GX100 review @ photoreview.com.au

http://www.photoreview.com.au/reviews/slimline/ricoh-caplio-gx100.aspx#top
(click the "more" link to get to the actual review)

Prog.

Interesting read, thanks.

This is the third review I've read that mentions slow focus. Not just slow but really, really slow.

What's the truth here? I've been thinking I'd probably get a GX100 at some point, but if it takes 2 seconds to focus, I don't think I'll bother. It seems to me that owners are being bit cagey about this aspect of performance and seem to be blaming reviewers for using slow memory cards, which is nothing to do with focus speed.

How does it compare with, say, a typical P+S like a Canon Ixus or a Panasonic FX for achieving focus lock?

--
Androo
http://Androo.smugmug.com

Andrew Butterfield said:

This is the third review I've read that mentions slow focus. Not just
slow but really, really slow.

What's the truth here? I've been thinking I'd probably get a GX100 at
some point, but if it takes 2 seconds to focus, I don't think I'll
bother. It seems to me that owners are being bit cagey about this
aspect of performance and seem to be blaming reviewers for using slow
memory cards, which is nothing to do with focus speed.

How does it compare with, say, a typical P+S like a Canon Ixus or a
Panasonic FX for achieving focus lock?

Click to expand...

This appears to be the camera's Achilles' heel. 2.2 seconds to focus is simply unacceptable. For the Fuji F31fd (my favorite small digicam), the Half-press lag (time to focus) at the wide angle end is 0.6 sec, 0.3sec in the high speed mode http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilmf31fd/page4.asp Canon's latest digicams are comparable.

Bob

Slow focus is not an issue with me. I normal use the GX100 in the SNAP mode, which is fix focus. So far I am happy with the GX100 fix focus in the SNAP mode.

I normally shoot DSLRs, and have found slow focus to be extremely agravating on most P&S cameras. However, I use the Ricoh in regular spot or multi AF mode and it works great. Very happy with it.

Two complaints with the camera. I have to shoot at -2/3 stop exposure compensation to get accurate exposures. And, I can't get accurate reds in jpegs. I use a Whibal card in RAW and this corrects it, but I come from Canon color and the reds from the GX100 are simply too orange. I've tried different white balances, and "outdoor" works best, but reds are still poor.
Mike

i do not have any problems with the focus speed. may be it is half a second slower than an ixus but its nothing to me. if i really need a quick focus i will switch to the useful snap mode.

from a recent trip i took about 300 photos and only 1 was off focus, and i am very satisfied with this.

Robert Deutsch said:

This appears to be the camera's Achilles' heel. 2.2 seconds to focus
is simply unacceptable. For the Fuji F31fd (my favorite small
digicam), the Half-press lag (time to focus) at the wide angle end is
0.6 sec, 0.3sec in the high speed mode

Click to expand...

I was surprised by this, as I have not noticed anything particularly objectionable about time to acquire focus.

I just tried about 10 times, in moderately dim indoor light, pointing the camera at objects at different distances each time, ISO 80, 5.1mm, f 2.5 though I am not certain that makes any difference. Spot focus mode (maybe that does make a difference? I always use it, anyway...) Time from half pressing the release to when the green signal lights up in the LCD is about 1 to 1.5 seconds, depending on how coordinated I am with the stopwatch. Certainly not nearly 2.2 at any rate.

This is comparable to other P&S cameras I have used extensively (Nikon, Canon). It is actually faster and more convenient than I find DSLRs to be when shooting wideangle at 28mm equivalent or less, as I find that it is really necessary to zoom in, focus, and zoom back out, to avoid hunting and missed focus (Nikon D70 and D2x).

Ross
--
Ross Alford
http://www.pbase.com/northqueenslandphotos

Ross, is there any perceptible delay if you press the shutter release all the way without stopping at the half-press position first?

Prog.

Prognathous said:

Ross, is there any perceptible delay if you press the shutter release
all the way without stopping at the half-press position first?

Click to expand...

I tried it. It was harder to measure--since I never take pictures that way it is really hard to just press the shutter button all the way, but as far as I can tell there is not much if any additional delay--when the green box would have lighted up to say it was in focus, the shutter fires. Again in somewhere between 1 and 1.5 second, usually. At least that is how it seems to me.

Also, there is very little lag if between the time you fully press the shutter button and the time the shutter fires, if you have focused first. It is certainly too short for me to measure, seems that the shutter fires more or less instantly.

