leicashot
Well-known
Well my GRD arrived from Popflash today, packaged perfectly, on time, as only one can expect from non other than Tony himself.
First impressions are as usual with all Ricoh GR's. Great build, pocketable and excellent handling and controls. Firstly noticeable is the screen and menu upgrade. Ricoh has put a 920K screen on this baby and it looks hot. It's colours are very accurate to my computer monitor and is quite easy to see at various angles and even in bright sunlight (to an extent).
The menu upgrade is impressive. The font is smaller and shows more on the screen at one time. The are so many customisazble options, one may think it's almost too much for such a small camera, but one must remember that this is no ordinary camera. The one feature that stands out for me is the manual flash exposure option which is great for making social pics when shooting at the same distance. It's a unique camera and there's nothing else currently like it (high speed fixed lens, and pocketable). For what it is, it brings me the closest in excitement to my Leica M8 as I could ever find in a compact pocketable camera.
Image quality wise, this camera excels. It's definately capable of producing highly detailed files, with excellent sharpness in the lens, even wide open at f/1.9!!! It has a nice overall feel to the images, like previous Ricohs, meaning that the files print exceptionally well, without the plastic look of other brands that shall remain nameless. GRD III files have character that look very film-like, especially in black and white, exhibiting excellent tone and depth. Raw files have a lot of room for movement without much loss of quality if one needs to correct any mistakes in the field. Detail at ISO 400 and lower, under the right conditions and aperture comes close to the M8, honestly! - EDIT: I take this back....got a bit excited ;-) It's not comparable, but very decent quality, quite equal to the files from my previous EP-1 - it's quality is very similar, maybe a slight edge going to the Olympus in file quality, but not by much. The Ricoh lens also outresolves the 17mm pancake.
Overall I love the camera. Many people speak of this camera as the 'ultimate street tool'. While this statement has a lot going for it, the ONLY thing that prevents it from having 'ultimate street tool status' is the fact it doesn't have a built-in viewfinder....and that it lacks manual/rangefinder focus....BUT, it is NOT a rangefinder, so for what it is, it is unbeatable in it's niche category. But seriously, if Ricoh made a larger model with a 'decent size' viewfinder, it would put it into a much different product category, so I'm happy with the way it is and wouldn't change it. I'd rather use a LARGE external viewfinder than a pissy small one built-in.
While many might complain about the US$699 retail price, I believe it represents fantastic value for money, and for those of you on the fence, I can positively say that once in your hands, the $699 you paid for it will seem like a bargain!
Here are a few quick samples. Most of the pics I took today were of my daughter so I have chosen samples without much face detail to preserve her identity. Haven't tested in low light yet, but I suspect it will do well based on my first impressions. Lastly, I believe the GRD II was a slight improvement over the GR, offering a slightly over-excited noise reduction system, whereas the GRD III is a large improvement offering much more resolution, better higher ISO performance, and more tweaking for those who know what they want from their files. This is THE upgrade original GR owners and others considering a GR have been waiting for.
Over the weekend I plan on shooting some pictures on Hollywood Boulevard and can post some of those if there is any interest.
Regards, Kris
ISO 64 f/8 about 1/500 sec
ISO 64 f/8 about 1/500 sec
ISO 400 f/1.9 about 200 sec
and 100% crop
Adding another, this time at ISO 800 in low light at f/1.9, 1/80 sec
First impressions are as usual with all Ricoh GR's. Great build, pocketable and excellent handling and controls. Firstly noticeable is the screen and menu upgrade. Ricoh has put a 920K screen on this baby and it looks hot. It's colours are very accurate to my computer monitor and is quite easy to see at various angles and even in bright sunlight (to an extent).
The menu upgrade is impressive. The font is smaller and shows more on the screen at one time. The are so many customisazble options, one may think it's almost too much for such a small camera, but one must remember that this is no ordinary camera. The one feature that stands out for me is the manual flash exposure option which is great for making social pics when shooting at the same distance. It's a unique camera and there's nothing else currently like it (high speed fixed lens, and pocketable). For what it is, it brings me the closest in excitement to my Leica M8 as I could ever find in a compact pocketable camera.
Image quality wise, this camera excels. It's definately capable of producing highly detailed files, with excellent sharpness in the lens, even wide open at f/1.9!!! It has a nice overall feel to the images, like previous Ricohs, meaning that the files print exceptionally well, without the plastic look of other brands that shall remain nameless. GRD III files have character that look very film-like, especially in black and white, exhibiting excellent tone and depth. Raw files have a lot of room for movement without much loss of quality if one needs to correct any mistakes in the field. Detail at ISO 400 and lower, under the right conditions and aperture comes close to the M8, honestly! - EDIT: I take this back....got a bit excited ;-) It's not comparable, but very decent quality, quite equal to the files from my previous EP-1 - it's quality is very similar, maybe a slight edge going to the Olympus in file quality, but not by much. The Ricoh lens also outresolves the 17mm pancake.
Overall I love the camera. Many people speak of this camera as the 'ultimate street tool'. While this statement has a lot going for it, the ONLY thing that prevents it from having 'ultimate street tool status' is the fact it doesn't have a built-in viewfinder....and that it lacks manual/rangefinder focus....BUT, it is NOT a rangefinder, so for what it is, it is unbeatable in it's niche category. But seriously, if Ricoh made a larger model with a 'decent size' viewfinder, it would put it into a much different product category, so I'm happy with the way it is and wouldn't change it. I'd rather use a LARGE external viewfinder than a pissy small one built-in.
While many might complain about the US$699 retail price, I believe it represents fantastic value for money, and for those of you on the fence, I can positively say that once in your hands, the $699 you paid for it will seem like a bargain!
Here are a few quick samples. Most of the pics I took today were of my daughter so I have chosen samples without much face detail to preserve her identity. Haven't tested in low light yet, but I suspect it will do well based on my first impressions. Lastly, I believe the GRD II was a slight improvement over the GR, offering a slightly over-excited noise reduction system, whereas the GRD III is a large improvement offering much more resolution, better higher ISO performance, and more tweaking for those who know what they want from their files. This is THE upgrade original GR owners and others considering a GR have been waiting for.
Over the weekend I plan on shooting some pictures on Hollywood Boulevard and can post some of those if there is any interest.
Regards, Kris
ISO 64 f/8 about 1/500 sec
ISO 64 f/8 about 1/500 sec
ISO 400 f/1.9 about 200 sec
and 100% crop
Adding another, this time at ISO 800 in low light at f/1.9, 1/80 sec
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