First day out with the GX200 and I am very impressed. It is in almost every respect better than the GRD II as long as you don't go over ISO 800.
The lens needs to be faster though, especially as you zoom in you lose too much. The JPG quality is very good though even if it does not get close to the GRD I JPGs. Even long exposure pictures can be used from the JPGs, something that is impossible with the GRD II. So far my impresions of it are very good and I would say from the current Ricoh cameras it is the best right after the GRD I. The RAW files are as good as the GRD II but with less contrast and not quite as sharp but this can be easily fixed. The only most notable differences are the distortion and the size of the camera. I was even quite impressed with the EVF. More will be posted in my review. For now have a look at some pictures
That is an excellent first impression of the camera Cristi. I think it is a useful camera up to ISO 400, and both the jpeg and RAW files are pretty good in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThe first and especially the second photograph are outstanding.
I agree with Wouter - very, very cool pictures! I also like the last one. But I have to disagree with the long exposure JPGs of the GRD2: without knowing any of the other cams I find them perfectly useable, as for example here: http://www.kemai.de/presidencia/pixelpost/index.php?showimage=495&category=1
ReplyDeleteI agree, especially the first image.
ReplyDeleteThanks Wouter! I really like the Gx200 and think it is a great improvement from the GX100. Even the focus is faster and more accurate.
ReplyDeleteThanks DLC! The long exposure pictures are usable but when compared with what you can get out of RAW show the smearing and smudgyness or the excessive NR the GRD II performs. It is a shame taht the GRD II is the camera with the worst and highest level of NR from Ricoh. You can see my test here: http://ricoh-gr-diary.blogspot.com/2008/06/ladywell-fields.html
Thanks James, looks like I should try more long exposure shots :).
Cristi, you´re absolutely right with the excessive noise reduction. This is the one and only thing that I realy dislike on the GRD2. I was really hoping Ricoh would fix this in a firmware upgrade, but apparently they won´t (or probably can´t, because the new 10mp sensor isn´t as good as the 8mp of GRD1?!).
ReplyDeleteThus, the JPGs remain usable for me in general, but GRD1 quality would be nicer, indeed.
DLC, I am not sure why the excessive NR is used only in the GRD II, especially since the R7 and R10 with smaller sensors do quite well with their JPGs and so does the Gx200 with 2MP more. Think Ricoh looked too much for RAW performance in the GRD II and tried to eliminate the noise as this has been a constant for them issue in technical reviews.
ReplyDeleteI hope for their next cameras Ricoh manage to get back to the GRD I JPG engine.