Menu
What's new
The GetDPI Photography Forum

Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!

Conclusions on GRD2 vs GX100

M

Mitch Alland

Guest
Not P/S but Small Sensor Cameras...

jorgeAD said:
...Despite Sean efforts I am afraid the term (and P/S mentality) is not just here to stay but spreading like wildfire...
Click to expand...
The term "point and shoot" is unfortunate for cameras such as the D-Lux-2/LX2 and the Ricoh GX100 and GRDs because, as Sean has pointed out in an article on his site, these are fine cameras that can be used for serious photography and represent a new format characterized by huge depth of field and a grainy look. To me this new format is as exciting as the 35mm film format was when the first Leica were introduced.

Ever since I got the original GRD 18 months ago I've been shooting with small sensor cameras because they are closer than cameras with larger sensors to the "35mm aesthetic" that I like; and the huge DOF is useful for street photography, while the "live view" facility, which allows framing with the LCD monitor rather than a viewfinder, leads to a looser, more fluid shooting style that I like.

—Mitch/Bangkok
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10268776@N00/
 
S

Sean_Reid

Guest
jorgeAD said:
To me point-and-shoot is not really a piece of equiment but an attitude.

It means treating cameras as gadgets instead of genuine photographic tools. Understanding a camera as a gadget puts power and control in the hands of the manufacturer... understanding it as a tool puts control and creativity back in the users hands !

Despite Sean efforts I am afraid the term (and P/S mentality) is not just here to stay but spreading like wildfire... and likely the reason the GRD II wont get more than the ABOVE AVERAGE qualification (just like the GRD I did) at the Digital Purchasers... err I mean Photography Review site (which I find commendable in many other senses).

Sorry Mitch, no more drifting off your original topic... but I consider this one of photography's most liberating aspects...

Regards
Jorge
Click to expand...
For millions of people the camera is a kind of vague recording appliance; they really do just point and shoot. For them, that's enough. It makes them happy, sometimes, and its useful to them.

But this forum is an interesting place for photographers, who really think and care about what they're doing, to discuss these little camera based on what they really are. And most of what I could say about what these cameras really are I wrote about two years ago in that "On Small Sensor Cameras" essay.

As my small ongoing statement of dissention, I'll continue to pretend to have no idea of what a Point N' Shoot is.

Cheers,

Sean
 
Last edited:
7

7ian7

Guest
Mitch, I'll try that pre-focus method. Ideally, in those situations I'd like the camera to react smoothly and efficiently to the same moments that I am reacting to, without having to do much advance work other than turn the thing on.

When I first purchased my Hexar, back in the day, I only used it on manual exposure. One day out in LA, I put it on aperture priority in order to photograph a friend's kids around his swimming pool. The results were so dead-on that I continued using it that way all the time. It was pure, hesitation-free-yet-no-compromise shooting. It'll be fun when these little cameras really get to that place.

For the record, despite my stated annoyances and frustrations, I came away from that New Year's Eve dinner with many amazing (to my taste) photographs, all RAW and workable. I tend to complain on these pages in a way that may not give my joy in using this little camera it's due.

There's a fun recent article on Luminous Landscape by James Russell about his hit-or-miss results yet thoroughly soulful and gratifying user experience with his M8. In fact it was his romantic relationship with the Leica Gallery that got me out to that Turnley opening the other night.

I'm sure some of you have already seen this but here it is anyway (by the way, after reading this I thought Russell would really dig the Ricoh experience, so if anyone knows him they should point him in that direction!):

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/leica-m8-revisited.shtml

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/leica-m8-revisited.shtml#focus
 
H

hiro

Guest
7ian7 said:
Social photography often occurs in living rooms with less distance between camera and subject than the 2.5 meter Snap mode on the Ricohs.
Click to expand...
At the 2.5m focus point though, your depth of field runs from about 1 metre to infinity at the wide end of the zoom, so it should be fine unless you are doing extreme closeups of people.
 
