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Ricoh GR: Absolutely Brilliant...

turtle

New member
I know there are various reviews and comments on the current GR, but I bought one before a big trip to Iceland and have been bowled over by its performance in so many areas. I have written three short articles on it starting with this one (Ricoh GR: Better than a DSLR or Leica M?).

Lens performance easily surpassed my high expectations (set by previous reviews read) and the ergonomics and interface are, IMHO, superb. This is my first delving into Ricoh/Pentax after my ancient Pentax MZ-5 (first proper camera) and, if I am honest, I would FAR prefer to take this on a street shooting trip than a Leica M + 28mm. To that end I have done some basic comparisons to the Monochrom + 28mm Elmarit-M asph and the GR surprised me some more.

What a camera.
 

Paratom

Well-known member
Hi,
the GR seems to fit your needs pretty well.
Do you use it with the display for framing or you use an external viewfinder?
 

raist3d

Well-known member
The Rico GR is the best street life camera I have ever seen, but being wide angle only, it's not my preference.

But it's great.

- Ricardo
 

Tim

Active member
The Rico GR is the best street life camera I have ever seen, but being wide angle only, it's not my preference.

But it's great.

- Ricardo
It does have 35mm and 47mm crop modes.
While there is resolution loss, its not all that bad IMHO.
There are some who only use their GR in 35mm all the time.
 

Paratom

Well-known member
It does have 35mm and 47mm crop modes.
While there is resolution loss, its not all that bad IMHO.
There are some who only use their GR in 35mm all the time.
I use the x2 in 35mm all the time ;)
I think the GR is great (without owning one) - I guess the idea /concept behind x2 and GR is similar, even though the UI is a little different.
 

turtle

New member
I've used the rear screen thus far, but I will be using my Zeiss 25/28mm finder for various uses in the future. I am a big fan of hotshoe finders and the Zeiss ones are second to none in terms of brightness and contrast.

Hi,
the GR seems to fit your needs pretty well.
Do you use it with the display for framing or you use an external viewfinder?
 

turtle

New member
That's entirely understandable.

What I will say is that the 10Mp from the 35mm crop mode is the same as a Leica M8's output. The lens is incredible and in crop mode you are using the very best central area, which is tack sharp from wide open, always (regardless of the small imaging area, performance is stunning on a per-pixel basis). 10MP is marginal for large detailed prints (with fine details), but loads if you are producing finished images in B&W and with grain.

I'm a big fan of 28mm for street use and documentary work, but I know its much to wide for some. I think its a shame they did not produce one with a 40mm. I think they would have sold a lot of pairs! Lets hope for the next model!!

The Rico GR is the best street life camera I have ever seen, but being wide angle only, it's not my preference.

But it's great.

- Ricardo
 
J

JohnW

Guest
Nice review, Tom, but pretty much common knowledge among us GR users.:)

I used to think my M9 was the cat's meow for digital BW output, but I've grown to like that of the GR even more. Throw in snap focus, TaV, and the amazing size, and it sure is hard to beat.

John
 

raist3d

Well-known member
It does have 35mm and 47mm crop modes.
While there is resolution loss, its not all that bad IMHO.
There are some who only use their GR in 35mm all the time.
Yes, I know. I even printed a 13''x19'' in the 47mm crop and it held. Problem is that I start at 50mm and go longer. And since I also shoot at night, when you shoot at 47mm you do not benefit from increased ISO quality by resampling down much.

How could Ricoh solve this? Make the next 28mm and a 50mm model at 24 MP, and a 1.4x teleconverter option. Still allow some crop modes. I would be set with them if they did that.

- Ricardo
 
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