GPS Insights - Early January 2009
January 15, 2009 By: Don JewellErnie Pyle would have been jealous, but he would have also used this amazing tool, which I'm happy to review, to the greatest extent possible.
And if you have to ask, "Who was Ernie Pyle?" Then just allow me to say that he was one of the greatest wartime (WWII) journalists and photojournalists, although they did not use those terms back then; he merely called himself a war correspondent. But his columns and his remarkable photography made the war come alive for those back home while their GIs were fighting overseas. It has often been said that "he wrote about people, not war."
Ernie made the cover of Time magazine in July 1944. Regrettably he was felled by a Japanese machine gun just nine months later in April 1945, just shortly before the war ended in the Pacific.
This quote from one of the many books written about his life sums it up pretty well: "If you think Ernie Pyle is ancient history, think again. Barely half a century ago he was one of the most famous people in America. The columns he wrote were read by millions, anticipated and revered as though they were regular bulletins from a sacred source. … What he called his 'worm's-eye' view of combat set a standard for war reporting that remains influential unto this day …
This comes from Ernie Pyle's War: America's Eyewitness to World War II, by James Tobin. As journalist Charles Kuralt said of Pyle, as quoted on the cover of that book: "Ernie Pyle showed everybody else the way. He was a hell of a reporter."
And now that you know something about Ernie Howard Pyle, let me explain why he would have been amazed and jealous of a Ricoh camera.
More Than a Camera
It really seems a shame to call the Ricoh Caplio 500SE-M GPS Tactical Digital Camera simply a camera. It is so much more, as you will see, and I have come to think of it as an indispensable tool for not only war correspondents, but as a primary tool for any correspondent, as well as our warfighters, firemen, policemen, and anyone who needs to accurately document and communicate the details of their surroundings – in real time, if necessary – to others. In other words, it is a camera that has morphed into a true situational awareness tool.
 |
|---|
For those of you who have read my previous reviews you know that I never review a bad or sub-par product. You will never read a bad review in my column because I refuse to do that. If you want to waste your time reading about something that you can't use then don't read my reviews because I endeavor to bring to our readers reviews about tools and products that can make their lives more productive, more enjoyable, and in the trenches, even save lives. The Ricoh Caplio 500SE-M GPS Tactical Digital Camera is one of those tools, and it deserves that moniker.
I have had the Caplio in my possession now for more than three months, and yes that is even a long time for me, but I kept encountering situations where this camera became an invaluable tool. At the end of the day I sometimes wonder how I got along without it; believe me it is easy to get hooked.
First, allow me say that the wonderful folks at Ricoh, especially Jeff Lengyel, the national manager of the Digital Camera Division for the Ricoh Americas Corp., and its combat support organization in the form of Matt Kidd, who runs Geo Tactical Solutions in Denver, Colorado. Both have been exceedingly gracious and supportive. I am sure they are wondering if they will ever get their camera back. I assure you and them that it is in the mail as I write this, but it was difficult to send back, because it has already become an everyday part of my routine.
Now let's get on with the review. The Caplio is of course a rugged device, and I have certainly put it through its paces in that regard. I threw it into a swimming pool, dropped it in snow banks, dropped it on hard wood floors, and obviously subjected it to freezing temperatures, and to the heat of Phoenix while I was there. No amount of abuse has fazed this camera; not even airport baggage handlers. So rugged, as an attribute, is a given when it comes to this camera.
Looks Are Deceiving
The Ricoh Caplio 500SE-M GPS Tactical Digital Camera looks very much like a normal 35mm film camera, but it is of course a modern 8.13 megapixel charge coupled device (CCD) digital format camera with a 3x optical zoom (25-105mm) and 12x digital zoom capability. This allows you to reach out a long distance with the native, wide-angle 28mm lens; a 37 mm screw on lens is also available. The camera has so many special features and modes that it is sometimes daunting to keep up with them all. I have taken well over 600 pictures with this camera and I am still amazed at what it can do and the picture clarity in all modes is exceptional.
