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Hi there! Film Shooter Considering a Ricoh GXR.

Szymon

Szymon

New Member
Hi everyone, my name is Szymon and I'm from Australia.

I'm embarking on a 5 month world trip at the end of May that will see me visiting the Middle East, Europe, North Africa, South America, and the United States.

I am primarily a film shooter (Leica IIIf, Start 66S TLR, Olympus OM-1n) but see the sense in taking along a digital camera for this once-in-a-lifetime trip.

My preferences for a digital camera are:

  • a relatively fast prime lens (primarily for low-light photography)
  • compact size
  • ability to attach a viewfinder
  • manual control
  • great image quality
  • good usability

Having been on the lookout for a camera for a while now, I recently came across the Ricoh GXR and was really impressed by it.

It seems to fit all my criteria for a digital camera. As such, I'm considering purchasing the Ricoh GXR with the A12 28mm module.

Does anyone have any comments regarding the 28mm vs the 50mmmodule?

Also, I've noticed vignetting on numerous photos taken with 28mm module, is this a characteristic of the module or a post-processing effect?

Thank you in advance, all feedback is appreciated.
--
My Flickr Stream - http://www.flickr.com/photos/skas
 
Hello Szymon and welcome to the forum. I've been a member only since mid-December, but find it a great place to share information & images. I acquired a GXR, with both A12 modules in October & November of last year. Both the A12 28 and the A12 50 produce exquisite images. I also have a Nikon D300 and, due to some professional assignments, have to shoot at ISO 2500 to 3200 more than I'd like. I've been taking the GXR with the A12s along as a backup camera and, quite honestly, am finding its images at the above ISOs to be a bit better than the Nikon, with less noise visible (shooting both in RAW and post processing in LR3 & CS5). As far as the vignetting you mention, I recall looking at many GXR images on Flickr and other sites and noticing this, but haven't experienced myself. IMHO the more pronounced vignetting in many of those images could only be produced in PP. It sounds like you're in for a great adventure. Having a GXR along for the ride will make it exceptional. ;) Ken
 
Hi Szymon and welcome on the board! I guess you will soon be welcomed by some Aussie members of this forum! It seems we have nice little but growing Aussie gang here? ;)

Ricoh GR lenses don't suffer with noticeably vignetting (not even wide open), so if you saw some images with strong vignetting, it must be a part of post process. Could you please point us to the photos you examined?
 
Hi Szymon,
I can’t give you any feedback, but I’m following this post because I’m also interested in the GXR (with 28mm).
Don’t forget to show you’re photo’s when you are back ;)
 
Hi Szymon,

I'm using the A12 28mm and the results are jaw-droppingly good. I'm just not happy about the 1/1000sec shutter speed limit but this only applies when your're shooting in very bright, sunny conditions. The lens itself is semi-fast but focuses quite accurately in low light. I've shot in ISO3200 many times. The pictures below are some example, out of camera and NO post-processing. Really like the black & white!

bbq_1.jpg


changi.jpg


bbq_2.jpg


I've just bought the Ricoh VF-2 electronic viewfinder in preparation for the upcoming M-Mount module. I don't fancy the design but its compact and the weight is negligible. I noticed hardly any lag, something I can;'t say for the new Fuji X100's EVF! (Of course the Fuji X100's hybrid OVF is AMAZING -- played with it for few minutes during a recent IT Show). With the EVF, manual focusing on the GXR gets much easier too.

I have other complaints about the GXR but these are too negligible to be much of an issue as they don't really effect my productivity when shooting the camera day to day.

Cheers!
 
Ksnow":20u24w4j said:
Hello Szymon and welcome to the forum. I've been a member only since mid-December, but find it a great place to share information & images. I acquired a GXR, with both A12 modules in October & November of last year. Both the A12 28 and the A12 50 produce exquisite images. I also have a Nikon D300 and, due to some professional assignments, have to shoot at ISO 2500 to 3200 more than I'd like. I've been taking the GXR with the A12s along as a backup camera and, quite honestly, am finding its images at the above ISOs to be a bit better than the Nikon, with less noise visible (shooting both in RAW and post processing in LR3 & CS5). As far as the vignetting you mention, I recall looking at many GXR images on Flickr and other sites and noticing this, but haven't experienced myself. IMHO the more pronounced vignetting in many of those images could only be produced in PP. It sounds like you're in for a great adventure. Having a GXR along for the ride will make it exceptional. ;) Ken
Click to expand...
Thanks Ken - I'm glad to have found this forum as there seems to not be a great deal of GXR content out on the web. The m4/3 systems seem to dominate reviews and opinions of late, not to mention the awesome Fuji X100.

