Well, i ve just been to photokina after several months of anticipation. Finally another chance to meet up with the Ricoh staff. our last meet up was in Japan where we checked out the picture gallery from their last contest. I was also very eager to see how the new micro 4/3 system was since the recent announcement of the G1 and see if it would be a sort of modern day epson rd1 with controls similar to a ricoh that would accept interchangeable lenses, this way my voigtlander lenses could be mounted with an adaptor. next on my list was the olympus digital pen or whatever they decide to call their new ultra small interchangeable camera.
I was quite impressed with the panasonic G1 and it s EVF. on almost all cameras i have tested, the evf i find useless and uncomfortable to see with. manually focusing is also usually quite an exercise, however on the G1 its really quite usable and crisp. would have preferred an absence of any viewfinder all together and it to be sold as an accessory a bit like the Ricoh GX100.
The controls are quite OK and even if i prefer old school controls like the RD1 i could learn to like them. they added a push wheel and i am a big fan of wheels for controlling aperture and shutter. the wheel can even be pushed.the refresh rate of the screen leave the competition behind and is very very fast, maybe a bit too fast. they adopted a LCD folding feature like the rd1 that in my opinion is a bit pointless as you need the menu to make adjustments. on the RD1 it makes sense because all the controls are physical. perhaps its intended for another purpose.
I was quite impressed with the panasonic G1 and it s EVF. on almost all cameras i have tested, the evf i find useless and uncomfortable to see with. manually focusing is also usually quite an exercise, however on the G1 its really quite usable and crisp. would have preferred an absence of any viewfinder all together and it to be sold as an accessory a bit like the Ricoh GX100.
The controls are quite OK and even if i prefer old school controls like the RD1 i could learn to like them. they added a push wheel and i am a big fan of wheels for controlling aperture and shutter. the wheel can even be pushed.the refresh rate of the screen leave the competition behind and is very very fast, maybe a bit too fast. they adopted a LCD folding feature like the rd1 that in my opinion is a bit pointless as you need the menu to make adjustments. on the RD1 it makes sense because all the controls are physical. perhaps its intended for another purpose.
At the Ricoh booth we had the chance to discuss cameras and our view of possible improvements of the GR series of cameras. I think the biggest points that came out of the meeting was the rocker switch in replacement of the GRD1 wheel and differences in jpeg quality. this subject is covered in every possible detail in the Ricoh gr diary. Ricoh staff are extremely friendly people who listen very carefully to their customer base.The Olympus digital pen prototype looks almost too good to be true. it looks for now like a silver version of the sigma dp2 except the lens is changeable. if the interface is good, i may buy this camera or perhaps Ricoh will surprise me with the GRD3.
more to follow...
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3 comments:
That is a good read, Tom.
I was not all impressed by the G1 from Panasonic (mainly because of the formfactor and the menu driven interface).
I look forward from more Ricoh news in the near future.
Cheers,
Wouter
Thanks Wouter :)
the G1 did really appeal to me personally. since using the GRD i enjoy a nice metal build quality and something of a classic design in a camera. The G1 feels very light and fragile witn its plastic body. It also appears like an SLR and im not a big fan of that. i would probably rather this over an slr because of the size and weight but the interface i did not like much. i like 2 wheels. 1 by the thumb and 1 reachable with the finger. also like you mention, the camera is too menu driven. :)
really looking forward to see what ricoh will come up with.
i liked your report on photokina, it was very detailed. its a shame i didnt get to see the nude nikon model :)
LOL, you like Nikon too? I passed by the Nikonians.org booth and there were so many "bird" photographers.
I suggest you stick to that wonderful R-D1! For many years to come it will remain a very special camera. Or Ricoh should come up with a rangefinder too!!!!
Wouter
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