Ricoh Unveils ‘Ultra-Rugged’ WG-70 Compact Camera

Ricoh today unveiled its latest “ultra-rugged” compact camera: the WG-70. The camera features a few usability improvements over its predecessor, the WG-60, but remains largely unchanged in terms of the design and core feature set.

The Ricoh WG-70 is a fairly modest improvement over its predecessor. The two cameras use the same 16MP 1/2.3-inch BSI CMOS image sensor, the same 28-140mm equivalent f/3.5-5.5 zoom lens, the same 2.7-inch 230K-dot LCD, an identical body design, and the same levels of “ruggedness”: it’s waterproof to 14 meters, shockproof from up to 1.6m up, freezeproof down to -10°C, and crushproof for up to 100 Kg of force.

New features seem to be limited to software enhancements. A new Digital Microscope mode lets you capture close-ups down to an extreme crop of 1920×1080 for the highest possible magnification; an Advanced Underwater Shooting mode automatically fixes the color cast of underwater images and video; and a new “Cross Processing” function that edits your image in-camera “to give a unique color-changed finish, like a cross-processed film.”

Here’s a closer look at Ricoh’s latest rugged compact:

The Ricoh WG-70 is available in Black or Orange for an MSRP of $280. The camera is scheduled to start shipping in “mid-March” but you can already pre-order one today. To learn more about this camera, head over to the Ricoh website.