Thanks Bill for the explanations above. At the moment the GXR plus an A12 28 module are in my hands to fiddle with the menues, the finder and the overall 'feeling' in my hands.
Half year ago I tried a nearly new M8.2 from my Leica dealer, had at that time a clean 24mm Elmarit ASPH in my bag to be cropped at the M8 to around 30+mm, my comfort length. No sparkle jumped between the M and my brain, no buzz in my fingers and at the end I put it back to the shelf. Too much hassle with filters, coding and an unknown electronical and mechanical falilure rate which we can see in different fora.
Knowing the obstacles which can occur with a digital Leica and the fact that with nearly 64 years my eyesight might change to the bad the long promised Mount might open a new way of using Leica/VC and Z lenses, even cropped for me.
The GXR is a totally different camera compare to Ms but also to other cameras from different makers. It's more a Texas-GRD in terms of finder and sensor size but not in terms of UI.
My long gone first experience with shooting a Nikon F with the small split-dot glass and later a matte groundglass from a Hassy made me patient to work out the 'new' challenges of different finder designs or methods. The finder of the Ricoh is in ranking only on the 3rd place after G1 and Oly - the NEX7 is out of the game at the moment.
Getting used to the two different electronic methods isn't sooo difficult I guess and what is more important: what can we expect in two years when Leica might offer their 'Solution' for a cam between the X1 and the M9? It will have an electronic finder as well, resolution might be much better as the GXR has now, but Ricoh could develop a better one, who knows?
I'm happy that I didn't buy a Fuji X100 (due to delivery problems) so that my powder is dry and waiting for the mount.
One thing is very clear for me: the promises Ricoh makes are fully covered in a serious and well balanced manner. The people from Ricoh are shooters - even with Leicas and Leica- and their own GR glass with M-mount. That is one of the biggest advantages to invest in this system which looked in the first view very limited from the beginning two years ago.
For me it's clear that the full potential of the GXR can be seen after (for me) minimum two or three months. Now I'm chasing a 15mm VC..........
Cheers
Bernd