Ryobi Durashot - RP4200

Ok, so I have plenty of Ryobi’s 18v One+ Tools, and I recently saw this at Home Depot while browsing through the new Tek4 display. I bought this camera not for me, but for my 5 year old son. You see he loves taking pictures.

For his fourth birthday I bought him the cheapest digital camera I could find at Best Buy. It was a little black and green 4.0mp (I think) camera. He likes to be able to look at the back of the camera and see what he is shooting, like most point and shoots. The problem is that none of the kid camera’s do this, the Fisher Price’s, etc., all have viewfinders that they expect the kid’s to look through.

His first camera from Best Buy was taken every where, but he hardly used it. The problem was the menu system was impossible for a 4 year old to use, and the flash was incredibly bright. I had taped some paper over the flash in order to dim it some. Every time the camera was turned on the flash was off, and you could not change this setting. We went camping one weekend and it started raining on us as we were packing up. His camera was thrown into the camping supplies and ended up missing. It was found a couple of months later in the garage, but would no longer even power on.

His second camera was a Wal-Mart special. It was horrible even for me to use. The buttons were tiny, the menu was confusing, etc. When the AA’s that came with the camera died, the camera died. New batteries, but the camera would not turn on.

So, that’s when I saw the Durashot at Home Depot. I bought it, and the Tek4 flashlight to take advantage of a coupon they had at the Tek4 stand to get the free double charger. This camera has been great for my son.

He carries it everywhere, and actually uses it. Some days while at home he will break it out and just play with it. The buttons on the back:

Are huge, rubberized, and clearly labelled. My 5 year old has been able to figure out how to use all of the features of the camera. He can use the timer mode to take self portraits, or what he likes to do is set the camera on a table and set the timer then go and hug his dog and take a picture of him and his dog. He uses the time lapse mode to take pictures of himself while he is playing games, playing with his dog, or just watching tv. He has even figured out how to put it into video mode and take video’s. One of the other features he really likes, after he figured out how to look at the pictures he has taken, is recording a voice memo for some of the pictures.

The pictures are decent. They with the digital zoom turned off, they look about like any ordinary 8mp. The part where the image quality suffers is the shutter speed ( I will explain below.)

Now for the negatives.

The flash, like most of the cheaper cameras, is insanely bright. I tried taping paper over it like I had on my son’s last two cameras, but the paper started burning! After a few flashes and the paper was smoking and was singed. This flash is not only bright but hot.

Without the flash the shutter speed is not fast enough. When taking pictures outside, or even inside sometimes, the flash is not needed. The problem is without the flash not even I can hold this camera still enough to not induce camera shake on the pictures. They come out just slightly blurry, almost but not quite as if the camera was not in focus. Those more familiar with digital cameras would know what I mean. Even if sitting on a table, or a tripod, fast moving objects come out with motion blur. I tried sitting in one place in our living room, taking pictures of the same object over and over and over. The only thing I changed were the ISO speeds. I tried every setting, but without the flash I could not hold the camera still enough to get a good picture. The problem was, with the flash the picture was washed out, way too bright. I had registerd this camera on Ryobi’s website and opened a support ticket regarding it. I stated in the ticket that I was taking pictures of the same object, under controlled lighting, and all I was adjusting was the ISO setting; and I could not get a non-blurry picture without a tripod. I asked if there was a way to adjust the shutter speed independent of the ISO setting and flash. The response I got back was, have you tried changing the ISO setting in the menu? I was about floored. So, I kindly replied that I had, and asked the same question again. I was told that no you could not. So, I asked about firmware updates, the guy simply replied that if the camera was not functioning properly I could take it back. He did not even answer my question directly.

So, for a professional that needs a good camera this may\may not work. It depends on if you can deal with the washed out pictures from the bright flash.

Pros:

1.) Very sturdy build. The rubberizing, extra shock proofing, etc. really make this a durable camera.
2.) Price. $200 may seem expensive for only an 8mp, but it really is comparable to other decent (non Wal-Mart or blue bin specials) on the market.
3.) Menu and buttons are very easy to navigate and use. So easy in fact that my 5 year old has figured out all of the advanced features and can do everything except adjust the ISO.
4.) Water proof to 1m. I have not tested this, but I read a review elsewhere that the reviewers took a few under-water pictures and bounced the camera off the floor of the pool.
5.) Batteries. The Tek4 batteries are nice. I got the boxed set of Tek4 tools for Christmas and now have 4 batteries. The fact that his Camera uses the same batteries means I always have a charged one sitting around. If this were my camera and not my son’s it would be a nice addition to the tool kit.

Cons:

1.) Flash. WAY too bright. WAY too hot. I don’t think this is fixable, even with a firmware update, and it would not be an issue if I could take decent pictures without the flash – see Con #2.
2.) Shutter Speed. The ISO adjustments seem to almost do nothing. I was testing by taking pictures of the couch in my living room. Even at ISO 1600 I got self induced camera shake. I don’t have the steadiest hands in the world, but they are steady enough to let me take One to Two second exposures on my Canon Digital Rebel with no camera shake (I guess the extra weight helps.) However, on this Durashot I just simply can not hold it still enough to get a good shot. My son has to leave the flash on, even outside to get a good picture. This I am sure could be fixed with a simple firmware update to allow shutter speed or arpeture changes seperate from the flash. Maybe just introduce a real simple, fast shutter speed setting. Something that sets the shutter speed to the same as with the Flash on, or faster.

Recommendations for the camera:

Professionals that don’t need a stellar picture, but do need a camera that will take some abuse. My in-laws are Home Inspectors, and I believe this camera would probably fit right up their alley. Especially with the batteries being used in the other tools. They all carry flashlights, digital cameras, infrared thermometers, powered screwdrivers, among other tools. The Tek4 line does suite this perfectly, and the Durashot takes good pictures, and is extremely durable.

Kids. I know, a $200 camera for kids. But the way I look at it is this: the Best Buy camera had a 30 day return policy, same with the Wal-Mart special. They both lasted over 45 days; just not much longer then that. I had all ready spent over $200 in cameras for the kid, and all of the “Kid’s” cameras had the following problems:

Viewfinders instead of Live View.
Were all made of plastic and looked cheap.
Were HUGE, no the Durashot is not small, but go take a look at Fisher Price’s kids cameras…
Did not have any nice or advanced features.
Were not waterproof, shock proof, dust proof, etc…

This is a $200 camera with a 2 year warranty that Ryobi and Home Depot expect to be used on job sites, etc, by ‘men’ that are not easy going on their tools. The first time my son dropped this camera and it bounced across the floor without even scratching or denting itself I knew he was not going to be able to destroy this thing. The only piece I worry about is the plastic piece on the end of the steel barrel surround the lense. This piece may get scratched up over time. Maybe Ryobi should make this piece screw off, or offer replacements for it.

Overall I would have to give this Camera a 4 out of 5 stars. If Ryobi can release a firmware update and resolve the shutter speed issue this thing would get a 6 out of 5 stars.

(If they do this before they descide to discontinue it or only have it available over seas like all the really good 18v One+ tools…)

***** Update – 12/30/2010 *****

Well, almost one full year on, and my son is still using this camera. He has managed to lose the bag the camera comes with, but all in all this camera has held up to the all the abuse a now 6 year old can throw at it. It has outlived all of the other digital cameras that he has had by months.

Still no update from Ryobi on the Shutter Speed. My Brother in Law tried the camera for inspections, but again the shutter speed being so slow was causing pictures to come out blurry. Ryobi really needs to fix the ISO speed adjustments and provide a way to adjust the Shutter Speed.