I just arrived to my hotel in Nice, France. Its now going on one thirty in the afternoon and I need to get about a 3 hour power nap before I head out to take some travel photos. But on to my next answer:
My photography completely changed course I began using my GRDIII.
I was scared to death that I had made a mistake in buying a fixed lens point and shoot. A 28mm wide angle lens to boot. Here I'd been using zooms for over 10 years. How was I going to manage without a zoom?
I can personally say the fixed lens has changed my photography and I believe has made me a better photographer. (May I suggest those of you that may read this, spend one month taking at least one photo a day and only shoot the same camera at the same FOV. Then after that month tell us what you learned.)
I think it became apparent that if I was going to advance my photography skills concentrating on a single FOV was the only way that was going to happen.
Now the answer to your question. What is my preferred FOV? Since this past February and my M mount purchase along with a used Leica Summicron 40mm lens that nearly caused a divorce, this is all I've shot with up until the past couple of weeks.
(my Summicron had an issue and was sent off for repair but its been fixed and returned already)
So I rented a couple lenses to try and finalize what my main FOV will really be. I've shot with a 28 f2.8, 35 f2.0, and a 50 f2.0.
You see I found I was cropping my A12 28mm shots more often than I cared. My 40mm of course acts like a 60mm. But I have really fallen in love with how this lens draws on the GXR-M. I can't tell you how much I'm jazzed every time I snap a picture. It makes me go Wow!
But, I find myself backing up more often than not.
I'm very close in making the determination that the 50mm FOV is my preference. And that a 35mm f2.0 lens will be on my camera 95% of the time to give me that 50mm FOV. Plus it will have to be a Leica Summicron as the 35 must draw close to what the 40 does.
In using the Zeiss 35 f2.0 this past week I really like how my shots were framed. This is my confirmation that this will be my primary GXR-M lens.
However, I want a 50mm Summicron to get me to 75mm for those occasional head shots. The B&W portraits displayed earlier in this thread were taken with the Zeiss Planar 50mm f2.0. But I want to see how the Summicron does as I'd like to keep the same signature as a 35 Summicron.
The A12 28mm, if I keep it (a Voigt 21mm Color Skopar or Leica Elmarit 21mm if I can find one that I can afford could replace it to keep my image captures on the GXR-M) will be there when I need something wide.
So I have to say with the majority of my shooting the 50mm FOV would cover most of my requirements.
The Ricoh product and especially the GXR-M have been a major game changer for me. I'm excited every time I take the camera out of its bag to shoot. I'm confident I can get the results I want and the look and feel of the images coming off the M mount bring a huge smile on my face. And all I really need to use is one lens, a 50mm FOV.
Grabbed this one last evening before leaving NY for Nice.