My mind might choose the A, my heart will choose the GR. And soon I shall forget all about this and simply take pictures.
The funny thing is, my head has firmly decided on the GR, but for reasons I don't fully understand, my heart is keeping the Nikon in the game. I just seem to have a really simple flow with the Nikon. I know from the past with other Ricohs I can do the same with the Ricoh, but there are always so many options beckoning, at your fingertips, that I sometimes find it a bit distracting.
But objectively, even assuming Ricoh didn't have a $300 price advantage, its got enough clear advantages:
Slightly better corner sharpness (which really means nothing to me, but still)...
Faster AF in good light and equal in poor light
Snap focus which is always sticky and instant switching between AF and snap - this
should close the deal by itself, for how I shoot...
ND filter, which functions automatically
Just feels right in the hand, more than almost any other camera ever, except preceding GRD models - totally subjective, but I'm firmly in the Ricoh camp on this one...
Somewhat better/brighter rear screen in the sun...
And the Nikon brings these relatively minor advantages to the table:
Better metering - probably the only substantive one and easy enough to adapt to the Ricoh's not
quite as good meter
Focus Ring - this I really like but I mostly use it because the MF distance isn't sticky and I
have to every time I restart the camera. It pleases me but in use its actually more of a negative than positive, if I'm honest...
Nicer, easier, quicker startup switch - a very small thing
Rear screen more resistant to smudges and fingerprints - an even smaller thing
Quieter shutter - such a small thing as to be an absolute non-issue to me...
That's all I've got for the Nikon. Slightly better metering is really the only substantive advantage I can come up with against several positives for the Ricoh. So, BRAIN chooses Ricoh and its not even close...
BUT... With the Nikon I have two basic "MY" settings, one for street, one for everything else - and these only differ in terms of maximum auto-ISO and minimum shutter speed. I've got one button and one dial that gets me what I need to do about 98% of the time. I've got another button with bracketing on it and I only put THAT there because I couldn't think of anything else to assign to it that I'd ever use, not that I use bracketing very often. And anything else I need to change is a click of the "I" button away. Which I do so rarely I sometimes forget its there. And it turns out tremendous shots so easily. Mostly its out of the way and I just shoot - I don't have to think about anything but the light and the shot. With the Ricoh, I've got the same two "MY" settings on the mode dial (one for street, one for everything else) and I've got the fn1 button which I use a lot to shift between snap and AF. But then everything else is spread around between the fn2 button, the effects button, and five banks of stuff on the ADJ control. The exposure comp control is great except that if you've got some other list armed, from either one of the buttons or one of the banks of the ADJ control, it takes over all the controls and the exposure comp rocker and the front control dial switch over and suddenly control whatever THAT is. And if you change exposure comp and don't hit the OK button to kill the exposure comp "menu" (for lack of a better term), it stays open and everything else controls THAT. All of this can be simplified to some degree if you choose, but then you have to go into the menus to change stuff, so I like having it available. But sometimes it all just seems a little too complex, like where did I leave that metering control laying around? Or why did the metering method change when I hit the exposure comp rocker (because you'd just adjusted metering and left it open, dummy). So, there is something really appealing about just having a couple of controls that you use a LOT, and one other depository for all the stuff you only use a little.
Sorry to put you guys through this, but it's actually sort of clarifying to me to write it down. So now I DO better understand what's keeping the Nikon in the game. That's the part that appeals to the heart, at least mine.
And I keep remembering that I still have a GXR-28 that I don't think I'd be able to get much at all for, now that the GR has been released and the GXR has apparently been discontinued and sold off at bargain basement prices. So if I keep that, I'd have some of that Ricoh mojo for when I wanted it AND the Nikon's simplicity - kind of the best of both world. Ahhh, who am I kidding, I'd probably never grab the GXR regardless of which of these I choose...
-Ray