Ricoh GR-D

[pstevenin]

Does anybody try this new little toy? Thanks to Sean review, I bought one with a VC 28 viewfinder. There is a silent mode with no popping light or screen and a sort of hyperfocal preset (no autofocus noise). In an aperture priority mode, this system is totally silent and producing more than acceptable results (see in depth Sean review again... and again!). At 800 or 1600 iso I shoot B&W with some extra, but mild, noise reducer (neat image). Haven't printed any results yet, but sounds promising

did also some flash test (remote PC-sync auto mode) fill in and with a diffuser (-1 stop) and the results are quite good.

I have to post some pics but this gear is replacing my Oly stylus epic. The GR-D is much more manageable than the oly (full speed, aperture & focus control) and produces really decent Jpeg. I am not very happy with the raw (DNG) mode as there is no decent profile existing now (I use PW4.0 with poor results ) and ACR with quite better handling (specifically on the noise aspects).

My DNG routine is only when shooting high iso B&W(800 iso) or color (400 & 800 iso), transform to tiff with ACR (with level and exposure compensation if needed), de-noise it with neat image and final retouching with Picture window (framing, resizing etc...)

And finally replaces also my oly E-10 for testing purpose (exposure in difficult situation when medium format is involved, long shutter pause etc...) as accurate and much much more lighter.

any experience to share?

 

[Todd.Hanz]

Plz post some pics when you can, this is an interesting camera.

Todd

 

[pstevenin]

I have to do some work at home for it ( my PC is very sick these days...) and the subject will be quite focused on my twins (not interesting for you guys, I know, I know) but I'll try my best hopefully before end of this week.

Handling is very cool, results are cool , macro capability is cool....pocketability is cool

what's not very cool is portraiture (28mm physics... and deep DOF) (but I've some other gears for that).

 

[Pherdinand]

how about the price, you've found that cool? If it wasn't over the 500 euro tag, i would consider it very seriously. Also, it's not a popular camera, meaning it's nowhere to find and try out over here!🙁

 

[pstevenin]

After reading invaluable GR-D Sean's review, you may also visit those interesting sites :
http://www.flickr.com/groups/grdigital/discuss/164256/

or this one (sorry in french but with some pics)
http://defdef.free.fr/wordpress/index.php?cat=4

or that one : (photos only)
http://www.flickr.com/groups/ricohgr1/pool/tags/grdigital/

or this one : (probably the bests photos I've seen with this P&S)
http://ricoh-grd.blogspot.com/

 

[pstevenin]

how about the price, you've found that cool? If it wasn't over the 500 euro tag, i would consider it very seriously. Also, it's not a popular camera, meaning it's nowhere to find and try out over here!🙁

Quality stays for ever, and price is forgotten after a while.

Yes it is a pricey camera, but the results are there and the ergonomics is very cool. You can use it as a real camera.

You can find it at around 500€ on the net and even less (in germany, I'll try to find the link later).

 

[bmattock]

ywenz also has one, I believe.

I do not like it. One major reason is that Ricoh claims it is the digital successor to the famous Ricoh GR series cameras, but it is not - at least not to me. I saw the GR series film cameras as very nearly ideal 'go-anywhere' cameras for street photography - and stealthy street photography at that. That's the main reason so many pros loved the pocket-sized GR cameras too - wide angle, fast (enough) lens, sharp optics, quiet, go anywhere.

What is missing (from my point of view):

1) Internal optical viewfinder. Yes, they sell a clip-on accessory viewfinder. For $200 extra. And that's one more thing to get snagged on your shirt pocket, so it is NOT a 'shirt pocket' camera for street photography, which the GR series film cameras definitely were.

2) Huge LCD. Until the recent update, this could not even be turned off. Sorry, but as much as an LCD is nice for a digicam, it has no place on a camera aimed at street photography. Hold the camera out at arm's length and light up your face with the huge honkin' LCD. Real stealthy.

3) Miniature (digicam sized) image sensor. This means selective focus is pretty much worthless. The camera actually has a built-in internal ND filter to try to 'slow down' the ISO so that bigger apertures can be used - to increase DOF effects. But with a 1 1/8 inch sensor, that's not going to happen. DOF at 10 feet and wide open (f/2.4) is still something like 6 feet as I recall.

4) Faster ISO is nice - but no ISO 1600/3200 with RAW files - they don't tell you that, people are finding out on their own.

Yes, the camera can be 'silent' but so can my crappy Olympus D-40Z. I experimented until I could turn off all the beeps and boops it makes and now it is dead quiet. But so what? It sucks as a camera for street photography and so does the Digital GR (my opinion).

It may be a fine 'camera' as cameras go. I really wanted it to be the digital successor to the film-based Ricoh GR series cameras and it is not, so I'm kind of hard on it. I see it as a noble effort that got side-tracked by the Ricoh marketing wonks - hence, the worthless huge LCD, no optical viewfinder, stuck-on afterthought accessory viewfinder, and tiny image sensor.

