Hi All,
I got chance to play a GR for two days, well actually only one night plus one day only. This was the first time I really take photos w/ a GR series digital cameras, although I had a GR1 film camera about 14-15 years back.
The GR camera felt at home almost immediately even w/o much pre experiences w/ GRD cameras, all the buttons and settings are logically located at the right places. The operation is pretty fast and easy, it's really a joy to hold and shoot w/ this camera.
I'm not good at doing reviews, and it's pretty hard for me to put my feelings in words (thanks to my poor language skills :embrass
. For me the best way to review a camera or lens is to put it in actual use instead of shooting at meaningless charts or targets. So I'll just post some photos and let them talk for me
Is this a good camera? Well, I sold my Fujifilm X100 after I've looked through some photos I took w/ this little gem.
I didn't do much setting changes, used default settings for most photos I took except a few photos taken with manual white balance. The battery was rated for 300-330 shots per charge, but I managed to squeeze 768 shots in one day one charge! Yeah, the battery did die a couple of times, but I switched camera off then on, and kept shooting until it I couldn't turn it on anymore. Total 768 JPG photos taken, with quite some preview and showing the photos to the kids. Far better than I expected!
Enough words, let's show some pictures:
There is an adapter ring which can be easily taken off:
A wide angle converter (21mm equivalent on FF) can be adapted on easily:
It comes w/ a nice hood too:
This round Ricoh really put in effort to get all kinds of accessories ready for the little camera: leather pouch, half case, wide angle converter and etc:
It looks and feels really tiny when put together w/ an X100:
It's even more compact than a Panasonic LX7!
I bought a leather pouch for my Sony RX100 which fits the GR perfectly:
But I couldn't squeeze the LX7 in at all:
Okay, enough gear photos. Let's show some real photos.
The first pair is to show how wide the 21mm wide angle converter is:
w/o converter:
w/ converter:
Think about those X100 users by a $300 plus wide converter just to convert that 35mm lens to an 28mm one, ours can go as wide as 21mm! I think every one should get this adapter if you are buying this camera. Really worth it.
A couple of quick testing shots before we left home, my little model, not as professional yet, but he got the potential:
It's on May 1st, we head directly to Pizza Hut for a treat:
My daughter is a bit shy now, didn't want to post for me, so I just snap when she wasn't pay attention:
But the little brother didn't mind showing off his missing teeth:
Of course the best part is the treat:
Managed to ask my daughter helping me out a bit:
But it didn't last long before she gave up:
They sure had some fun there:
That's how it ended, as usual:
After lunch, we went to Istana, the President's house, or garden shall we say. Some quick snaps along the way, all taken like w/ an iPhone:
He really needs to learn how to post properly I think:
He can fly:
But his big sis can fly much higher:
The camera is so small and discrete, I probably wouldn't be able get permission from their parents if I used a bigger dSLR camera on these cute kids:
A lot time I just raised camera and shoot along with the others, and seems they didn't mind a strange w/ a tiny camera:
Pity the pretty guard-on-duty politely refused me taking her photo:
But the others didn't mind at all:
There was a fun party going on in front of the President's house:
And an Orchestra in the Garden too:
A bit close up:
Closer:
A lot audiences didn't mind sitting in the light rain to enjoy the show:
But it's a bit bored for the little ones I guess:
Finally we met the hosts (the President and his wife) of the house:
Wish I had a longer lens so I'd have some close-ups, but then the guards might not let me get as close if I had a bigger camera
At least my wife liked them this way. She was in the second photo above, but probably you can't find her if you don't know her well enough
Last batch for today:
I'll post some more during the next a few days after I look through the rest.