M

Mitch Alland

Guest
Hiro,

But for street photography in which you're photographing people as close as 1.0–1.5m you'll do substantially better in terms of getting the main subject to maximum sharpness if you use MF at 1m instead of SNAP. I've been lately keeping the camera on MF because it's so easy to change the MF from 1m to 2m or so.

—Mitch/Bangkok
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10268776@N00/
 
S

Sean_Reid

Guest
hiro said:
At the 2.5m focus point though, your depth of field runs from about 1 metre to infinity at the wide end of the zoom, so it should be fine unless you are doing extreme closeups of people.
Click to expand...
Theoretically - yes but, in practice, not always. Depth of field, of course, is a construct with many variables. And of course, in-focus and within depth of field are two different things and can involve quite different levels of resolution. In practice, working very close to the subject with the Ricohs at wide apertures, zone focus and DOF may sometimes not be enough to yield the results one is after.

The suggestion I'm making to Ricoh is that manual focus be moved to a marked distance wheel on the camera so that it can be accessed quickly. The (proposed) Sigma DP1 uses just such a wheel.

Cheers,

SDean
 
Last edited:
O

Otto

New member
Is Adorama the only US seller of the Ricoh GX100 or GRD2? They are the only seller I can find.

Thanks,
Otto...
 
S

Stuart Richardson

Active member
I got my GX-100 from Tony and recommend that everyone else does too. He is the best camera dealer in the US; I say that as someone who buys way too many cameras. Anyway, I got the GX-100 from him around Christmas and I love it. Here is an example using the 24mm lens and snap focus. Having the extra wide is really nice. This was taken with the camera upside down, right near the other person. I could not have taken this with an M camera or a non-silent, compact camera...the GX100 and GRD2 really open up new avenues in terms of street photography. Anyway, this was on the N train a few days ago...I love when the subways go above ground.

 
O

Otto

New member
gromitspapa, and Stuart Richardson,

Thanks to both of you for the recommendation. I will check it out. Stuart, that is a great shot, and the type of photography I aspire to.

Thanks again, and good shooting,
Otto...
 
Lili

Lili

New member
7ian7 said:
When I first purchased my Hexar, back in the day, I only used it on manual exposure. One day out in LA, I put it on aperture priority in order to photograph a friend's kids around his swimming pool. The results were so dead-on that I continued using it that way all the time. It was pure, hesitation-free-yet-no-compromise shooting. It'll be fun when these little cameras really get to that place.
Click to expand...
Ian,
Regarding the Hexar; my sentiments exactly.
My Hexar is still with me, and is pretty much the only film camera that I still use.
The GRD has not quite the same speed and surety of focus, but its smaller form factor go a long way in making up for that.
:thumbup:
 
7

7ian7

Guest
Plus, Lili, images from the Ricohs actually make it to print, whereas the film stuff tends to pile up in unprinted boxes of contacts — or tended to, since even though I still own my Hexar (and my Pentax 6x7, and my Pentax K1000, and ....), I rarely use it at this point.

Sean, I love the idea of a focus wheel. If I understand the DP-1 concept, it sounds like a "step-focus", to use a Ricoh analogy. Does it have to be that way? Couldn't the wheel simply focus the camera freely, to approximate focussing a lens?
 
7

7ian7

Guest
Oh I get it — a marked distance wheel, which wouldn't preclude focussing between those guidelines.
 
S

Stuart Richardson

Active member
Mitch Alland said:
I like the feeling of space, including the barrel distortion: a good example of using a camera's faults for aesthetic purposes. Is this from JPG or RAW?

—Mitch/Bangkok
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10268776@N00/
Click to expand...
Thanks Mitch. It is from JPEG. I was actually shooting RAW, but the battery was almost completely dead and the camera shut off during the writing of the RAW file, luckily I was doing raw plus jpeg, or there would not have been a picture at all!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top