Ricoh Ricoh grd iv

My GRD2 has died recently so I'm feeling a bit incomplete. Wondering if I should try and get it repaired, get a GRD3 or wait a while to see if a GRD4 on the horizon. The bonus is that I'm using my DP1 more again.
 
Hey Mike.... Don here...

Yeah, I'm waiting to see if there's a new GRD coming out. The original was the best. Somewhat slower but IQ great.
For the moment, I'm hanging in with the Nex.
I keep thinking about the GRD 3 but waiting to see what comes along in the next few months...

Welcome aboard....
 
I've never even held a Ricoh, but I feel as though I am treading water off to the side...waiting and watching... Maybe I'm actually still on the edge of the pool, but I do find that the more I read and see, the more interesting the Ricoh GRDs look to me. Have to love the image quality and color from the photographs that I have seen. Thanks, Michael for starting this thread - and glad to have you here.:D
 
Hey Mike.... Don here...

Yeah, I'm waiting to see if there's a new GRD coming out. The original was the best. Somewhat slower but IQ great.
For the moment, I'm hanging in with the Nex.
I keep thinking about the GRD 3 but waiting to see what comes along in the next few months...

Welcome aboard....

Don where you in the subway concourse today around noon ?

I'll be getting a GRD III soon if I don't hear anything about a GRD IV.
 
I would be interested to learn about it, but, really, what else can it bring beyond the GRD3? It is still a small sensor. Add the ability to use the EVF from the GXR and it might get interesting. Although an EVF was available for the GX100/200 and Ricoh so far has not chosen to add it to the GRD line. I know a lot of folks would like a return to the GRD1 JPG processing engine, but with today's higher MP sensors is that even possible?
 
I would be interested to learn about it, but, really, what else can it bring beyond the GRD3? It is still a small sensor. Add the ability to use the EVF from the GXR and it might get interesting. Although an EVF was available for the GX100/200 and Ricoh so far has not chosen to add it to the GRD line. I know a lot of folks would like a return to the GRD1 JPG processing engine, but with today's higher MP sensors is that even possible?

ISO to 3200
14 mp sensor
1.8 lens
GRD I jpeg filter
 
I saw someone down the with a silver NEX.



Looks like I will be getting a GRD III when i go up to NYC next week.

Michael, that was almost certainly me. I was all over the place between the Gallery, Reading Terminal, City Hall, Suburban Station, Rittenhouse Square, and many of the streets in that general area from about 9:15 until about 1:15, when I caught a train back out of town. I was probably in the concourse around noon. And yet somehow I managed to miss the labor rally at City Hall...

BTW, this is me trying to show Don the proper way to hold a Nex :)cool:), so if the photo helps you tell if it was me you saw... And the next link is a some of what I shot in the city yesterday...

Saturdays in West Chester | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Philly 2-24-11 - a set on Flickr

-Ray
 
Michael, that was almost certainly me. I was all over the place between the Gallery, Reading Terminal, City Hall, Suburban Station, Rittenhouse Square, and many of the streets in that general area from about 9:15 until about 1:15, when I caught a train back out of town. I was probably in the concourse around noon. And yet somehow I managed to miss the labor rally at City Hall...

BTW, this is me trying to show Don the proper way to hold a Nex :)cool:), so if the photo helps you tell if it was me you saw... And the next link is a some of what I shot in the city yesterday...

Saturdays in West Chester | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Philly 2-24-11 - a set on Flickr

-Ray

Then I passed you by the 13th street station.
 
I would be interested to learn about it, but, really, what else can it bring beyond the GRD3? It is still a small sensor. Add the ability to use the EVF from the GXR and it might get interesting. Although an EVF was available for the GX100/200 and Ricoh so far has not chosen to add it to the GRD line. I know a lot of folks would like a return to the GRD1 JPG processing engine, but with today's higher MP sensors is that even possible?

It's totally possible, all manufacturers have to do is give the user more latitude in setting how much noise reduction is used for JPEG's. The only other camera I have personally used that is similar is the E-P1 (I'm sure the other E-P's are similar.) You can set the noise reduction to 'low', and images come out with maximum detail and some fine luminance grain at higher ISO. You can even turn NR off totally, but I always left it at low as I found that to strike a great balance.

I'm looking at the TL500 right now, which produces really great, sharp results in RAW, but loses some appeal for me personally with the JPEG's (even at lower ISO.) With normal viewing the difference is unnoticeable at low ISO, I just have a pet peeve about this because why make such a great lens but then remove some of the detail it is capable of resolving?

The TL500 sample images in the DPreview review have a great example of this. There are 3 photos in which both JPEG and RAW's are available, the RAW's look much better to me (but subjective opinion of course.)
 
ISO to 3200
14 mp sensor
1.8 lens
GRD I jpeg filter

• ISO 3200: This is likely, although I don't know that Ricoh will do this. Especially since they seem to be holding on to the "less is more" mentality with ISO and MP ratings. Which is great for a small sensor camera.

• 14 MP Sensor: IMO, this is a terrible idea and if they make the sensor 14 MP, then I'll definitely steer far, far away from it. I don't see the point in cramming an extra 4 MP in that same tiny sensor. If it's got an APS-C sensor in it, then maybe. But I still think 10-12 would be plenty even for that. At the current size, 10 MP is plenty.

• 1.8 Lens: The GRD3 has a 1.9 lens already so this would be essentially the same glass. I don't see a change on the way in this department at all.

• GRD1 JPEG Filter: Doubtful. While I'm sure it can be done, it's unlikely that they would. More than likely, they'll be working on new algorithms for the new camera.
 
I agree with you Matt. In fact I find it hard to believe they could make a 4 better than the 3.
These engineer types know how to botch up a good thing.

You're right. Fortunately for us Ricoh shooters, they've maintained that 10mp rating with a max ISO of 1600. I'm happy they haven't joined in the megapixel race and tried to make a camera with 14 or 16 megapixels in a tiny 1/1.7" sensor. It just doesn't make sense. A 10mp image at ISO 400 will yield a much cleaner large print than a 14mp image would. And if you're wanting the extra resolution for cropping power, then you're just enhancing the artifacts and excessive noise. I think they'd be better off to leave it as-is.
 
I've made 3200 images that in B&W look fine...
I know... How.... By using the exposure slider in LR....
If they just change the name to GRD4 and leave it alone, that would work.
 
A GRDIII can't be improved any further. As a camera, a photographic tool, it is close to perfect with a superb fast lens, premium build quality and by far the best user interface of any small camera. Later generation high end small sensor cameras show that newer sensors (LX5, XZ-1) are not noticably superior to the one built into the Ricoh. So unless clearly better small sensor technology is available (high iso performance, improved dynamic range) why should Ricoh bother building a GRDIV. For those wanting a larger sensor (in a bulkier body), the Ricoh GXR with A12 28mm equivalent lens is the answer. There are only a few cameras I always go back to and never get tired of using. One of the them is the Ricoh GRD line, future will tell whether the X100 might be another one. Just my 2 cents:)
 
I agree with retow, barring a major leap in small sensor technology (which I'm sure will happen, but probably not in time for Ricoh's general product cycle, which would be sometime late this year), I don't see how they can make it better. So maybe I'll look forward to the GRD5, or 6, or 7. But if a 4 comes along in the next several months (treated as a given on the Ricoh forum at DPR), I'll skip it barring a major surprise...

-Ray
 
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