Ooops I did it again

[Terry]

I quietly bought a GRD2 on the buy/sell of this forum. It arrived on Thursday just in time to take it on a trip to Las Vegas where I ended up with no time at all to take any real pictures.

The camera itself is very impressive. I read the manual on the flight to Las Vegas and set up the menu items, function key and then I also have a My1 and My2 set up. I'm not telling people anything that is new but will agree that this is the best control layout for a compact camera that I have ever used (although for different reasons the Digilux 2 - much larger is my favorite).

Here are my settings.....all comments and suggestions welcome.

Adjustment wheel - ISO, WB, B&W etc, size (aspect ratio)

Function button - AF/snap focus


My1 is for landscapes and I will test that out later in the week in San Juan.
Focus = infinity
ISO 80
Aperture priority starting at f4.5
Daylight WB
-.7 EV
Full sized RAW 4:3
Center weighted metering

My2 is for street but I am trying out street shooting - not sure if these are optimal
Focus = snap
Auto ISO max 1600
Aperture priority starting at f4.5 (may change it to 2.4)
AWB
-.7 EV
center weighted metering
RAW 1:1 (an experiment for me)

Oh, image quality....no comments yet as I really didn't get a chance to shoot. So, here are some dreaded words the "test shots"....:ROTFL:

NO real PP on these...just resize and some contrast boost to the first.

On the plane reading the manual and testing settings
View attachment 4143

Finally after landing - lunchtime
View attachment 4144

My only free time of the weekend
View attachment 4145

So,
More from San Juan.

 

[helenhill]

FANTASTIQUE Terry
You are now 'Officially A Ricoh Girl'

Love all three shots / in particular......... the last/ the red is magic

Are you leaving today ? Have FUUUNNN in Puerto Rico!!!

Best, H

 

[Terry]

Thanks Helen,
Between you and Cam I had lots of tips on setup. My trip to San Juan is a bit short. I have meetings tomorrow that I couldn't change so I don't arrive on the island until late tomorrow night...sigh. Hopefully, I will have something worthy to post from the trip.

 

[sizifo]

Congratulations on buying the best camera. Forget about the M8, this is the real deal.

I must say that I've found the MY settings to be of no use to me. It's so easy to change things on the fly, and whatever is set in the MY setting, is, well, set, and you may want something slightly different. I wonder what the experience of other people is with this.

The other big plus is the manual focus, which is much better than on the GRDI, because of the distance indicator, and which I now use more often than snap.

 

[Lili]

Cool stuff Terrry,
I bet you are gonna love the convenience and draw of 'lil'Ricoh'

 

[cmb_]

Wow Terry, you are too good to yourself. Enjoy!

 

[Terry]

Congratulations on buying the best camera. Forget about the M8, this is the real deal.

I must say that I've found the MY settings to be of no use to me. It's so easy to change things on the fly, and whatever is set in the MY setting, is, well, set, and you may want something slightly different. I wonder what the experience of other people is with this.

The other big plus is the manual focus, which is much better than on the GRDI, because of the distance indicator, and which I now use more often than snap.

the my settings are only a starting point and you still have access to make all the changes you want. What it does is allow me to make 6-7 changes in settings in one move of the dial, which is even faster.

 

[Terry]

Wow Terry, you are too good to yourself. Enjoy!

That is a bit of a problem. However, I will be selling some things quite soon. This was always a camera that intrigued me but not enough to go buy a new one. We shall see how it goes.

 

[mwalker]

Terry, Your going to love it as a "on the fly" camera, however it is a small sensor and you'll have to deal with noise, either use it or deal with it in PP. Its a great companion to the M8 but no way a equal.

 

[cam]

congrats, Terry! i know you'll have a blast with it. definitely try some looser shots on the LCD as well. it's a different beast than the M8 and absolutely lovely! it does so many things and so well at that that it spoils you...

i am looking forward to many experimental shots of froufrou drinks in San Juan :grin:

 

[sizifo]

Just to make one thing clear. I forgot to put a smiley next to my M8 comment. Just a quick look at the M8 forum, and it's clear the clarity, richness of color, just image quality in every way, shouldn't be compared with the GRDs. I think it can't be compared with the vast majority of SLR images - presumably because the average lens used on the M8 is superior to the average lens used on an SLRs.