In subjective terms the speed of focusing and taking pictures of the GX100 seems very similar to me to my previous carry-around camera, a Canon S70. The only difference is that the Canon is very unusual in that it buffers writing raw files, so you can take 4 or 5 shots in quick succession. However, I always had it set to show a 4 second review of the picture I just took, and I usually left it up for the whole 4 seconds, so the Ricoh seems similar in that respect too. Definitely faster than the one before that, which was a Coolpix 5000 (which I still have, and use occasionally for the tilt-and-swivel LCD, so my memory of its speed or lack thereof is quite fresh).
--
Ross Alford
http://www.pbase.com/northqueenslandphotos

I have no problems with mine. It certainly feels the same as my previous digicams, like the G7 or the TZ3. I have just finished processing hundreds of photos I took in London a couple of weeks ago, and the AF speed was no problem at all.

I always use aperture priority and the spot focus option. In a few instances, I was walking behind the subjects and shooting while walking. So this would be the case of pressing the shutter button all in one go and hope for the best.

http://paulobizarro.com/foto.asp?id=1198&t=40

http://paulobizarro.com/foto.asp?id=1167&t=40

I also had no problems in dim light inside museums.

http://paulobizarro.com/foto.asp?id=1205&t=40

Ross Alford said:

I tried it. It was harder to measure--since I never take pictures
that way it is really hard to just press the shutter button all the
way, but as far as I can tell there is not much if any additional
delay--when the green box would have lighted up to say it was in
focus, the shutter fires. Again in somewhere between 1 and 1.5
second, usually. At least that is how it seems to me.

Click to expand...

1 to 1.5 second full-press lag in a Ricoh camera? That's a huge disappointment. With every other Caplio that I've tried it is virtually instantaneous. And that includes quite a few cameras G3, RX, GX, GX8, R1, R3, R4 and R5. When doing a full-press, these cameras focus in a split-second using the external phase-detection sensors, skipping contrast-detection AF, and the result is usually reasonably focused. I wonder why the GX100 is different, as it also includes phase-detection sensors (unlike the R6).

Prog.

I bought the GX100 well before any reviews were made and nothing has made me feel I had to read a review to re-inforce my decision or find out what I might not have discovered in my own testing and use.

However I wonder whether the testers have been focussing in macro-mode. Macro-mode focussing is slow but very accurate and almost always finds its mark. Unlike the GR-D the GX100 remembers that macro mode was last used.

I don't mind the wait for macro-focus but I can always fall back on full-press or soft-press focussing which does not seem slow at all. (But switch off macro focus first

If all else fails I can use "snap" mode and I cannnot see how any other camera could "focus" that fast.

I am also glad I bought my GR-D before I read the review - I might have been warned off and therefore missed one of the better cameras in my life.

Don't be hide-bound by what you read in a test - a camera is the sum of all its parts and you learn to forgive the warts if the rest of the good points are good enough.

You will be glad you tried one - you will either love it or hate it and you can always read the test a month or so after you have bought it.

(smile)

--
Tom Caldwell

I was deliberately swapping between subjects quite close to and quite far away from the camera. It was not in macro mode. Most of the delay was in the motion of the lens mechanism, which seems unavoidable. I will have another go tomorrow; it may well be that if you are just taking a series of photos at very similar distances the lag is much shorter, perhaps it has a threshold within which it decides focus is "close enough" and eliminates the delay entirely. This could easily happen in a series of people photos.

As I noted in another thread, and others have noted in this thread, if you are really worried you can always use it in snap mode, which is really fast, appearing instantaneous to me.

Ross

Prognathous said:

Ross Alford said:

I tried it. It was harder to measure--since I never take pictures
that way it is really hard to just press the shutter button all the
way, but as far as I can tell there is not much if any additional
delay--when the green box would have lighted up to say it was in
focus, the shutter fires. Again in somewhere between 1 and 1.5
second, usually. At least that is how it seems to me.

Click to expand...

1 to 1.5 second full-press lag in a Ricoh camera? That's a huge
disappointment. With every other Caplio that I've tried it is
virtually instantaneous. And that includes quite a few cameras G3,
RX, GX, GX8, R1, R3, R4 and R5. When doing a full-press, these
cameras focus in a split-second using the external phase-detection
sensors, skipping contrast-detection AF, and the result is usually
reasonably focused. I wonder why the GX100 is different, as it also
includes phase-detection sensors (unlike the R6).

Prog.

Click to expand...

--
Ross Alford
http://www.pbase.com/northqueenslandphotos

Ross Alford said:

I was deliberately swapping between subjects quite close to and quite
far away from the camera.