Aesthetically the camera is very professional and rugged in appearance. It has a very positive grip, a large yellow shutter button, complete with Braille type bumps, dust proof armored glass over the high performance lens, and a high intensity flash that I rarely had to call upon. The camera comes with a USB cable, an explanatory CD ROM, a neck strap, and a rechargeable lithium-ion battery with a battery charger. Everything you need to get started.
As I mentioned, the Ricoh Caplio 500SE-M GPS Tactical Digital Camera is a GPS-equipped camera; indeed that was one of the requirements for my review. As such, the camera has a short stubby GPS antenna of the helix patch variety, which is the only giveaway that it is so equipped, unless you count the big letters engraved on the top of the camera that declare "GPS." I am told this visible antenna, only about a half inch tall, may become totally internal in future versions of the camera. But currently the antenna is visible and it elicits a lot of questions from onlookers and subjects when you are using the camera.
GPS and A Compass
The camera makes excellent use of the SiRFstar III chipset, which includes Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) augmentations. The camera is capable of receiving GPS signals on 20 channels for what is known effectively as an all-in-view capability. Typically my position accuracy measured between 1 to 5 meters 2D RMS, with WAAS enabled. Technically this means that internally in the camera's GPS receiver, the GPS solutions are calculated by performing GPS measurements using a Kalman filter. The GPS receiver's computing system calculates 2DRMS according to the equation:
2DRMS=2×{square root over ((σH—Kalman+L )2+L +(HDOP×σUERE+L )2+L )}
where σH—Kalman represents a horizontal component of an estimate error obtained from a diagonal in an error covariance matrix calculated in a mathematical process of the Kalman filter, HDOP represents a horizontal dilution of precision, and σUERE is a user equivalent range error. Typically a 2D RMS solution represents the radius of a circle containing 98 percent of the available GPS readings. In other words, this camera's GPS positions are accurate.
Since the bent pipe WAAS geostationary satellite signal is generally thought to be the equivalent of three MEO GPS satellites, the user of the Ricoh Caplio 500SE-M GPS Tactical Digital Camera rarely sees a position anywhere near the 5 meter upper limit, or at least that was my experience. Once the camera is initially turned on, the time to first fix (TTFF) from a cold start is about 40 seconds; a warm start is similar, about 35 seconds. From a hot start the TTFF is one second and you can watch the display depict position accuracy as it improves to one meter or less. In my experience, here in the Rocky Mountains, position accuracy was generally less than one meter. I was able to receive seven GPS satellites indoors and from 10 to 12 outdoors, always with an accuracy of less than 5 meters.
Since Ricoh is essentially a Japanese firm with a large North American presence in the form of Ricoh Americas Corp., which has for the last 41 years been supplying the United States with high quality copiers, fax machines, and now cameras, it is no surprise that the Ricoh Caplio 500SE-M GPS Tactical Digital Camera has electromagnetic approvals from FCC, CE, and VCCI, which essentially means it meets or exceeds basically all world-wide electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing requirements. In other words, it works well with other equipment in stressful or noisy electromagnetic environments, and should also not interfere with other electronic equipment. That is nice to know, and while none of these specifications are MILSPEC in nature, they are close.
The Ricoh Caplio 500SE-M GPS Tactical Digital Camera also includes an electronic compass accurate to within three degrees on a level plane, and up to 5 degrees when the camera is tilted +/- 15 degrees. The camera can be tilted up to +/- 80 degrees and the compass will still function and give a relatively accurate heading, which is good to know in combat situations.
The Camera Itself
The camera is about the same size as your standard 35 mm, which means it is 133 x 78.5 x 74 mm, or 5.2 x 3.1 x 2.9 inches, and weighs 430 grams, or a little less than one pound without the lithium ion rechargeable battery and the Secure Digital (SD) flash memory card. The SD card has the unique feature of being able to fit into a standard SD slot or into a standard USB connector. My camera came with a 1 GB San Disk Ultra II card and at high resolution indicated that I could take 1,280 pictures. Now if you add memo fields and sound that number may decrease slightly, but not by much. I also tried the camera with a 2 GB SD card and it worked fine. I am not aware of any size limit on the SD card, but it is always a good idea to test it first.
