Ricoh GX8

Ricoh GX8 announcement:

-- omr

For some reason, this forum will not allow me to post a link
to the Ricoh GX8 announcement over at Let's Go Digital.

Let's try another route. Click this Google News link, and
there you'll find a link to the announcement at Let's Go Digital.

http://news.google.com/news?q=ricoh+gx8+letsgodigital

-- omr

--
Henrik

--
Henrik

Potential buyers who just browse the specs may be impressed with 8MP, but IMHO it is far from needed and is most likely to introduce quite a bit of noise to images.

What Ricoh should have added but didn't:

• Swiveling LCD
• Better movie mode
• Metal tripod thread (I may be surprised on this one)
• RAW mode (nice, but not critical)

Prog.

Check out this full-size crop from Sample #7:



I don't recall the original GX having so much purple fringing. Is this a side effect of the smallish 8MP sensor? Sure seems like it.

Original samples here:

http://www.ricoh.com/r_dc/caplio/gx8/sample.html

Prog.

That's the ugliest digicam I've ever seen. This camera is going to be a big loser for Ricoh. Bad design, poor lens quality, poor image quality. They should start over.
--
Dan

Canon EOS Rebel 300D w/ 18-55 kit lens Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Canon EF 28-105mm 3.5-4.5 USM II Canon EF 50mm 1.8
Canon 420 EX
http://www.pbase.com/drimar

As for looks, I personally like it:



Yeap, nice and clean ;-)

Prog.

interesting point of view...

wondered if you'd held one, or even tested it, or whether you've made your judgement on the image and lens quality by simply looking at a picture of the camera?

i was trying to make up my mind between a ricoh gx and r2, and then ricoh go and introduce this new gx8 to further confuse me. problem is further deepened by a review of the original gx which slated the image quality - presumably the gx8 has nothing new on it to change that?

i really want the wide lens, so would prefer the gx so that i can choose to add the even wider adaptor.

what i'm really trying to achieve is a replacement of a 10 year old ricoh R1 35mm camera which i loved, and which had a 28mmlens with a 24mm option on it - it's now died and i need another friend to fit in my pocket and take good quality landscape/cityscape/macro whever the need takes hold, as well as family and travel photos.

would i be better looking at canon sd4 -500, as i've read their image quality is outstanding?

does anyone know of another compact with wide lens capability?

I am not a fan of the Canon SD400 / 500 as much as I am of the S70. It is compact pocketable camera with a larger CCD than the 400/500 and the same CCD and processor as the G6. I think the S70 will compare favorably size wise to the GX8, but with better image quality, style, and build. I have used and tested a wide variety of cameras and for your purpose the S70 seems like a natural fit..

Dan

another planet said:

i was trying to make up my mind between a ricoh gx and r2, and then
ricoh go and introduce this new gx8 to further confuse me. problem
is further deepened by a review of the original gx which slated the
image quality - presumably the gx8 has nothing new on it to change
that?

i really want the wide lens, so would prefer the gx so that i can
choose to add the even wider adaptor.
what i'm really trying to achieve is a replacement of a 10 year old
ricoh R1 35mm camera which i loved, and which had a 28mmlens with a
24mm option on it - it's now died and i need another friend to fit
in my pocket and take good quality landscape/cityscape/macro whever
the need takes hold, as well as family and travel photos.

would i be better looking at canon sd4 -500, as i've read their
image quality is outstanding?

does anyone know of another compact with wide lens capability?

Click to expand...

No hot-shoe
Much slower to operate (long shutter lag, on/off, etc..)
Macro not as close
Slower lens
Propritary battery

I'd choose the GX over the S70 - regardless of price. I did see quite a few nice photographs that were taken with the Caplio.

Prog.

If you are looking for something like film (g)R1 then you should wait some more time. Ricoh is due to release digital GR1 very soon. GX8 is also very good camera but nothing special over previous GX. They just solved some problems like:

• you don't have to use build in flash with hot shoe
• mass storage device and USB 2.0 transfer
• multiple AF points
• new firmware and software
• cable release (optional)

I don't think that 8 Mpix producess worser images than 5 Mpix GX but with this sample pictures from Ricoh it's hard to see GX8 3 Mpix more superior quality. Anyway initial price in Japan 55000 yen doesn.t sound bad - I remember that GX was anounced 70000 yen. It think that means about 300E in EU. So if anyone is looking for new fast pocket camera GX8 is the best buy I think.

Canon S60/S70 both are graet performers but in my opinion aren't as nice finished as GX and both are painful slow. (for me unusable)

I'm disapointed by the lack of RAW mode in GX8.... so now I'm waiting for 5 Mpix GR1 (that was the rumor) and remember that Ricoh was said to release 8 new cameras this year so more mpix GR2 is also highly possible.

1. wrz#

I didn't see it mentioned anywhere.

Prog.

The announcement spec sheet says the ISO goes up to 1600. Could it be true? AFAIK, this is a first for compact digicams. No doubt it'll be noisy as hell, but still an interesting feature.

-Yohan

They are most probably correct. The original GX has just that (please do a search in this forum and you will probably find some samples).

Low ISO noise seems to be on par with the original GX. Biggest reason for me to upgrade would be that external flash can be used independently from internal (which recharges horribly slow on the original GX).

Look forward to reviews

Johan

Yohan Pamudji said:

The announcement spec sheet says the ISO goes up to 1600. Could it
be true? AFAIK, this is a first for compact digicams. No doubt
it'll be noisy as hell, but still an interesting feature.

-Yohan

Click to expand...

You can't get reasonable prints with it though.

Prog.

I bought a GX about 1 1/2 - 2 months ago and I really thought that it was one of the better digicams that I've ever used. A week ago I decided to put the GX on my tripod and try out the macro-mode (at 1cm)... and try as I may, I could not get a focused shot (on my subject). I tried everything... horizontal position/contrasty vertical edge of subject, etc. at al. I finally gave up! When I uploaded some images, the next day, that I had shot in normal-mode... I noticed that these were not focused at my subject either. After several days of testing the camera and not getting good focus any longer (it was amazingly accurate before I tried the macro-mode) I removed the battery, card, HA-1 lens-adapter, hood and strap... then I dropped the GX into the trash bin. This was quite a loss, as I had just spent $530us for the camera kit with DW-4 wa lens adapter. All of the stuff that I have for the GX ,now, will fit the GX8... but since I live in the US, where there is no Ricoh distributor, I'd be in the exact same position as I was with the GX (no warranty). I'm not at all willing to spend the money to ship a camera to Hong Kong or wherever (overseas). So, unfortunately my Ricoh infatuation has come to an abrupt end and I'll have to find some other make/model that has a US distributor/warranty... when I can afford to buy another camera.

owen

I see quite a number of Hot Pixels in the images too....something that ricoh doesn't seem to address. I have seen it more on their cameras than others I own. They should include Pixel remapping in the camera like the 99 UK pound OLympus C-370.

Does anyone remember the link to the Sony site that lists all the different CCD sensors they make? For some reason my Google-fu is very poor today.