User guide
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CX3 Digital Camera
by Stuart K. Fairclough
‘The little camera that thinks it’s a big camera – and knows it!’
any moons ago my Dad decided to take up
photography as a hobby. He used to have many
fads like this so I now know exactly where I get the
innovative ideas and likewise fads from myself (bless
him). Dad, being Dad, was not content with doing
things by half measures; so he had to go all the way
and do the photography bit but, also the developing
and printing bit as well! Didn’t please my Mum much
as the kitchen became the improvised dark-room and
it all became a bit wordy, when Mum walked in on
Dad as he was in the developing stage. Anyway, the
camera he chose was a Zenith-E or Zenit, SLR camera. Great camera, don’t get me wrong but boy did you
have to do a lot of fiddling with aperture, focus shutter settings etc., just to get a half reasonable photo.
Then one day the likes of Ilford and/or Kodak (whichever came first), introduced the ‘instamatic’ camera
and therefore ever after, a whole new breed of ‘point, click & shoot photo experts’ were born.
oving on a hundred years or so, someone came up with the bright idea of combining the idea of a
‘point & shoot compactability’ with modern digital technology and low and behold we now have
out there, a positive plethora of compact digital cameras, with a variety of price ranges to match.
Added to this equation of course, we now have just about every mobile coming with its own inbuilt
digital camera. None of which impresses me, maybe because I prefer to use a mobile as a telephone
rather than a mobile disco/camera or perhaps, I’m never any good at taking quick snaps with a mobile
but, for me I prefer a thing that looks and feels like what it’s supposed to be and that is as a camera. Call
me a cynic but it don’t matter how many mega-pixels it has got, I have yet to see a decent photograph
that has been produced on a telephone.
Here then, are some very good reasons for choosing a digital compact camera that sits above the parapet
of just about every other model out there – namely, the Ricoh CX3 Digital Camera. I’ve left all of the specs
of at the end of this review for the technically minded of you but here are some of my reasons why I think
– rather know, that the Ricoh CX3 is in a class of its own.
First thing is without doubt, the size or rather, lack of it, surely a camera this small cannot pack so much
techy brilliant features? If you’re still into the more traditional feet and inches – in simple terms the Ricoh
comes out at: just under 4”(W) x 2¼in (H) x 1in (D) with the lens fully closed and 2¼in (D) with the lens
fully extended. The LCD picture
display screen comes out at a
very viewable 2
3/8
in x 1
7/8
in.
Compact does not however,
mean fiddly, all the operating
function buttons and controls are
well spaced and not at all fiddly
to adjust even with my jumbo
fingers.
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