Another new member from UK

[game1980]

Hello people.

I've owned a GRD now for a year. I decided to get a very cheap and nearly new GRD, as opposed to a fairly expensive GRDII. I normally shoot with Nikon D80 dslr, but have always been impressed with other people's Ricoh photos. It seems a completely different approach to photography. I like the fact that great photos are not produced automatically, and that you need to work with the camera to get nice results. I like the 'lo-fi' feel of some results and the grain of B&W photography.

I want to get into street photography. I like recording city life. I like architectural shots. I have taken a lot of photography in Japan, my wife's country. So far with a Nikon D80 and a little reliable Sony DSC-W12.

My flicker Page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/game1980/collections/

Anyway... I am going to stick with my GRD for as long as I can, before jumping to a GRDII.

I have set my start settings to B&W, contrast +2, sharpness +1, infinity focus, JPG + RAW, center meter, exp comp -0.3, iso 200 to 400.

I use minimal photo shop processing, sometimes on the RAW. But sometimes a grainy JPG seems just as appropriate. It depends on the subject.

GRD write time is a pain, I know. So i will change to JPG sometimes if I need quicker writes.

I am going to read everyones posts now and see what I can learn from you guys.

 

[odklizec]

Hi game1980 and welcome on board! GRDI is definitely a good start! Many people still stick with it and refuse to go to GRDII. There should be new GRDIII announced later this year (around September), so maybe you can wait a little and then decide if you want newest GRDIII or cheaper GRDII. A good thing on GRDI is its very low noise reduction in JPEG. So in most cases, there is really no need to go to RAW. In any case, the RAW writing can be somewhat improved by using a really fast Class 6 card, 3:2 RAW mode and only N640 JPEG. With all this you can get a bit faster (around 8secs) writing. Hope this helps.

BTW, there are some very nice photos on your Flickr!

 

[VladimirV]

Welcome to the forum, the GRD I is still my favorite camera and I prefer it over the GRD II, it just has something special.

For street photography the GRDs are great, very small, discrete but still give great IQ.

You have some great pictures on Flickr, need to take more time to look through.

 

[game1980]

Thanks to both of your encouraging welcomes!

I love the GRD. Another reason for loving it is just the pure design of the camera itself. So many consumer pocket cameras feel cheap to hold, silvery cases, tacky designs, and full of stupid features (may I mention face recognition? ha ha). The feel of the little black GRD is simply perfect. It is light and strong, and seems as well built as a Mercedes. The tactile surface is great. The blackness ! perfect.

Anyway... my use of RAW seems to stem from my habit of using it in my DSLR. I have since read (from many posts here) that the JPG B&W has a really good output, and that many people choose it. Therefore, I have decided to go JPG only for a while and see how it works.

I want to be able to add real contrast punch to my photos in B&W. I normally do this in PS or lightroom. I am hoping I can still do this in JPG processing.

My only gripe with the GRD(1) - You can not easily change from 'my settings 1' to 'my settings 2', without changing 'start settings' and then switching on and off. Or am I missing the point somewhere?

I want to add some pictures (3 or 4 colour shots from the last few months). Where would you suggest I post them?

Thanks again

Bill

 

[odklizec]

Hi Bill,

I'm afraid, there is no other way in GRDI how to switch the "My Settings". There is some kind of HW limitation, which prevents to do it in the same way as in GRDII.

As of where to post your photos, it depends of their subject? Just choose the gallery that suits your photos best