Compact companions - the search goes on.
by Jonathan Eastland
After posting Times They Are A Changing - part III, I have spent several weeks indulging in an exhaustive review of one of the cameras mentioned - the Ricoh GR Digital, a tiny, shirt pocketable 8mp device with a fixed 5.9mm f/2.4 lens which has proved so popular for the maker, it more recently launched a multicoloured special edition.
The glossy paper printed brochure for this camera makes much of its 28mm (35mm format equivalent) GR lens and image processing engine capability. I liked the colour which is very close, as previously noted, to Epson's RD1(s). Overall image sharpness quality is high, though disappointingly none (in the brochure) were scaled up for use across two pages. After examining several fine quality jpegs snatched off the card of a colleague's GRD I was finally persuaded the camera was worth further investigation.
The bench-mark comparators for the review were the nearly-as-small Panasonic DMC-LX2 with its 16:9 format facility and another Ricoh product, the neoprene rubberised R500G Wide, a camera which uses most of the components of the company's GX8 compact, and which does, incidentally, bounce without apparent defect to form or function when thrown on a hard surface. Senior Naval Officer Dave Shutts who is in charge of the new Type 45 Destroyer HMS Daring being fitted out in Glasgow, will vouch for the the fact when I demonstrated the camera's robustness to him by throwing it onto the ship's steel foredeck from standing height.
The reason for the 500G Wide's inclusion here, is not that it's compact. Well not very. A large pocket is required. The principal reason is the camera's excellent image quality obtained from such a small sensor and the fact that it feels good in the hand. Despite the diminutive size of its GR sibling, that camera's more traditional all metal casing and the ergonomic layout of controls, I feel more confident and comfortable using the larger model. Nonetheless, a compact which is easily stowable with all the attributes of the highest possible image quality in class is on the wants list; to that end, the 500G's size rules it out of the running.
The operating control layout of the GR digital is similar to the larger model; push-button micro switches are conveniently placed and may be single handedly operated when necessary. Two tiny milled edge wheels, one in front of the shutter release, and one on the back of the camera behind the power on/off button enable the user to adjust shutter times and aperture settings in combination with various mode settings; manual, aperture priority, programme, SCENE. The camera also shoots video movies, records sound and has a special setting for capturing text using optical character recognition software to convert a multicoloured image to a black and white line film effect.
Optional image quality settings include a variety of jpeg sizes from the smallest VGA 640 pixels (longest side) to Fine at 3264 pixels producing a 22.9mb file when opened. There are also two RAW options which are opened with Ricoh Caplio software. The largest file size enables a straight from camera 18.13ins X 13.6ins print at 180ppi. As a general rule, I don't shoot RAW; any image quality gain which might be noticed by experts, is lost by the time the image is reproduced in print and I simply don't have time for the extra work involved. However, I am reserving judgement on this until I see the next batch of images on a page. For the moment, all assessments have been made with screen comparitors and hard copies made with a HI-Ti dye sublimation printer.
I often find screen assessment fairly unsatisfactory, in so far as seeing is not always believing. It's impossible to dismiss what's in front of your eyes, and yet; my confidence in the technology is perhaps not what it should be. There's no doubt however, that when several images of the same motif shot with different cameras are laid out side by side and examined in far greater detail than is possible with a print in the hand, an objective rating can be made. Perhaps the print in hand is just necessary confirmation of the fact staring at me from the screen and a legacy from many darkroom hours spent rushing from red to white light to examine a dripping print. In those days it seems, one's eye-ball acuity was not in any doubt.
Initially, I experienced some difficulty with images captured with the GR at its lowest ISO equivalent - 64. They didn't look as sharp on the camera screen as those captured with the 500W at the same ISO. This may have to do with the way data is processed in camera, producing a wide tonal gamut with a creamy smooth appearance when image settings are set to soft. Upping the ISO to 100 brings samples from both cameras closer and certainly gives the GR captured image more of the film like appearance (grain - noise) experienced with the 500W. Raising the ISO further, to say 200, maintains the sharper appearance but also changes the colour palette noticeably when capturing images of the same motif.
Elsewhere, the combination of GR lens and Ricoh's image processing engine has received top marks. Compared with the Panasonic DMC-LX2 (also rebadged as the Leica D-Lux 3), image quality is different, but not perhaps, better. The problem is that while the LX2 also has several other features going for it packed into a body of similar dimensions, its Venus III image processor leans too much toward a magenta biased palette for my liking. However, a recent DPS (A3) achieved with that model from an image captured at 16:9 ratio in fine jpeg mode, impressed; so much so, I am inclined to go back to the Leica version and have another look, if for no other reason than to double check a hunch the only difference between the two models lies with software swapping.
