Well, I enjoyed the meet up although I'm sorry to say I have no exciting news for you, waloszek.
While I wasn't able to wander around Camden with everyone, I did hook up with them at Queens #1 later.
I wasn't sure what to expect, not knowing much about cameras, and uncertain what exactly would be going on, but it was actually a lot easier than I expected - just talk about Ricoh cameras. People had brought a variety of cameras, including the CX-1. There were a bunch of other cameras there, including an Epson R-D1 (with its compass-like dials) and odklizec's GX200 with the TC-1 converter.
Everyone turned out to be very friendly, and very happy to share their knowledge about my GX100 and RAW processing, including the fact that I didn't have to press the power button on my GX before the playback button to view photos, something I missed in the manual - yeah, guys, it IS in there.
One fellow was from Ricoh Europe and turned out to be a fellow Canadian, born and bred in Ottawa, a city very close to where I live. It's a small world.
I had a lot of fun trying to interrogate him about what would be coming out soon. I had the impression that everyone had been trying to get the same information out of him all day, without any luck, and everyone seemed quite interested in my attempt. I didn't get very far, but I did end up with a better understanding of how Ricoh is positioning itself in the market. Jet lag unfortunately means I can't
remember any of it now, but it was interesting at the time! :lol:
It was also interesting talking to the Ricoh fellow and finding out that I was the type of person they would like to see more of, as Ricoh customers. It made me wonder how Ricoh is able to appeal to newbies like me, as most of the information on the Internet seems skewed more toward the experience photographer than the casual user.
After Queen's #1, we went to another pub for food and ended up eating enormous 'American' style hamburgers while discussing what the future held for Ricoh. Definitely not the British pub food Christian had promised us, but quite good, nonetheless.
In all, it was a very interesting evening and I'd recommend it to anyone. Forums are great, but talking to knowledgeable people in person is better!
