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The new GRD4 - things that will be good on GXR

E

eidiacc

New Member
http://www.dpreview.com/news/1109/11091520ricohGRD4announced.asp

Differences between the GRD IV and GRD III:
Improved AF speed (up to 2x faster) combining external AF sensors with conventional contrast AF
RGBW 1.23 million dot VGA LCD screen vs. 920,000 dot RGB
New GR Digital IV image processing engine
Sensor-shift image stabilization
Two new Image Setting presets (Positive Film and Bleach Bypass)
New Auto-bracketing options for contrast and dynamic range compensation
Enhanced level gauge that detects tilt direction in addition to horizontal inclination

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally it is out, after 2 years wait. :D

Well, judging from the stats, if you have a GRD3, I am quite sure you won't buy this new one because the improvements are very minor.

But there are a few good things that has been added to GRD4, which I would love to see on a GXR (correct me if I am wrong)

(1) Hybrid AF - the biggest draw back of GXR: focus speed. It would be good to see this comes out with a new body for gxr, instead of lens
(2) Sensor-shift image stabilization
(3) Interval Composite mode
(4) Multiple Exposure mode (up to five overlapping image captures)
(5) Horizontal and tilt gauge

There are a few other things mentioned on Dpreview, but I have highlighted the above, as they are not likely to be made available for us existing GXR users through a firmware update.

What do you think?
 
I think the Hybrid AF will be a part of next GXR body. The horizontal and tilt gauge is quastionable, because currently, the electronic level is a part of lens module, not the body! Just remove the lens module and try preview the photos on the body. From now on, the photos will not autorotate, which is a sign of missing orientation sensor in body ;) But there is always a chance the next body will have integrated orientation sensor?

BTW, did you guys notice the GRDIV now allows RAW only photography? I'm sure many folks will be pleased by this? ;)
 
Pavel,

The fore-aft tilt indicator used in conjunction with the horizontal tilt indicator has to be very fiddly to use off a tripod to get exact level. It will help with architectural photographs but can be of little help if the photographer has to tilt the camera to get the whole building captured.

I have mused some time ago that a fore-aft tilt indicator could be combined to Ricoh's current skew mode correction routine to provide in camera architectural building capture to remove (for example) leaning in photographs. In other words a shift type lens in software. Obviously the processed results might be variable.

I can see no other practical benefit off tripod as the horizontal indicator might be useful if sometimes seeming too sensitive but I wonder how many might have the patience to work a fore-aft correction at the same time. Furthermore surely the horizontal sensor must provide a feed for an orientation correction?

Tom
 
There are a couple of other little things sneaked in there I dont think have been mentioned.

Somewhere I saw a reference to the lens cap being removed and the camera powers up? - the white version gets a metal cap, can't see what comes with the black GRDIV?
I notice in the side images of the camera that there is a HDMI port - no big deal but its there!
 
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