It's good to hear about your experience with the GXR in low-light situations as I'm particularly interested in its low-light performance.

Thanks for your reply.

Szymon
 
odklizec":2t6pi3nu said:
Hi Szymon and welcome on the board! I guess you will soon be welcomed by some Aussie members of this forum! It seems we have nice little but growing Aussie gang here? ;)

Ricoh GR lenses don't suffer with noticeably vignetting (not even wide open), so if you saw some images with strong vignetting, it must be a part of post process. Could you please point us to the photos you examined?
Click to expand...
Cheers Pavel! I've noticed a few Aussies on the forum - it's great to have some representation :)

Andreas Vögele's Ricoh GXR Set on Flickr contains numerous photos that show a fair amount of vignetting. I love his photos but noticed the vignetting and it concerned me a little (as you can guess, I'm not particulary fond of it).
 
Genster":3d2iowfs said:
Hi Szymon,
I can’t give you any feedback, but I’m following this post because I’m also interested in the GXR (with 28mm).
Don’t forget to show you’re photo’s when you are back ;)
Click to expand...
Hi Genster - I'll definitely be posting some photos from the trip. I'm planning on setting up a website for the journey where I'll document the trip along the way, I'll be sure to post the link to the website on the forum before we leave.
 
ginger":zmn36gpx said:
Hi Szymon,

I'm using the A12 28mm and the results are jaw-droppingly good. I'm just not happy about the 1/1000sec shutter speed limit but this only applies when your're shooting in very bright, sunny conditions. The lens itself is semi-fast but focuses quite accurately in low light. I've shot in ISO3200 many times. The pictures below are some example, out of camera and NO post-processing. Really like the black & white!

...

I've just bought the Ricoh VF-2 electronic viewfinder in preparation for the upcoming M-Mount module. I don't fancy the design but its compact and the weight is negligible. I noticed hardly any lag, something I can;'t say for the new Fuji X100's EVF! (Of course the Fuji X100's hybrid OVF is AMAZING -- played with it for few minutes during a recent IT Show). With the EVF, manual focusing on the GXR gets much easier too.

I have other complaints about the GXR but these are too negligible to be much of an issue as they don't really effect my productivity when shooting the camera day to day.

Cheers!
Click to expand...
Thanks for your feedback Ginger and great photos by the way.

I was considering purchasing the X100 for the trip as it seemed to everything that I wanted in a camera (i.e., a complete unit with OVF that didn't require any additional bits). The concerns that I had with the camera were its price; that it was Fuji's first-attempt at such a camera (I'd prefer to see what comes next, after the iron out any issues with the first model); and that I wasn't entirely sure whether I'd be able to get one before the trip.

Cheers!
 
Hi all - so I finally made a decision and purchased the GXR with the A12 28mm module.

I've only had a short time to play with it so far but my first impressions of the camera are great.
I'm not one to typically read manual before I use things and what I found great about the camera was the really intuitive menu system.
It seems to be a very practical camera, I'm very impressed.

Also, not having used many decent digital cameras (non-point-and-shoot, that is) before, I loved discovering the spot metering feature on the GXR which I've found great for taking photos of unevenly lit subjects.

Keep an eye out on this post as I'll definitely be uploading some photos soon and thank you, once again, for everyone's feedback.

Cheers!
 
Nice to hear you made the step into GXR! Of course, GXR (as any other system) is not 100%. Of course, there is not such a thing like "best" or "100%" camera. But thanks to Ricoh's feature enhancing firmwares, your camera will grow up in time.

Good luck with your new toy! ;)
 
Hi Szymon,

Glad you made the decision with the A12 28mm -- it's a very versatile lens.

I like your photos too, especially No. 2! Really nice B & W! And the photos on your Flickr stream is very good as well! What colour settings do you normally use on the GXR? :eek:

Cheers!
 
ginger":2u4pcm0k said:
Hi Szymon,

Glad you made the decision with the A12 28mm -- it's a very versatile lens.

I like your photos too, especially No. 2! Really nice B & W! And the photos on your Flickr stream is very good as well! What colour settings do you normally use on the GXR? :eek:

Cheers!
Click to expand...
Thanks Ginger! I'm still playing around with the GXR and haven't settled on any particular colour setting but I mostly prefer the 'Natural' colour mode and the black and white mode with the contrast dialled up slightly.
 
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