100% crop (Click to view full size image)
Ricoh CX4 - ISO 200 - 100% crop (Click to view full size image)
Ricoh CX4 - ISO 400 - 100% crop (Click to view full size image)
Ricoh CX4 - ISO 800 - 100% crop (Click to view full size image)
Ricoh CX4 - ISO 1600 - 100% crop (Click to view full size image)
Ricoh CX4 - ISO 3200 - 100% crop (Click to view full size image)
