Ricoh WG-M2

VIDEO. The Ricoh WG-M2 takes good video, at a quality like nearly all Action camcorders. Pictures were a bit soft, which means it will be difficult to make out tiny details and very subtle patterns in the image. In low-light situations, the video was only fair: fairly dim, soft and grainy. It captures Ultra HD video at 3840x2160 at 30 frames per second (fps). It has an above-normal frame-rate mode 1280x720 at 120p fps.

AUDIO. It captures fair audio in stereo, better than most.

PHOTO QUALITY. In Photo mode it captures at best 8-megapixel stills with merely fair quality.

LENS. The lens has a fixed focal length; it has no zoom capability.

IMAGE STABILIZER. Shooting in well-lit scenes, this model did an excellent job of minimizing the effects of camcorder shake.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS. It survived our repeated-drop test. It survived being dunked in 3 feet of water for 30 minutes when used with its waterproof enclosure and average in weight among all action camcorders.

The Ricoh WG-M2 is an 8-megapixel camcorder with no optical zoom. It lacks an LCD. The camcorder has a maximum aperture of f/2.

The Ricoh WG-M2 stores video and photos on MicroSD, MicroSDHC and MicroSDXC memory cards and has no internal storage. It captures ultra HD video at a resolution as high as 3840x2160 at 30 frames per second and 8-megapixel resolution stills as JPG files.

The image stabilization system for this camcorder is electronic. The Ricoh WG-M2 measures 1.4 inches wide by 2.3 inches high by 3.2 inches in length, and weighs 0.3 pounds.