Leica claims all of their Panasonic based models differ from the originals in the area of image processing. This has not been my experience, although, some of the image setting parameters produce a less contrasty result for the D-Lux 3. The colour palette of both brands is, to all intents and purpose, the same. Where the Ricoh gains bonus points is from its excellent fixed focal length lens which shows little or no signs of geometric distortion; at the same focal length and format setting (4:3), the Panasonic shows visible barrel curvature which is enhanced when using the wider format setting. The Ricoh manages higher all round detail resolution and while a single focal length may be restricting for some events, it has the option of being converted to the equivalent of 21mm. I have found this optional extra very useful. Fitting the accessory 28mm/21mm viewfinder in the top plate hot-shoe gives the camera more of the feel of a regular small rangefinder. It's a pity however, that Ricoh's designers did not add a flip-up screen hood as a standard fixture; an unprotected screen tends to get quite smeary when the camera is used frequently at eye level.
The last post on this subject suggested it would be one of the Ricoh models which would win out. Since then however, the fast moving world of digital has spawned another contender in the shape of the Ricoh GX100, a remake of the GX8 with some improvements and the addition of a removeable eye level EVF - electronic viewfinder. It's also been suggested that the Sigma DP1, when it finally arrives, will outperform all of the aforementioned. But then, I look at all their different features and compare them to those of the Epson RD1. The body of this camera alone is double the size and much more than double the weight of a raft of compacts. But even when I'm too idle to switch lenses, there's no question about the quality of frames it captures. Streets ahead of the miniature stuff; and when it's not around my neck, it lives in a Newswear.com belt pouch.
ends.
Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
Copyright; Jonathan Eastland 2007
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2007.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2007.
This original content may NOT be used in any print media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed users.
After posting Times They Are A Changing - part III, I have spent several weeks indulging in an exhaustive review of one of the cameras mentioned - the Ricoh GR Digital, a tiny, shirt pocketable 8mp device with a fixed 5.9mm f/2.4 lens which has proved so popular for the maker, it more recently launched a multicoloured special edition.
The glossy paper printed brochure for this camera makes much of its 28mm (35mm format equivalent) GR lens and image processing engine capability. I liked the colour which is very close, as previously noted, to Epson's RD1(s). Overall image sharpness quality is high, though disappointingly none (in the brochure) were scaled up for use across two pages. After examining several fine quality jpegs snatched off the card of a colleague's GRD I was finally persuaded the camera was worth further investigation.
The bench-mark comparators for the review were the nearly-as-small Panasonic DMC-LX2 with its 16:9 format facility and another Ricoh product, the neoprene rubberised R500G Wide, a camera which uses most of the components of the company's GX8 compact, and which does, incidentally, bounce without apparent defect to form or function when thrown on a hard surface. Senior Naval Officer Dave Shutts who is in charge of the new Type 45 Destroyer HMS Daring being fitted out in Glasgow, will vouch for the the fact when I demonstrated the camera's robustness to him by throwing it onto the ship's steel foredeck from standing height.
The reason for the 500G Wide's inclusion here, is not that it's compact. Well not very. A large pocket is required. The principal reason is the camera's excellent image quality obtained from such a small sensor and the fact that it feels good in the hand. Despite the diminutive size of its GR sibling, that camera's more traditional all metal casing and the ergonomic layout of controls, I feel more confident and comfortable using the larger model. Nonetheless, a compact which is easily stowable with all the attributes of the highest possible image quality in class is on the wants list; to that end, the 500G's size rules it out of the running.
The operating control layout of the GR digital is similar to the larger model; push-button micro switches are conveniently placed and may be single handedly operated when necessary. Two tiny milled edge wheels, one in front of the shutter release, and one on the back of the camera behind the power on/off button enable the user to adjust shutter times and aperture settings in combination with various mode settings; manual, aperture priority, programme, SCENE. The camera also shoots video movies, records sound and has a special setting for capturing text using optical character recognition software to convert a multicoloured image to a black and white line film effect.
