With an anticipated street price nudging £100, the Caplio RR630 compact digital camera is exceptional value for money. It may lack the style kudos and chic of, say, the Sony CyberShot or Panasonic Lumix range but in terms of camera essentials it has everything.
Everything being six megapixel image quality, three times optical zoom and four times digital, still and movie image capture, optical and LCD screen monitoring, 16Mb internal memory, SD card slot, support for PictBridge direct-to-printer functionality, AV and USB cables, camera pouch and Photo Express editing software.
The squat silver body is reassuringly solid and feels comfortable. Controls are laid out in standard format with a selection dial on the top of the unit giving the user quick access to the various camera settings; Program, Auto, Video, Manual, Aperture and Shutter Priority and Scene.
On the back, the four point navigation wheel allows selection of Macro, Flash and self-timer modes and beneath that, two smaller buttons for Menu and Delete functions.
The camera is powered by either two alkaline or Ni-Mh (Nickel Metal Hydride) AA size batteries. A battery charger is not supplied.
There is, however, an optical viewfinder and – extremely rare on compacts these days – a dioptre wheel for adjusting viewing focus. Unfortunately, the viewfinder is minute. If you wear glasses it’s all but impossible to use.
That said, the 2-inch LCD screen (which can be turned off to prolong battery life) is more than adequate as a monitoring device, particularly as it automatically adjusts to strong sunlight or bright light.
You get a lot of pixels for your pounds in the compact camera division nowadays and six megapixel quality is rapidly becoming an entry level requirement. What makes the Caplio such an attractive proposition, however, is the combination of intuitive software, robust design and exceptional value for money. It’s hard to believe there’s a better camera at this price.
