Ricoh's 2006 pocket travel zoom - 7MP CCD, 28-200mm equiv 7.1x lens, CCD-shift stabilisation, DB-60 battery.
The Ricoh Caplio R5 was a slim travel-zoom compact announced in August 2006, successor to the Caplio R4 in Ricoh's R series. Its selling point was fitting a 7.1x wide-starting zoom - the longest in its compact class at the time - into a 26mm-thick body, backed by Ricoh's CCD-shift vibration correction.
It uses a 7-megapixel 1/2.5-inch CCD (3072 x 2304 maximum) behind a 28-200mm equivalent 7.1x zoom with CCD-shift image stabilisation and a processing engine that improved low-light output over the R4. The rear carries a 2.5-inch 230,000-pixel LCD, images save to SD/MMC cards or 26MB of internal memory, and the rechargeable DB-60 battery gives roughly 250-380 shots. It weighs 140g without battery and card.
The R5 suits anyone wanting a genuinely pocketable CCD compact with real wide-angle and telephoto range - 28mm at the wide end was rare in 2006 compacts. Stabilisation makes the long end usable handheld, though noise climbs quickly past base ISO on the small sensor.
The DB-60 battery is shared with Ricoh's GR Digital series, so third-party cells and chargers remain easy to find. The camera predates SDHC, so a 1-2GB SD card is the safe buy. Check the retractable zoom for grinding or misalignment, a known R-series weak point, and inspect images for CCD smears.