Best Weeklong Try Out

For a while now I've been feeling like I need a new point and shoot camera, one that takes real nice pictures. I'd been reading about the Ricoh GR, it sounded like it might be the nice picture-taking point and shoot of my dreams. And then I discovered an offer from Popflash Photo for a free week long try out with the camera. So I weeklong tried it out!

Here are some of the pictures that I took that week. All of my Six Flags pictures were taken with the Ricoh as well.

Right now this is where I stand with the Ricoh GR:

I liked how it felt in my hand, it's grippy in all the right places and lighter than it looks but it was a little big to be carried in pocket. In optimum conditions, I really liked its images, but it took some adjusting of settings to get them how I liked. For my first few days it was lightening shadows way to much for my liking, then I realized that was something I could turn off. And none of my software could work with its RAW files, which bummed me out, because I really wanted to tinker with some of the pictures.

The camera has an f/2.8 lens and I'd really prefer, so strongly, an extra stop of speed. And not only is the lens "only" a 2.8, but left to its own devices, the camera really only ever wanted to shoot at f/4, no matter what the lighting seemed to be. It missed focus a few times that really broke my heart, and in low light really took its time focusing.

BUT the camera was very snappy and zippy, extremely customizable, a loving owner could lose themselves to it for a long time. Will I become such an owner? Time will tell. Right now I'm testing out its most reasonable rival, the Sony RX100, which seems to be strong in all the Ricoh's weak areas but weak in all of the Ricoh's strong areas. Both cameras, so full of options and adjustments, make me love my dear M8 even more. It's just that sometimes I don't want to carry around that camera, even if it is relatively small and light itself.

I'd really, really like to be able to try an RX1 out for a while, though.

But also, I've now shot with the new Leica M, (or M240, as it is sometimes known) and that's a whole big problem in and of itself. Big, big problem. Barring announcement of a Sony full-frame interchangeable lens that can take M mount lenses, this might be where I should be putting all my camera dreams.