Conversation

GRD, f4.5, 1/250, ISO 400, JPG b&w

I got my GRD I back from Ricoh today after a handgrip change, now aside from the buttons it looks like new but I kinda miss the "feel" of the old handgrip ;).
After using the GRD II for the last weeks I started to miss the GRD I. There is no other camera, the GRD II included, that has the same "feel" to it. As soon as I set it to b&w mode with Contrast +2 and Sharpness +1 and took the first picture, I knew why I can't just leave this camera at home. The b&w jpgs are simply outstanding, there is no better camera for b&w out there than the GRD I. The grain, the contrast and sharpness of the images is impressive. The images are so crisp that it is almost impossible to get anywhere close to this using RAW or any other camera. I surely hope Ricoh can somehow add this processing to the GRD II via firmware.
While my GRD II street shots are shot in b&w jpg mode I almost never end up actually using them but process the RAW and use the color version of the picture. So as I said befre, the GRD I is a b&w camera while the GRD II is a color camera.
Took this picture over lunch at Ossie's and while it's not the best picture to demonstrate what I was saying about the GRD I b&w jpgs it does show what is possible and has the GRD I "look". I don't even use RAW on the GRD I anymore since now it became my b&w camera. No post processing other than slightly croppng it.