Ricoh GXR A12 Mount compared with Leica M8/M9

R

rdeleskie

Well-known
Local time
6:18 PM
Joined
Jul 31, 2009
Messages
211
Location
Toronto
View My Gallery
Okay, this is a dangerous game, I know. Anybody out there with the new GXR Mount A12 and a Leica M8/M9 who's willing to offer some comparisons between the two? I'm mainly thinking IQ: overall sharpness, colour rendition, noise, corner performance...?

More important than technical specifics to me would be how you "feel" about the images you are getting. Do they belong to the same family? A close relative...a distant cousin...or a mysterious stranger?
 
Not dangerous, or shouldn't be. It's the fourth dedicated M-mount camera and deserves to be treated as such. Let the cards fall where they will...

My bet is that in some ways it will beat the M8 and RD1 (certainly at highest ISOs) but the M9 is full frame, which usually trumps anything smaller in terms of noise. But then there's not just noise...color rendition, how the microlenses handle the corners and wide lenses, and then of course the overall "feel" of the images.

I haven't tested them side by side enough yet (just got the module yesterday) but so far I havne't seen the "feel" that my R-D1 images have. But it's early in the game.

The GXR's 12 megapixel sensor reminds me A LOT of the D300's. That's a good thing...those files were wonderful to work with and I could use 3200 in a pinch--and that's for a publication. Lightroom 3 and no in-camera noise reduction makes noise not much of an issue for me, chroma goes away and there's just...grain.

Anyway, I'd like to see more side-by-side comparisons. I'll be interested to see when DPReview gets the module's images into their comparison widget thing!
 
coming friday I get my GXR, hopefully with the M mount.....

It seems that the dedicated mount for the M register is the much better M8 without RF of course and the missing red point......

Is there anybody who can try to get the magenta cast with black fabrics?
 
I'm a CLE & M8 shooter. My impressions - the GXR M-module is the polar opposite to the rangefinder experience and practice. I've only had my GXR-M for a few days but I expect the GXR-M to remain awkward for my composing and my focusing for many months to come. That shouldn't be a surprise to any experienced M user. I will adjust to the user-interface and the 1.5 crop sensor but for me the EVF/LCD will never be as rapid and practical as an optical rangefinder.

The GXR camera system + module is light-weight and is a pleasure to use with tiny lenses. I will probably zone focus much of the time with shorter lenses. For lenses longer than 50mm(effective) and close-ups, accurate focusing needs the largest aperture and then an appropriate stopping-down. This breaks the momentum of a shot. At wide open apertures it is very easy to nail the focus with the EVF focus-peaking aids and magnification. This is fine for static subjects but I expect the HCB decisive moments to be missed in fluid situations.

Ricoh has done a marvelous job with the sensor. Other than crop and fall-off, lens character has been preserved. There are no Italian flag artifacts on the wides. If you see early image samples with garish color, chalk them up to a RAW converter that has not optimized the GXR-M profile. This will mature over time. For the OP, I would say that the GXR-M image quality is a close relative to the M8 and is not as noisy at higher ISOs.

Even though it is early days for me, I do like the user interface of the GXR. I am confident that I will be able to customize it to my satisfaction. With a nice small lens to suit my mood and M-family IQ, the GXR-M will become my nifty little grab-n-go camera.
 
Can't wait to read the comparison. I'm looking at both the NEX 5n and the GRX at the moment as a backup to the M8. Would never consider replacing the rangefinder, but having a high-iso option is nice. The NEX sports one of the best high-iso capable APS-C sensors, video and tilt LCD, while the GRX has a dedicated sensor with no AA, quiet shutter and good ergonomics. Tough choice.
 
I got the GXR, now I don't have a digital M but I do have the Nex 3 and a couple of film M's so M lenses are not a problem. But get the GXR no adp. they focus to inf. not past it and it feels like a leica as far as the controls and shutter. Plus I think I don't have to work so hard with the files to get nice prints. But you can't put as many different lenses on the GXR as you can with the Sony.

wbill
 
hunz said:
Still the Ricoh has NO optical viewfinder for composition and focusing compared to the M8
Click to expand...

OVFs have their disadvantages too. By the way, where would an OVF fit into the Ricoh concept?

How do like thru the lens viewing? What do you think of an exact picture forecast even with a 135 mm lens?
Also, if one compares 2 cameras, it is nice, if there is something different to detect.

You are fighting wars of yesterday.
Jan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom