|
Well as I've mentioned, I;ve not got one yet, but for me it is the following that does it for me:
1. It's small size - much easier to carry around than my Canon EOS 20D!
2. High quality lens - looks sharp from what I've seen, which is a change for compacts.
3. Wide angle lens - I find this the most useful, and don't have any need for a zoom at this stage. My SLR will do the job when that's needed.
4. has a hot shoe, so I can use a small flash if needed.
5. Full manual control - esential!
6. Well built - will survive in my bag every day!
7. Last but not least, it's different! It doesn't look like all these popular brand cameras.
Posted 77 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
I sold my Coolpix 7900. And need a decent compact camera. After a month of so, finally on this GR digital. No regret when mention about noises, cos i got my D2X!
Posted 77 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
i am about to buy one also.
i want it cause it seems to produce just the best pics a digital compact camera could do.
i want manual control to improve and adjust the different settings.
i just hope it wont be hard to handle since i am a beginner (motivated).
do you have any suggestion for a fast sd card?
by the way it doesnt seem that important since fine jpegs look ( are they?) very nice.
Posted 77 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Hi benaboulogne!!
Actually you don't need a super fast sd card but a BIG card, cos you'll be more likely shooting RAW if you care about quality. I got a Sandisk Ultra II 2G card and can shoot RAW without worrying the card getting full too soon.
Posted 77 months ago.
(permalink)
|
 |
OliverNielsen.com [deleted] says:
I bought a GR today because I needed a compact camera for everyday use.
I was also considering the Panasonic LX1, but even though I like it's widescreen format, I find it unsuitable for print-work (too much cropping). It's also thicker, making it less pocketable.
I think the Ricog GR has more edge. Looks like a real camera, instead of the post-millenium silver-retro, space-age design that loks like it fell down from the sky.
Epson's RD1 rangefinder is a bit too retro, and way too expensive. The Ricoh is just perfect in that respect. It looks like a camera made with love. Love of photography, not of geeky-gadgetness.
For a long time I've considered buying the GRD, but all the reviews talk about noise-issues made me hesitate. However, I started seeing more and more actual USERS (not just reviewers) who really liked their camera, and I saw great b&w images shot at 1600 iso, that looked almost like they'd been shot on Kodak TRI-X film.
Too many reviewers become too obsessed with pixel-perfect, noiseless images, even if it means the image loose its soul.
Originally posted 75 months ago.
(permalink)
OliverNielsen.com edited this topic 75 months ago.
|
|
I bought the GR Digital because of the following:
The wide angle lens (with the option of an even wider angle adapter)
The minimalistic looks and solid construction
The 8.1 MP resolution
The ability to shoot RAW and JPG files
The small size
The option of having an external flash
The ability to control a lot of things manually
I hate the pointless bells and whistles that most companies load into their electronics (this goes for all electronics especially stereos). Just give me something that does what it should do as good as possible.
It's not available in the US, so it seemed more exclusive.
Originally posted 75 months ago.
(permalink)
thehouseofdis edited this topic 75 months ago.
|
|
I miss those good old days when shooting street photos with my GR1. It's handy, speedy, reliable and un-noticable.
The films era was gone. But good digital camera cannot shrink to pocket size. Until ...... the GRD comes.
It's feeling of operation closely match the GR1. The difference is, I shoot much much more.
Good tool for snap shoots.
Well done, Ricoh!
Originally posted 75 months ago.
(permalink)
snap_cheng edited this topic 75 months ago.
|
|
Where is a good place to buy one in the U.S.??
Posted 74 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
i got mine from popflash.com. you can get it cheaper at computeruniverse.net but my understanding is that if there is a service issue, you will have to return it to germany. so i swallowed the additional cost to buy it here. tony rose at popflash was wonderful to work with as well.
Posted 74 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
thanks for the info. i can't really explain it, but the image quality from this camera seems so much better than the DSLR's!
Posted 74 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
tictoc: eh.. trust me, it's not better than DSLR... from from it..
Although, the noise at 1600 is suprisingly lacking of banding or any recongnizable pattern. That is a good thing. My 20D at 3200 has banding.
Posted 74 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
its a great, small, portable camera, with a superb 28mm equiv lens but is not even close to my Canon 5D in final image quality.
I love the manual controls and the 28mm field of view, and for what it is the images it produces are excellent. I wanted a carryaround camera that gaveme maximum control on my images and this is what I got ;-)
Posted 74 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Hi,
I got a GRD because I wanted a digital camera I could carry anywhere where I might not want to take my digital SLR. I'd had a small digicam before, but had found it wanting, and the thing I really like about the GRD is that it gives me much more control over the shot than any compact I'd seen before.
Yeah, it takes a long time to save an image in RAW, but apart from that it's the perfect pocket camera!
Posted 74 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
I had and still own a Ricoh GR1, its a great little film camera for street photography. I got suck into buying the over-priced digital version because of all the hype. (shameless sucker here). I needed a small wide angle digital camera, it seems to be one of the few ones out there.
Peeve :
The raw feature is crap, slow save.
It is sooo noisy at ISO400 up. and unusable.
Noisy focusing, the AF really sucks
and BTW, new firmware release V2.02 on 27th April 2006 at the offical ricoh website
Posted 74 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
a friend of mine had a gr1 which i always secretly coveted. i heard about the grd and was initially quite skeptical. in the end, the photos i saw here and elsewhere convinced me that it was worth a look. one of my personal failings is that i'm always looking for "perfect" technology even though that's a mythical beast. But sometimes i find something with enough personality that i forgive the shortcomings. I like the GRD - i like to use it and i like what it's giving me and i like what i have to learn to work around its limitations. and that's enough for me.
but man. it hurt to put it on the credit card...
Posted 74 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
A couple of weeks ago on a day trip to Canberra, we stopped at a small town called Mittagong where I picked up a DV tape for my HDV camera from a camera store there. On my way out of the store I grabbed a free magazine they had called Total Image. There was an article in there about the Ricoh GR Digital. I'd never even heard of it before or the 35mm series that came before it.
Anyway, the article was mostly about a photographer by the name of Robyn Hills who was once Australian photographer of year with photos taken using her older Ricoh GR 35mm. She talked about how she now uses a GR Digital and loves it! That had me interested.. An award winning photographer whose camera of choice was a compact digital with a fixed 28mm lens? The fact that my first proper camera was a Ricoh KR5 SLR had me even more interested, as I've always had a fondness for the company. I still have the KR5 by the way.
At the bottom of the article there were two links. Ricoh's Australian website and here! After viewing nearly every photo posted to this Flickr group, I was impressed. The overall image quality was nothing like I'd ever seen from a compact digital before. Features that appeal to me include the manual control, small size, versatility and overall design. After receiving a few replies back from the questions I posted here, and thanks to those who replied, I just knew I had to have one. Especially after learning that it did interval shots aswell, which is something I've seen put to good use by a guy with a Canon EOS-20D.
Now that I've ordered it, I'm seriously looking forward to the day it arrives. The email I received today said that it had been sent and should be here in 2 or 3 days.
Posted 74 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Definitely the size and the handling. Coming from a D70, the dual dials were definitely a plus, and the discreet appearance. I needed a travel camera and 28mm was a big plus for this.
I major feature was definitely the fact that you could get a decent optical viewfinder on the unit, but in the end I didn't end up buying one! (it was difficult to justify the cost).
Posted 71 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
film like grain (instead of horrible digital "noise")
28mm prime lens
fully manual and raw support
retro design (instead of some horrible silver monster),
8.0 megapixels
all in a pocket size camera, seems the positives outway what little negatives there are by a long shot, and so its a pretty close to perfect camera.
Posted 71 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
portability
distinct style of photos
manual controls
"cult" factor
film grain
1600 ISO
fast lens
option to fo 21mm
Posted 71 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
I had admired this camera from afar for quite some time but it was way outta my budget. I would pick it up and say "Wow, stealthy design, actually looks like a camera, cult classic, lots of manual, feels solid, beautiful viewfinder, fixed lens (could I get use to that now?...maybe)... Boy wouldn't it be nice is this puppy was 40,000 yen instead of 80,000."
Then I went on a trip outside of Tokyo to Niigata and coinciendentally my friend lived next to a camera shop and went down there to kill some time and they had GR knocked down to a mere 54,000 yen. It was a no brainer for me. And now Im hooked and learning alot and geeking out on web pages like this...
Posted 71 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
|
damm straght!
Posted 71 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
I wanted a camera that's small enough for everyday use, great design, good lens, has the flexibility to act as a snapshot camera and allowed me to play with different settings when I wanted to.
Originally posted 71 months ago.
(permalink)
ChrissyCream edited this topic 71 months ago.
|
|
|
coz, I loved the film version of it to bits and wanted a digital version of it.
The quality is terrible, the noise level at 400 is bad, it gets mean and nasty with indoor lighting, it hates me using the macro function and it struggles to focus all the time. It screams loudly everytime it struggles to focus and everyone stares at me because of its screaming.
Its nasty and grouchy, still, i love it to bits and bring it along to meet the folks
I just don't know why despite all the troubles, I still love it. Is this a sign of pure love?
Posted 71 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Ricoh GRD is my first DC. In the beginning, frankly, I fell in love with it's look. Now, I fall in love with what it can do and make me feel. I was never interested in photo shooting until I bought it.
Originally posted 71 months ago.
(permalink)
hip808 edited this topic 71 months ago.
|
|
Why? Cuz Ricoh bribed me.....
just kidding.
Same as most of you guys. Fell in love with the camera when looking for a decent point and shoot to supplement my DSLR. Something pocketable, fast, "pro", and just plain amazing.
lo and behold. the GR Digital *angelic choir*
Am happy now, but DSLR still gets alot of action GRD never leaves me now.
and they lived happily ever after.
Posted 71 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Hello there:)
I ordered mine because:
1.I really like the features. Manual control; Wide Angle.
2.I prefer small cameras over big cameras, they allow me to photograph more often. I always carry mine with me.
3. The camera itself. It's a clean design. It looks a real camera. It´s not a mobile phone with wireless, GPS and commercial outputed colours.
Posted 67 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
etrouart [deleted] says:
Had a choice a black and white cat or a GRD, so I went the GRD
Posted 67 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
Well, I liked the idea of a fixed lens compact with great ergonomics. At the time I was looking to get the 11-22 (22-44 equiv) lens for by Oly slr, but then I thought, why not get the GRD and 21mm adapter instead? So that';s what I did. (Iwll probably still get the 11-22 but next year :(
Posted 67 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
This camera is designed to bring out creative talent. You can experiment easily to get optimum results. The more you use it, the more it will grow on you. It's not perfect but, it is capable of stunning photographs in the right hands. Just buy one and find out how crerative you can be with a fixed wide angle lens!
Posted 67 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
I came across the GR1s by almost by sheer chance years ago and loved it. This was my first choice for a digital over and above the Leica and Pana compacts. In addition to function and quality and build it's also a unique and bold statement in camera design. Digital photography is ok!
Originally posted 67 months ago.
(permalink)
Crossbar Aloha edited this topic 67 months ago.
|
|
I bought one because I am a big fan of GR1V and I am sick of carrying the heavy SLR all the time and scanning b/w film. I bought it at HKD4,200 (brand new)..not bad as they were sold at HKD5,500 when new to the market.
Originally posted 67 months ago.
(permalink)
Alex So T edited this topic 67 months ago.
|
|
I bought it because I wanted camera Ithat could be used whilst cycling in a mass participation cycling event in the French Alps. So I needed a camera which was small with a wide angle lens, fast to switch on and off and easy to use one handed. An extending zoom lens would slow the on/times and I would not be able to use it anyway. Also the ability to set the focus to infinity so the camera did not need to lock on to anything would be great.
After looking at the Canon S80 and Panasonic FX01 and reading a few reviews, I bought the GR-D. It fitted my desired camera characteristics perfectly. It's user interface is great. The images are noisier thatsome cameras but somehow it does not seem to look as bad as one would expect.
I am really pleased with it. It has become my favourite pocketable camera.
Posted 67 months ago.
(permalink)
|
|
stereotom [deleted] says:
I bought my GRD II because of the following:
- It's small, lightweight and black!
- High quality f/2.4 28mm lens
- Pictures looks like from Analog-Film-Camera (Film-Grain)
- No "No-Nonsens" functionalities like Face-Detection or something
- Nice look & solid feel
- Snap functionality (I love it)
- No 12 Megapixels! (10 is OK, but 8 would be better)
- Manual control
- No "Hole" (Viewfinder)
- best LCD I ever seen
:-)
Posted 55 months ago.
(permalink)
|
Would you like to comment?
Sign up for a free account, or sign in (if you're already a member).
|
Ricoh GR Digital /
Discuss
Feed – Subscribe to Ricoh GR Digital discussion threads