Optional image quality settings include a variety of jpeg sizes from the smallest VGA 640 pixels (longest side) to Fine at 3264 pixels producing a 22.9mb file when opened. There are also two RAW options which are opened with Ricoh Caplio software. The largest file size enables a straight from camera 18.13ins X 13.6ins print at 180ppi. As a general rule, I don't shoot RAW; any image quality gain which might be noticed by experts, is lost by the time the image is reproduced in print and I simply don't have time for the extra work involved. However, I am reserving judgement on this until I see the next batch of images on a page. For the moment, all assessments have been made with screen comparitors and hard copies made with a HI-Ti dye sublimation printer.
I often find screen assessment fairly unsatisfactory, in so far as seeing is not always believing. It's impossible to dismiss what's in front of your eyes, and yet; my confidence in the technology is perhaps not what it should be. There's no doubt however, that when several images of the same motif shot with different cameras are laid out side by side and examined in far greater detail than is possible with a print in the hand, an objective rating can be made. Perhaps the print in hand is just necessary confirmation of the fact staring at me from the screen and a legacy from many darkroom hours spent rushing from red to white light to examine a dripping print. In those days it seems, one's eye-ball acuity was not in any doubt.
Initially, I experienced some difficulty with images captured with the GR at its lowest ISO equivalent - 64. They didn't look as sharp on the camera screen as those captured with the 500W at the same ISO. This may have to do with the way data is processed in camera, producing a wide tonal gamut with a creamy smooth appearance when image settings are set to soft. Upping the ISO to 100 brings samples from both cameras closer and certainly gives the GR captured image more of the film like appearance (grain - noise) experienced with the 500W. Raising the ISO further, to say 200, maintains the sharper appearance but also changes the colour palette noticeably when capturing images of the same motif.
Elsewhere, the combination of GR lens and Ricoh's image processing engine has received top marks. Compared with the Panasonic DMC-LX2 (also rebadged as the Leica D-Lux 3), image quality is different, but not perhaps, better. The problem is that while the LX2 also has several other features going for it packed into a body of similar dimensions, its Venus III image processor leans too much toward a magenta biased palette for my liking. However, a recent DPS (A3) achieved with that model from an image captured at 16:9 ratio in fine jpeg mode, impressed; so much so, I am inclined to go back to the Leica version and have another look, if for no other reason than to double check a hunch the only difference between the two models lies with software swapping.
Leica claims all of their Panasonic based models differ from the originals in the area of image processing. This has not been my experience, although, some of the image setting parameters produce a less contrasty result for the D-Lux 3. The colour palette of both brands is, to all intents and purpose, the same. Where the Ricoh gains bonus points is from its excellent fixed focal length lens which shows little or no signs of geometric distortion; at the same focal length and format setting (4:3), the Panasonic shows visible barrel curvature which is enhanced when using the wider format setting. The Ricoh manages higher all round detail resolution and while a single focal length may be restricting for some events, it has the option of being converted to the equivalent of 21mm. I have found this optional extra very useful. Fitting the accessory 28mm/21mm viewfinder in the top plate hot-shoe gives the camera more of the feel of a regular small rangefinder. It's a pity however, that Ricoh's designers did not add a flip-up screen hood as a standard fixture; an unprotected screen tends to get quite smeary when the camera is used frequently at eye level.
The last post on this subject suggested it would be one of the Ricoh models which would win out. Since then however, the fast moving world of digital has spawned another contender in the shape of the Ricoh GX100, a remake of the GX8 with some improvements and the addition of a removeable eye level EVF - electronic viewfinder. It's also been suggested that the Sigma DP1, when it finally arrives, will outperform all of the aforementioned. But then, I look at all their different features and compare them to those of the Epson RD1. The body of this camera alone is double the size and much more than double the weight of a raft of compacts. But even when I'm too idle to switch lenses, there's no question about the quality of frames it captures. Streets ahead of the miniature stuff; and when it's not around my neck, it lives in a Newswear.com belt pouch.
ends.
Visitors, users and viewers of the foregoing content may copy and re-use it in other internet content sites on condition the source of all material so used is acknowledged with the attachment of the following.
Copyright; Jonathan Eastland 2007
www.ajaxnetphoto.blogspot.com 2007.
www.ajaxnetphoto.com 2007.
This original content may NOT be used in any print media made available for commercial resale.
The products and companies named in this website content are trademarks , registered trademarks or servicemarks of their respective owners or licensed users.
Labels: Camera, Epson, Leica, Panasonic, Photographer, Photography, Ricoh
posted by Ajax at 20.5.07
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