Ricoh CX5: The Best Reason To Buy A Ricoh CX4

Devin Coldewey

Devin Coldewey is a Seattle-based writer and photographer. He has written for the TechCrunch network since 2007. Some posts he’d like you to read: The Dangers of Externalizing Knowledge | Generation i | Surveillant Society | Choose Two | Frame Wars | The User’s Manifesto | Our Great Sin His personal website is coldewey.cc. → Learn More

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011


Another six months, another iteration in the CX series from Ricoh. This time, though, Santa has been a little stingy, and the improvements are minimal. I’d say the most relevant feature on the CX5 is how it’s going to drive down the price of the nearly identical CX4.

The actual improvements are the following:

  • Improved autofocus speed
  • HDMI port
  • \”Super resolution technology\” – an image processing method that claims (falsely) to make digital zoom worth using
  • New image processing and filters

So, not much. But apart from that it’s still the solid camera from six months ago (and six months before that) with the back-illuminated 10.7 megapixel sensor, a great 3″ 640×480 screen, and a nice 5PS burst rate. But I really see very little reason to go with the CX5 over the CX4, so wait a bit and watch the price of the latter go down by $50 or $100.

I’d put the press release here but it’s really, really long so you’re just going to have to trust me.

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