Ricoh The Ricoh GR image thread

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M.
 
“He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it.”
―(George Orwell: Shooting an Elephant)―
"Se pone una máscara y su cara acaba por acomodarse a ella."

My small Triceratops dinosaur action figure...next to my Triceratops Halloween mask.
Taken at ISO 12,800 to see just how extreme the 'graininess' gets in low-low-low light image-making, with my recently acquired (but still spanking new to me) GRii.

GRII_May2_Dino_biker_&_Mask.jpg
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Congratulations, the GRII is something special! I would have kept mine if I'd been able to afford both it and the GRIII, and I still miss that punch that the GRII has sometimes. The new model is unquestionably more versatile, but if you know the old one well, pushing it to its limits is very rewarding. Plus, the size is absolutely perfect. My pocket appreciates the slightly smaller size of the new one, but the GRII feels like perfection in the hand.
 
Playing around with a handful of different settings in-camera jpeg 'effects' on my (new to me) GRII -

First the 'Positive Film' setting--

GRII_May3_Literary_monkey(PosFilm).jpg
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Then the 'Cross-Process'--

GRII_May3_Literary_monkey(CrossProcess).jpg
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And lastly the 'Hi-Contrast B&W'--

GRII_May3_Literary_monkey(HiConBW).jpg
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It's kind of a quandary, a dilemma ... I can't really decide which I prefer.
I think this is going to require further experimentation ;)
 
Playing around with a handful of different settings in-camera jpeg 'effects' on my (new to me) GRII -

First the 'Positive Film' setting--

View attachment 221824

Then the 'Cross-Process'--

View attachment 221825

And lastly the 'Hi-Contrast B&W'--

View attachment 221826

It's kind of a quandary, a dilemma ... I can't really decide which I prefer.
I think this is going to require further experimentation ;)
Those were/are my three favorites as well! I like the B&W one for people and street, positive film for the ones where color is a main feature, and cross process for scenes with lights, especially neon, in darkness.
 
Took a handful of shots of an ancient and unbelievably rusted-out Dodge pickup truck, using the in-camera 'Positive Film' setting of the GR II and I have to say, the results equal and exceed most of the color post-production work I've been in the habit of doing to RAW digital negatives from other cameras. I'm posting them in the order they were shot in, starting from a head-on view--

GRII_May5_Ancient_Ford_pickup#1.jpg
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I'd forgotten how sharp the lens of my former 1st gen APS-C GR had been - but I think the GRII is right up there with it--

GRII_May5_Ancient_Ford_pickup#2.jpg
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You can see this truck isn't 'going anywhere', and hasn't, for quite some time--

GRII_May5_Ancient_Ford_pickup#3.jpg
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And of course one has to wonder how ancient the windshield bullet holes are, and what their genesis may have been.

GRII_May5_Ancient_Ford_pickup#4.jpg
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The Positive Film setting seems to saturate certain colors a bit more, and increase contrast in some areas. On the GRII it is user-adjustable, as well.

GRII_May5_Ancient_Ford_pickup#5.jpg
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But I really like what the Ricoh software engineers have come up with.

GRII_May5_Ancient_Ford_pickup#6.jpg
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The interior of the truck was a little flat and muddy however, so it's received a little (necessary IMHO) Lightroom tweaking, which has improved the image by maybe a million per cent for me.

GRII_May5_Ancient_Ford_pickup#7.jpg
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There's an almost contrasty tonal harshness to the 'Positive Color' look - but I like it.

GRII_May5_Ancient_Ford_pickup#8.jpg
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'Positive Film' isn't exactly Kodachrome and it's not really Velvia either - honestly I would be hard pressed to say which color reversal or slide film inspired the Ricoh engineers originally, but .... damn. It's kind of cool ;)
 
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Took a handful of shots of an ancient and unbelievably rusted-out Dodge pickup truck, using the in-camera 'Positive Film' setting of the GR II and I have to say, the results equal and exceed most of the color post-production work I've been in the habit of doing to RAW digital negatives from other cameras. I'm posting them in the order they were shot in, starting from a head-on view--

View attachment 222130

I'd forgotten how sharp the lens of my former 1st gen APS-C GR had been - but I think the GRII is right up there with it--

View attachment 222131

You can see this truck isn't 'going anywhere', and hasn't, for quite some time--

View attachment 222132

And of course one has to wonder how ancient the windshield bullet holes are, and what their genesis may have been.

View attachment 222133

The Positive Film setting seems to saturate certain colors a bit more, and increase contrast in some areas. On the GRII it is user-adjustable, as well.

View attachment 222134

But I really like what the Ricoh software engineers have come up with.

View attachment 222135

The interior of the truck was a little flat and muddy however, so it's received a little (necessary IMHO) Lightroom tweaking, which has improved the image by maybe a million per cent for me.