I would consider this camera if:

1) Bigger image sensor.
2) Real optical viewfinder internal to the camera.
3) Real 3200 ISO with RAW file saving ability at that ISO setting.

This is just my two cents, I realize a lot of folks like this camera.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[fgianni]

The only thing that put me off getting one are the long raw writing times, I ended up getting an LX1

 

[bmattock]

The only thing that put me off getting one are the long raw writing times, I ended up getting an LX1

Interesting. Did you test this yourself? Do you know if new-tech 'faster' memory cards helped? I can see where this would be a problem as well.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[hth]

The only thing that put me off getting one are the long raw writing times, I ended up getting an LX1

The long raw writing was also what put me off.

The LX1 on the other hand seems to leave a bit to desired for ISO 400 speed. An f2 lens combined with the builtin stabilization could have helped, but it is f2.8, so it seems to lack low light capability, so I will most likely pass.

It is as usual, I find some interesting digital camera, find one major flaw too many and end up keep using film.

I wish there were any decent small digital cameras, I would like to try a full digital workflow for a while...

/Håkan

 

[pstevenin]

As promised some photos :

The gear with the viewfinder : Does not fit a shirt pocket, but okay in a vest (wallet) inside pocket. Not that heavy and nice since a week now.

With the external flash, is does not fit to any of my pockets, but I am very happy with the results

 

[pstevenin]

Some more photos : filtered (neat image) and unfiltered jpeg at 1600iso

 

[bmattock]

Some more photos : filtered (neat image) and unfiltered jpeg at 1600iso

Some serious astigmatism on the image on the left. Look at the lady's hand. I am not trying to attack you or your camera, just noting what I'm seeing.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[pstevenin]

some color photos : both are filtered at 400 iso (but are acceptable not filtered) 800 iso color is not acceptable not filtered & 1600 color even filtered is not acceptable. I may do so pics if you want but sean did that extensively...

Personally I reserve 800 & 1600 for B&W shots. The support from Ricoh is great with a lot of firmware and now this machine is okay.
It is still a P&S camera so long lag for DNG writing does not bother me. Even 1.7s btwn each jpg is okay (the time to rewind my M6 at least) The extra money compared with an Ricoh R4 is worthy, the lens is great, and the Human interface is almost perfect. A perfect tool for snapshots (not for low light, but usually I plan it and go with the summilux and Neopan 1600, definetely not the same league)

 

[kbg32]

I love my LX1. Shoots RAW, no shutter lag, fits in the palm of your hand. Don't miss a finder for street shooting.

 

[pstevenin]

Some serious astigmatism on the image on the left. Look at the lady's hand. I am not trying to attack you or your camera, just noting what I'm seeing.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

I am not sure.

First the camera was severely tilted and it is still a 28mm (equivalent)

And the lady (in fact my beloved wife) is handling a baby spoon to feed one of the twins.

(Or perhaps I do not get the point)

 

[bmattock]

I am not sure.

First the camera was severely tilted and it is still a 28mm (equivalent)

And the lady (in fact my beloved wife) is handling a baby spoon to feed one of the twins.

(Or perhaps I do not get the point)

No, you may be right. Looking again, I see the problem only on the edge of her sleeve - I took that not to be a 'blurred' image (slow shutter speed), but to be a double image (coma or astigmatism). However, I don't see it elsewhere on closer examination, so it may well be that you had a slow shutter speed and her hand was in motion when you tool the photo.

Beg your pardon.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[pstevenin]

I love my LX1. Shoots RAW, no shutter lag, fits in the palm of your hand. Don't miss a finder for street shooting.

I have a real problem with no finder , (the way dad & mum built me) otherwise the LX1 will probably fit the bill nicely

 

[pstevenin]

No, you may be right. Looking again, I see the problem only on the edge of her sleeve - I took that not to be a 'blurred' image (slow shutter speed), but to be a double image (coma or astigmatism). However, I don't see it elsewhere on closer examination, so it may well be that you had a slow shutter speed and her hand was in motion when you tool the photo.

Beg your pardon.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

You're totally right, 1/9s f 8 plus fill flash (the external one)

all these images are cropped and not resized (JPEG compression to be uploaded)

 

[Silva Lining]

I compared these two and went for the LX1 - I also have a GR1v and I quite often carry the two when I am travelling on business. I use the Gr1v for B&W & low light and the LX1 for Colur & day shooting.

It was close but decided agianst the GR-D because of noise and because I wanted to try the 16:9 sensor size on the LX1. (The LX1 is noisy too!) I guess I also thought that having a GR1v that the GR-D would only be a disappointment against it.

Who knows? it Works for me!