Please note the camera can also run on standard AA batteries in a pinch. I tried it and it works. No noticeable difference other than battery life, of course. That depends greatly on how many of the extra features you have operating and believe me, it is tempting to have them all turned on and integrated. You'll see what I mean shortly.
I mentioned that the camera has sound capability, and that allows you to take normal still photos, record sounds, record still photos with sound, movies, or movies with sound, or you can just record sounds, such as interviews or meetings. I used the camera several times as a backup to my normal voice recordings for interviews, and it worked great. It could not be simpler: just turn the function knob on top of the camera to microphone – there is a picture of a microphone – push down the shutter button, and it starts to record and a counter runs in the camera's display; to stop just hit the shutter button again. No other action required and the audio is saved on the SD card, but there is a menu of options if you need them. I found the record mode to actually be very versatile and intuitive.
In addition to recording voice or sounds to go with you photos, you can also make use of up to five memo fields for each picture taken. The memos can be used to clarify the situation for those viewing the pictures, and it can also be used as a means of naming and filing your photos and finding them later. This feature really comes in handy when you take hundreds of photos and need a reminder here and there of why you took the photo in the first place. Ever been there?
The camera has a very easy to read 2.5 inch translucent amorphous silicon thin-film transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) screen, and it is very readable in almost all conditions, even in bright sunlight. On the screen is displayed all the information you would ever need to know and more.
The screen tells you if the flash is on or off; what mode you are in; whether you are shooting still or movies and if the sound is recording or not; how many pictures are available on and can be added to the SD card; whether the memo field is active or not; how many GPS satellites are in view and if you have a fix; and if the date and time field are going to be recorded. It also shows battery life plus center and side framing marks along with a couple of symbols, which, while I am sure they are important, I never did decipher.
The Ricoh Caplio 500SE-M GPS Tactical Digital Camera has several additional photographic modes in addition to normal, macro, and micro modes, and zoom, of course. It has a mode for normal photography, the one many of us will use most of the time, but it also has a highly sensitive mode for shooting in dark places and it can shoot in almost total darkness without the flash. If there is any ambient light at all the camera will gather it and give you the best shot possible under the existing lighting conditions; it is very impressive.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is a mode called "firefighting" where the camera does its best to discern objects against very bright backgrounds like a fire, or bright sunlight, or sun reflecting off water or, in my case, snow. It works very well and objects can sometimes be discerned even though they were not clearly visible to the naked eye because of the bright background.
An Intelligent Device
Now for you intelligence or James Bond types, this camera has a mode that is simply amazing. It is called the skew correction mode, which auto corrects oblique images of shots of printed materials. So it takes pictures of text – big deal – but that is not the whole story. This camera can take a picture of an open book on a table across the room where you can barely see the text because the book is laying flat, and it will recognize and display that text in a readable format. I tried it time and time again and the camera will record the text on the page(s); the only requirement is that the text is visible at an oblique angle, even an extreme one. You won't believe it until you see it. For certain members of our military this feature alone is worth the price of the camera.
Then there is text mode, where you are just taking normal pictures of text. This mode makes the text easier to read, and while the previous mode could be considered clandestine, this one is definitely more overt.
The final mode is a zoom macro mode that allows you to shoot a very small object with the digital zoom; very handy for shooting insects from a distance, such as butterflies or bees on the surface of a flower. For the warfighters, I guess, you will just have to take my word that this mode even exists.
Then There Is Communications
So now you have all your pictures and you need to not only store and view them, you need to get them back to the HQ where someone can act on the intelligence you have gathered. And you need to send photos with memos, sound, and of course shots of those documents you gathered both clandestinely and overtly. You also have some faces you would like to have names attached to, if possible. This camera can help you achieve your mission, because it is equipped with several communications features.