View attachment 222136

There's an almost contrasty tonal harshness to the 'Positive Color' look - but I like it.

View attachment 222137

'Positive Film' isn't exactly Kodachrome and it's not really Velvia either - honestly I would be hard pressed to say which color reversal or slide film inspired the Ricoh engineers originally, but .... damn. It's kind of cool ;)
Great to find something like that, and the processing really works for me. Still I like your B&W entry best, for its framing and processing.
 
Took a handful of shots of an ancient and unbelievably rusted-out Dodge pickup truck, using the in-camera 'Positive Film' setting of the GR II and I have to say, the results equal and exceed most of the color post-production work I've been in the habit of doing to RAW digital negatives from other cameras. I'm posting them in the order they were shot in, starting from a head-on view--

View attachment 222130

I'd forgotten how sharp the lens of my former 1st gen APS-C GR had been - but I think the GRII is right up there with it--

View attachment 222131

You can see this truck isn't 'going anywhere', and hasn't, for quite some time--

View attachment 222132

And of course one has to wonder how ancient the windshield bullet holes are, and what their genesis may have been.

View attachment 222133

The Positive Film setting seems to saturate certain colors a bit more, and increase contrast in some areas. On the GRII it is user-adjustable, as well.

View attachment 222134

But I really like what the Ricoh software engineers have come up with.

View attachment 222135

The interior of the truck was a little flat and muddy however, so it's received a little (necessary IMHO) Lightroom tweaking, which has improved the image by maybe a million per cent for me.

View attachment 222136

There's an almost contrasty tonal harshness to the 'Positive Color' look - but I like it.

View attachment 222137

'Positive Film' isn't exactly Kodachrome and it's not really Velvia either - honestly I would be hard pressed to say which color reversal or slide film inspired the Ricoh engineers originally, but .... damn. It's kind of cool ;)
Wish I had that level of vehicle around where I am. One thing I’ve noticed through these forums if nowhere else is that in Trumpland, these kind of vehicles are not an uncommon sight. Something you don’t see on the telly when watching from afar.
 
Three more from the ongoing experiments with the GR II. The first two are different interpretations of the same shot - the third, a different one.

First, this was taken with the in-camera Positive Film jpeg setting, which I am growing fond of. It seems to occasionally favor warmer or reddish tones---

GRII_May8_Olivetti_Lettera(PosFilm).jpg
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Second, the same shot - but starting with the DNG or digital negative, and then processed in Lightroom with one of the VSCO 'cross-processing' presets, which I am fond of. A cooler tone which tends more towards greenish-bluish, and for me at least gives the image a different feel--

GRII_May8_Olivetti_Lettera(VSCOxp).jpg
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Last, another shot, a slightly different angle of the same subject (my mother's old manual typewriter), this time starting with the DNG or digital negative, and doing a bit of monochrome PP (mainly with Nik tools)--

GRII_May8_Olivetti_Lettera(monochrome).jpg
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I actually like all three but I think the monochrome is my favorite. Although it's rather fun to have an SOOC jpeg setting (the Positive Film) which comes close to something I like....which continues to surprise me ;)
 
Three more from the ongoing experiments with the GR II. The first two are different interpretations of the same shot - the third, a different one.

First, this was taken with the in-camera Positive Film jpeg setting, which I am growing fond of. It seems to occasionally favor warmer or reddish tones---

View attachment 222442

Second, the same shot - but starting with the DNG or digital negative, and then processed in Lightroom with one of the VSCO 'cross-processing' presets, which I am fond of. A cooler tone which tends more towards greenish-bluish, and for me at least gives the image a different feel--

View attachment 222443

Last, another shot, a slightly different angle of the same subject (my mother's old manual typewriter), this time starting with the DNG or digital negative, and doing a bit of monochrome PP (mainly with Nik tools)--

View attachment 222444

I actually like all three but I think the monochrome is my favorite. Although it's rather fun to have an SOOC jpeg setting (the Positive Film) which comes close to something I like....which continues to surprise me ;)



I think if I didn't have so much invested in M4/³ I could quite easily sell all my other gear and be happy with just the Ricoh...
 
The experimentation is ongoing, but I'm inching a little closer to massaging the GR II's Hi-contrast B&W mode to something I like. Fortunately, I don't mind a little trial-and-error experimentation, possibly a holdover from the ancient days in the darkroom, struggling to turn prints from Tri-X negatives into a closer approximation of what I had been hoping for.

GRII_May11_Wood_chipper#7(LK).jpg
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Trying out the GW-3 Wide Conversion lens, which widens the GR II's field of view from 28mm to 21mm--

GRII_May14_Closed_Sidewalk(PosFilm).jpg
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This reminds me a little of the ancient analog days, when one of my favorite lenses for my old film Pentaxes was a 24mm Takumar. Getting that extra width is......interesting. This was taken with the in-camera Positive Film setting.
 
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