Ricoh GRD4 announcement

[hxpham]

yes by delivering little image quality

You could say the same about any camera. All cameras suck, it's just about figuring out which camera sucks the less for your own style and preferences 🙂

 

[nighstar]

i have no idea whether or not this addresses the problem you speak of, but one of the Japanese bloggers who went to the event said that to him the magnesium exterior of the camera seems to have been redesigned. he also commented that the shape and width of the grip has been revised and that the end of the lens barrel has been changed..... so maybe the changes in the body and lens barrel design may help against the problem you speak of?

after reading through the GRD4 brochure, it seems that the exterior design (minus the lens barrel?) has been kept the same. however, i think the new GL-1 metal lens cap may help the dust problem that you mentioned. the lens cap also has a feature that disables the camera from being turned on while the cap is on, so this would prevent accidental turn on while in a pocket/bag etc. the new lens cap will work with the GRD3 as well after a new (and final) firmware update that's coming soon.

 

[39per1]

I realized one more issue (or more precisely, tradition) that the GRD cameras haven't addressed yet: sensor dust.

My GRD III developed two large dust specks in the past two years. Reports of dust getting into brand new GRDs after one week of normal use are not uncommon. Hope they've got better sealing this time.

I agree, I've got a dust spec inside my GRDIII and it become an issue since f4........

 

[v_roma]

Those sample photos from the users look good. I think that the colour has improved since the GRD III and I'm wondering how that translates into the raw files and Lightroom.

I've never had a dust issue with my GRD III, touch wood, and it goes in pockets, around my neck, and in the bottom of bags.

With the grd3, at least, you can select to use the embedded color profile when processing dng files in LR. Hopefully that will continue to be possible with the grd4.

 

[smelyrhino]

Seems like it'll start shipping October 21st! Just in time for hallow's eve(hopefully)! 😉

http://photorumors.com/2011/10/11/ricoh-gr-digital-iv-to-be-released-on-october-21/

 

[nighstar]

swiped from DPReview's forum, a 5 page full-length review on the GRDIV with comparisons to the GRDIII from Kakaku Magazine (in Japanese): http://magazine.kakaku.com/mag/camera/id=536/

i'm too lazy to try reading it at the moment.... there are plenty of photos to oggle.

 

[jsrockit]

Seems like a great time to score a cheap GRD III. 🙂

 

[kuvvy]

jsrockit, how much is cheap? Mine is for sale. Just sold my G11 and my tiny Fuji F30 is going too. Just having a bit of a late spring clean. Have to agree that the GRD series are super street shooters and an deal pocket cam for 'real' photographers.

Paul

Oops maybe I shouldn't post this here.

 

[jsrockit]

Well, stores are selling them for between $419 - $449 here in the US. Ebay has them in the $300 - $375 range in completed auctions.

 

[kuvvy]

Wow, so cheap. I may just hang on to it after all and get the new update later this month.

 

[v_roma]

So, in the interest of passing time until the GRD4 comes out, I have been reading anything I can on this camera 🙂. One of the things that caught my eye was the dynamic range compensation feature. According to Ricoh's FAQ, this features works for RAW files as well, which means that the increased dynamic range is not something that is added during the in-camera JPEG processing but prior to that. I have to admit I'm not up to date on digital compact camera technology but I've never heard of this before (it's the internet, I'll be proven wrong within a few posts, I'm sure 🙂). Does anyone know how this feature might work and how effective it could be in practice?

 

[nighstar]

so the GRD4 has now been released and tons of new photos of/taken with the camera can be found on flickr if you search for "grd4". i'm sure lots of stuff can be found via Google too, but i'm loving the photos i'm seeing on flickr.

as for me.... sitting on my hands waiting for B&H, who is closed til Saturday US time, to ship mine. :'(

anyone who gets theirs, please share photos!

 

[dogbunny]

Has it really been released? None of the websites (popflash and B&H) list it as being available. They just say you can pre-order it. Maybe they just haven't updated their websites.

 

[nighstar]

it's been released in Japan.... seems like it hasn't made it to America yet. 🙁

 

[jsrockit]

Any Japanese users on this forum have one>?

 

[dogbunny]

Noting the price difference, I'm happy to wait for the American release. 🙂 I have a Yodobashi discount card, but even with that doesn't help much.

 

[nighstar]

GRD3 & GRD4 raw comparisons from this review in Japanese.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sakura_chihaya/6269685102/ (the GRD4 has dynamic range set to low)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sakura_chihaya/6263827398/

also, i'm really loving these photos from りょう on Flickr.... *drools*


_0010610.jpg by Ryo（りょう）, on Flickr


_0010626.jpg by Ryo（りょう）, on Flickr

and these from JIM LIN:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jim-lin/6265481225/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jim-lin/6266009630/

and lastly, the GRD4 manual is now online: http://www.ricoh.com/r_dc/support/manual/grd4.html

edit: B&H has changed the approx. arrival date of the GRD4 White to November... :'(

 

[v_roma]

edit:[/B] B&H has changed the approx. arrival date of the GRD4 White to November... :'(

I placed a preorder with popflash and got an email saying that, based on information they got from Ricoh, they would be able to fulfill my pre-order with the first shipment. They were also told by Ricoh to expect the first shipment at the end of this week or beginning of next (no exact date). I was pleasantly surprised with the quick email update I got back from popflash and happy I placed my pre-order with them even though their pre-orders are non-refundable and their return policy is slightly more restricting than most other places. Neither of these were a concern for me, though. /Plug 😉

 

[nighstar]

i'm jealous.... i wish B&H would have the consideration to update its customers on the situation. as it stands now, B&H has already charged my card for the camera but i still don't even really know if they'll have enough stock of the white for me to be in line for one. they should have known how much stock they'd be receiving before offering something for pre-order, right? i notice that they've now stopped pre-orders for the white model, so hopefully that means i did make the cut (i pre-ordered mine a month ago).

sigh.

i hope B&H starts getting stock end of this week/beginning of next too.

 

[v_roma]

Most stores will accept as many pre-orders as they get, regardless of how many items they will receive with the first shipment. The theory is that they will eventually be able to fulfill your pre-order, even if it takes a while. That said, if Popflash knows how many cameras they will be receiving with the first shipment, I would think that B&H would know as well (or could find out if interested). It may just not be a top priorty for them, especially these days when there are new cameras coming out constantly, it seems. I wouldn't lose hope yet, though. B&H is a big player and they're likely to be one of the first places to get shipments as well, I would think. Also, the fact that popflash will be able to fill my pre-order with their first shipment when I only pre-ordered today makes me think that the number of GRD4 pre-orders is not really exceeding the initial supply. It's somewhat of a niche camera, especially here in the US.