The Ricoh Caplio 500SE-M GPS Tactical Digital Camera has impressive built-in communications capabilities. There is Bluetooth 2.0 plus Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) protocol, which pushes the bandwidth delivered over Bluetooth connections up to a peak rate of 3 megabits per second. The embedded Bluetooth module is a standard power class 2 version, not scaled down, so it can communicate up to 32 feet in an open area and can support various Bluetooth communications protocols such as Bluetooth Basic Imaging Profile (BIP), Object Push Profile (OPP) and Serial Port Profile (SPP). These profiles allow your Bluetooth camera to communicate with and transfer data between other Bluetooth enabled devices, such as mobile phones, PDAs, computers, and even Bluetooth enabled printers.
The camera also has wireless LAN capability with a standard interface, so it communicates over IEEE802.11 b/g wireless LANs with security in the form of WEP (64/128 bit), WPAS-PSK (TKIP/AES), and WPA2-PSK (TKIP/AES). For those of you who care, and you all should, this camera can communicate over Wi-Fi in very secure modes. This means your photos, memos, coordinates and recordings will get through in a secure mode to their destination.
The camera also has the capability to communicate with other communication devices over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi protocols, enabling file transfers between them, such as when the Ricoh Caplio 500SE-M GPS Tactical Digital Camera is connected with a Trimble NOMAD GPS transceiver. My contacts tell me this is a fairly common mode for sending data in the war zone, and that it is secure and effective. I mention this particular scenario because it is an active one in theater, but it makes me wonder how many more capabilities the Caplio camera might have when connected to other communications equipment, such as tactical radios, etc.
One added note: the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities may be disabled for combat operations where U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Directives prevent the use of such modes of transferring information.
All That and Extra Features
In addition to incredible communications capabilities, the Ricoh Caplio 500SE-M GPS Tactical Digital Camera also allows the user to use the camera in several non-conventional ways. You can connect the camera to a Bluetooth Laser Rangefinder and record the distance to the object you are photographing. So if you have a picture of an object, say an improvised explosive device (IED), your coordinates, the distance and compass heading to the IED, then you can determine the IED location, relative elevation, and the IED coordinates as well. Plus, if the object is not an IED but an object that you can approach safely, the GPS Lock feature on the camera allows you to store the location of an object, step away from the object and take a photo of the object, and then pair the coordinates of the object with the photo. This sounds confusing, but is actually very easy to accomplish; again unique capabilities in a camera that are very impressive and very useful, especially for warfighters, firemen, policemen, and anyone else who works in the field and must record and communicate critical data quickly and seamlessly.
The literature on the CD ROM that comes with the camera indicates you can read a barcode through the lens and scan it into a memo as well. I tried this and it works, plus I was then able to actually read and decipher the photocopy of the barcode with the barcode reader on the Trimble NOMAD. I can see where this might be very useful; when the two devices are paired they combine for an awesome capability for our warfighters. And pssst! Don't tell anyone I told you, but I am hearing rumors of a new Trimble Nomad; stay tuned.
I don't have room here to go into the software that supports the Ricoh Caplio 500SE-M GPS Tactical Digital Camera, but there are Ricoh and ESRI software packages that fully support the output of this amazing camera and subsequently allow you to use the data in any GIS application. The Ricoh GPS-Photo-Link software allows you to create GPS labeled photos, ESRI shape files, Google Earth views, and web pages, as well as enabling you to process your photos with one click using ESRI ArcGIS plug-ins. There is a ton of capability in this camera and even more in the post processing capabilities.
The Bottom Line
Any camera can take a decent picture in perfect conditions, but for those in the field, warfighters, etc., conditions are rarely perfect. Furthermore, they need to collect visual data with sound and sometimes with motion, along with the associated metadata. This is where the Ricoh combat camera shines.
It is plain to see that the Ricoh Caplio 500SE-M GPS Tactical Digital Camera is more than just a camera. It is a must-have, a tool and an asset that is critical for our warfighters and all those that go in harm's way and must document, record, and transmit visual data. I am really going to miss having this camera around. Ernie Pyle would have loved it.
Until next time, happy navigating.
RSS
Become a Fan
Join our Network
Follow Us
Please send any technical comments or questions to our webmaster.