dreamsandart
Well-known
The Ricoh is now being shipped here in Japan and mine is in transit from Amazon. With that in mind I headed into Yodobashi Camera this morning to see if I could actually handle one compared to the Nikon Coolpix A. The Ricoh GR was available yesterday I was told. 13 in stock and 5 left when I arrived in the late morning. With all the discussion of the low light focus issue with the Ricoh I was feeling I'd jumped in too soon, so I really wanted to compare the handling, menu, and see for myself if the focus was as bad as I'm reading.
The Nikon handling was OK but really didn't work for me. In general OK, but its not the camera for me.
The Ricoh GR felt very good in the hand from the start, it was much better than the Nikon. Went through the menu and functions and everything 'clicked' for me. I spent a good 20 minutes with it in my hand snapping off the shutter in the showroom and yes, sometimes on flat NO contrast subjects (can't say the show room itself was 'low light') it hunted and locked on at out of focus and needed to try again, but was fast with everything else I pointed it at. Although my very limited time was no real test, it seemed to be better than OK.
The 21mm adapter was another reason for the Ricoh and it was an eye-opener, really nice to have the option although it does add bulk and weight which defeats the purpose of a compact in the Ricoh size, but it does make a compact 21mm. 21mm, 1:1 format, and B&W is very cool and my desire for another Hassablad SWC could be put on the back burner for now (not that it could replace an SWC, but size and cost does have its advantages ;-)
Was almost ready to cancel my order and go into 'wait and see' mode, but since its on its way… I may as well try it out and see how it really works. Firmware updates may help the low light issue I hope, but that may be down the line longer than I want to wait if it turns out to be the deal braker.
So it should be here in later today or tomorrow. Only other problem for me now is Leica's Mini M was announced. Wait for that, and see what it is? Whatever it is I'm sure it will be many times more money, but it could be interesting.
The Nikon handling was OK but really didn't work for me. In general OK, but its not the camera for me.
The Ricoh GR felt very good in the hand from the start, it was much better than the Nikon. Went through the menu and functions and everything 'clicked' for me. I spent a good 20 minutes with it in my hand snapping off the shutter in the showroom and yes, sometimes on flat NO contrast subjects (can't say the show room itself was 'low light') it hunted and locked on at out of focus and needed to try again, but was fast with everything else I pointed it at. Although my very limited time was no real test, it seemed to be better than OK.
The 21mm adapter was another reason for the Ricoh and it was an eye-opener, really nice to have the option although it does add bulk and weight which defeats the purpose of a compact in the Ricoh size, but it does make a compact 21mm. 21mm, 1:1 format, and B&W is very cool and my desire for another Hassablad SWC could be put on the back burner for now (not that it could replace an SWC, but size and cost does have its advantages ;-)
Was almost ready to cancel my order and go into 'wait and see' mode, but since its on its way… I may as well try it out and see how it really works. Firmware updates may help the low light issue I hope, but that may be down the line longer than I want to wait if it turns out to be the deal braker.
So it should be here in later today or tomorrow. Only other problem for me now is Leica's Mini M was announced. Wait for that, and see what it is? Whatever it is I'm sure it will be many times more money, but it could be interesting.
