Ricoh GRDII B&W Query

[Dawson]

Thanks for making those files available again Vladimir, they were really helpful!
First of all I see what you mean about GRD JPEG vs RAW... in the real world there's very little to differenciate between the JEPG and processed RAW, so shooting JPEG will be fine, especially as this fits in with my normal workflow anyway.
The GRD vs GRD2 comparisons are interesting. Of course with there being more megapixels you're peering "further" into the scene with the GRD2 at 100% than you are the GRD, but there seems to be a distinct "fuzziness" created either by the very tight noise or the NR, and sharpening to reveal the "grain" (something I did like to do with the GRD because of that filmic look) seems to uncover more ugly noise/artifacts on the GRDII for sure.
Whilst I wouldn't mind the extra processing to get the image looking just right tone-wise with the GRD2, I was randomly picking images from the set you've uploaded and it was quite easy to tell the difference between the GRD and GRDII noise-wise, and in his regard I much prefer the GRD.

Just got to keep my fingers crossed that Calumet still has a NOS GRD left on it's eBay page in a week or so's time when I get an eBay gift certificate to help me along the way...

I'd heard about the Expose to the Right thing before, I'll definitely check that out with regards to the GRD, thanks!

 

[VladimirV]

Thanks for making those files available again Vladimir, they were really helpful!
First of all I see what you mean about GRD JPEG vs RAW... in the real world there's very little to differenciate between the JEPG and processed RAW, so shooting JPEG will be fine, especially as this fits in with my normal workflow anyway.
Whilst I wouldn't mind the extra processing to get the image looking just right tone-wise with the GRD2, I was randomly picking images from the set you've uploaded and it was quite easy to tell the difference between the GRD and GRDII noise-wise, and in his regard I much prefer the GRD.

Just got to keep my fingers crossed that Calumet still has a NOS GRD left on it's eBay page in a week or so's time when I get an eBay gift certificate to help me along the way...

You are welcome, glad these have been usefull.

I am very impressed by the GRD I JPG engine and consider it one of the best JPG engines in any digital camera. Completely reduces the need for RAW and with all the settings you have in-camera you can get exactly the picture you want without any PP or you can still use ACR and edit the JPGs as they are RAWs.

Like you I find it easy to pick GRD I files (RAW or JPG) out, the files just have a diffrent character and don't look "digital".

Hope you can get them from Calumet.

 

[ddk]

Hi there, just joined the forum after seeing how good this small sensor section is... I just hope I'm not going to embarrass myself by asking a question that might seem a little dumb, a little overly complex, or a bit of both!

I used to own a GRD but - very foolishly on both counts - never played with RAW on it and then sold it for a Fuji F20 (A silly move which I quickly regretted once I realised the extra control and thinking time afforded to me by the GRD was a huge plus!), so I have nothing to go on really...

I've read in a couple of places that some people feel the GRD has nicer B&W straight out of the camera and so I was wondering: on the GRDII can I set the camera to RAW+JPG in B&W mode and if so does this mean the LCD shows the scene in B&W, produces a B&W JPG for review and leaves the RAW ready for me to convert to B&W properly later? It might seem a dumb question I know, but I just wanted to check before I part with my hard earned on either the GRD or the II! Thanks!

Its exactly like the GRD, setting your camera to RAW shoots both a RAW DNG file & Jpeg file. You can set your camera to shoot RAW and BW which will give you what you want, a DNG file and a BW jpeg. The LCD is in BW too.

I still like the resulting BW files from the GRD2 but prefer the ones from the GRD.

 

[Dawson]

I'd have to agree about the JPEG engine Vladimir, I much, much prefer when NR is just left out of the equation as much as possible so that you can leave it as is for the "grain" or at least have total control over the reduction with Neat Image and the like. I can understand why most compacts don't go down this route though, as most people just want OK looking photos straight out of the camera, whereas I like there to be as much to work on myself as possible (Which thinking about it is a bit ironic given my shunning of RAW for JPEG, even on my 20D!).

You interpreted my question bang on ddk, thanks!