Click to expand...

I used the same method. In most cases, Ricoh digicams can achieve focus lock in very short times (as long as full-press is used, rather than half-press). However, when doing a full press, metering is sometimes considerably off. It seems like the AF system is much faster than the AE system.

Ross Alford said:

I will have another go tomorrow; it may well be that if
you are just taking a series of photos at very similar distances the
lag is much shorter, perhaps it has a threshold within which it
decides focus is "close enough" and eliminates the delay entirely.

Click to expand...

Could it be the light level? If you can, try to test this in daylight.

Ross Alford said:

As I noted in another thread, and others have noted in this thread,
if you are really worried you can always use it in snap mode, which
is really fast, appearing instantaneous to me.

Click to expand...

I use Snap mode occasionally, but I like having a quick AF system at my disposal. I hope the GX100 has not regressed Ricoh's unique hybrid AF, as it worked very well on past models.

Prog.

Hello all here in the forum

I read a lot off reviews about cameras but also audio equipment.
I am always very perplexed about the differences in these reviews
from the same camera or audio equipment.
2 weeks ago I bought the German "Fotomagazin". In this magazin
you can read a review from 54 digital cameras. DSRL, Bridge cameras
and Pocket cameras. They have used in this review the newest
equipment for testing focustime and shutterlag. The Ricoh GX100
is by far the fastest camera off all in this review including all the DSRL.
His score is 84% for speed. The reviewers specialy mentioned his very
fast focus and shutterlag. The Sigma SD14 focus and shutterlag was slow,
above 1 second. However in the review http://www.dkamera.de/ the
Sigma SD14 is very fast. How is this possible ?. This is not the first time
I read differences in speed off 1 second or more !!!!.
All I want to say is don't trust everything in these reviews and read the forums
what the owners have to say.

Greetings
Wilnis
Kodak P880
Ricoh GX100
Ricoh GR1s

Yes, autofocus is VERY slow. I just pretend its an old rangefinder and do everything on manual. On manual focus, shutterlag is very low. The only time it bothers me is when trying to do handheld macro with autofocus.
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bertreimer

I am very surprised to hear people complaining about the focus on Ricoh cameras. From my experience with the GRD, R5, R6 and GX100 all are very fast and especially the G series is the fastest P&S camera and way faster than the IXus cameras I've seen. In Snap focus it's instant and in Spot or Multi you can full press the shutter and it focuses in 90% cases perfect almost instant and if you wait it's under 1 sec. Only in Macro it takes longer but the focus accuracy is great and you do get more details and sharper images with this.

I tried it again in better light, repeatedly shooting at subjects at varying but not too varying distances, on the order of 5-15 feet away.

Done like this, there is far less delay; too short for me to measure.

In my original trials, I was actually going for a more or less worst-case scenario, to see if the 2.2 seconds reported at the start of this discussion was correct, which as far as I can tell it does not seem to be--maybe if you make it scan from full macro to full infinity in bad light, or something. In more typical circumstances, a full-press shutter release seems almost as quick as snap mode.

Glad I tried it; that opens up new possibilities.

Ross

Prognathous said:

Ross Alford said:

I was deliberately swapping between subjects quite close to and quite
far away from the camera.

Click to expand...

I used the same method. In most cases, Ricoh digicams can achieve
focus lock in very short times (as long as full-press is used, rather
than half-press). However, when doing a full press, metering is
sometimes considerably off. It seems like the AF system is much
faster than the AE system.

Prognathous said:

I will have another go tomorrow; it may well be that if
you are just taking a series of photos at very similar distances the
lag is much shorter, perhaps it has a threshold within which it
decides focus is "close enough" and eliminates the delay entirely.

Click to expand...

Could it be the light level? If you can, try to test this in daylight.

Prognathous said:

As I noted in another thread, and others have noted in this thread,
if you are really worried you can always use it in snap mode, which
is really fast, appearing instantaneous to me.

Click to expand...

I use Snap mode occasionally, but I like having a quick AF system at
my disposal. I hope the GX100 has not regressed Ricoh's unique hybrid
AF, as it worked very well on past models.

Prog.

Click to expand...

--
Ross Alford
http://www.pbase.com/northqueenslandphotos

Ross Alford said:

In more typical circumstances,
a full-press shutter release seems almost as quick as snap mode.

Glad I tried it; that opens up new possibilities.

Click to expand...

I'm glad you tried it too. It's nice to see that Ricoh hasn't gone backwards and that the GX100 AF retains the instant full-press responsiveness of previous models.

Prog.