Ricoh WG 50 rugged camera for Underwater Shooting Announced

Ricoh announced the new WG-50 camera, a waterproof compact rugged camera designed to withstand bad weather and in harsh outdoor conditions. Ricoh WG 50 is an IPX8 certified product, waterproof down to a depth of 14 meters for up to two hours of continuous operation, shockproof against falls from a height of 1.6 meters, an IPX6 certified dustproof, freezeproof to temperatures as low as -10°C, and crushproof against weights up to 100 kg.

Ricoh WG 50 come equipped with a back-illuminated 1/2.3″ CMOS image sensor with 16 megapixels resolution. Coupled with a high-performance imaging engine, this image sensor delivers a top sensitivity of ISO 125 to 6400 and the feature a 5x optical zoom lens with a focal length coverage from 5mm to 25mm (equivalent to approx. 28mm to 140mm in the 35mm format). Special modes are also available for underwater photography and video shooting. During Underwater mode, the Flash Off / Flash On option, and six LED Macro Lights allow the WG-50 to provide bright, uniform illumination on a subject when the Digital Microscope mode is selected.

The Ricoh WG 50 features a 2.7-inch LCD display with a resolution equal to 270,000 points. The display is provided with an anti-glare functionality and is equipped with the Outdoor View Setting mode, useful for adjusting the optimum monitor brightness level for a given lighting condition. This new Ricoh rugged camera can shoot movies at Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution, up to 30 frames per second, or slow motion videos with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at 120 frames per second.

Other features include the micro-HDMI output, USB 2.0 port and rechargeable D-LI92 Lithium-ion battery can be last up to 300 shots. The Ricoh WG 50 price in USA is set to $279.95 and £249.99 for UK and will be available from June in Orange and Black colors.