Ricoh Caplio R40 packs six megapixels, great macro mode

If you like getting real close to the action and taking good resolution pictures, then Ricoh Caplio has the camera for you. The company recently announced the new R40 digital camera, a six megapixel picture taker that gets right into the thick of things with a 5.7x optical wide zoom lens. The 28-160mm 35mm equivalent lens is also double retracting. If that doesn’t suffice, you can also make use of the 3.6x digital zoom, but who uses that these days.

The 26MB of internal memory serves as an adequate backup for when you’re in a bind, but the SD/MMC card slot will serve as your primary storage, taking cards as big as 1GB. Adding to the 2.5-inch color LCD, 350 shot battery, and 0.09 second shutter lag, is what they’re calling “top of its class macro mode.” This is said to allow photographers to get as close as 1 centimetre from the subject.

Strangely, they only offer USB 1.1, so the file transfer will feel awfully slow unless you use a separate card reader. The Ricoh Caplio R40 will only come in black when it goes on sale next month. No pricing information has been released.