I was possibly trying to con somebody into donating an M8 to me.

 

[Terry]

Terry, Your going to love it as a "on the fly" camera, however it is a small sensor and you'll have to deal with noise, either use it or deal with it in PP. Its a great companion to the M8 but no way a equal.

Yeah, the forget about the M8 comment from above made me laugh. When I go out in NYC I just take M8 and one lens anyway, so no hassles on size changing lenses etc.

The difference in the files is clearly visible even on the LCD. There is no possible way that this would displace the M8 in my bag.
So, we shall see how it does in San Juan.

 

[Terry]

Just to make one thing clear. I forgot to put a smiley next to my M8 comment. Just a quick look at the M8 forum, and it's clear the clarity, richness of color, just image quality in every way, shouldn't be compared with the GRDs. I think it can't be compared with the vast majority of SLR images - presumably because the average lens used on the M8 is superior to the average lens used on an SLRs.

I was possibly trying to con somebody into donating an M8 to me.

I saw this after my reply. I will say a smile would have helped. There really is no comparing. Also, my D300 does well at ISO 3200 (better than GRD2 at 800 for sure. So, it will be interesting to see how I use it. I don't mind noise per se but skin tones have to render OK for me in a B&W conversion and it may take some time to get that right.

 

[sizifo]

the my settings are only a starting point and you still have access to make all the changes you want. What it does is allow me to make 6-7 changes in settings in one move of the dial, which is even faster.

You are absolutely right, and I'm sure it can be useful depending on how you shoot. But for me it is one of the GRDII features that were not in GRDI that I thought would be great, but ended up never using. Probably, I don't shoot in a way that 6-7 changes are ever necessary, and like to keep the changes linear.

In fact, lately I've often found myself using the camera with everything on manual.

Here are the settings:

The scroll button:

Focus: spot AF/manual is the most common setting change I make.
ISO: Obvious.
Metering: Very often change from spot to weighted.
JPEG quality: This is just to change the display from color to B&W, which I like to do. However, I never ever use the jpgs. The IQ compared to a raw conversion is much much worse.

Fn button: AE lock. The easiest way to get the exposure to what you want, without going to full manual.

 

[Bob]

Terry,
You beat me to it. After trying Helen's GRD I was very impressed with how quick on the draw it is.:thumbup:
One saving grace is that there are no lenses to buy for it compared with the new point and shoot, the D3, that I just picked up.:bugeyes:
-bob

 

[jonoslack]

Congratulations Terry
I hope you enjoy - I've got it's little (big) brother the GX100.

Now then - all you need to do is to change that half-cocked D300 for a D3 and you'll be doing just fine

 

[cmb_]

Now then - all you need to do is to change that half-cocked D300 for a D3 and you'll be doing just fine

I thought she was going to grab Guy's ZD when he upgrades this week - or is Bob going to get it first!

 

[Terry]

Congratulations Terry
I hope you enjoy - I've got it's little (big) brother the GX100.

Now then - all you need to do is to change that half-cocked D300 for a D3 and you'll be doing just fine

Jono, while technically it may be a better camera, I haven't reconciled myself to carrying it around. I had the D300 plus 24-70 for 3 hours and that seemed like plenty to me. I know you are trying your best to wear me down....

 

[Terry]

I thought she was going to grab Guy's ZD when he upgrades this week - or is Bob going to get it first!

One thing I can positively guarantee is that I am NOT getting a MF setup. :grin: Guy and I have even discussed that it really doesn't make any sense for me and what I shoot (not to mention my level of competence).

 

[Terry]

Terry,
You beat me to it. After trying Helen's GRD I was very impressed with how quick on the draw it is.:thumbup:
One saving grace is that there are no lenses to buy for it compared with the new point and shoot, the D3, that I just picked up.:bugeyes:
-bob

Bob,
I am bringing it with me and we can play with it together. Once you see what you are getting from the D3 and your M8's you are not going to be overly pleased. However, it will be fun to see how it does out on the street.

Somebody really needs to combine a large sensor with the GRD2 controls. I don't say DP1 because I'm not yet convinced on Foveon - except for B&W.