I'm very interested in the GXR's usability. Did you compose most of your shots with the external viewfinder, or was it too much of a hassle?
I found myself using both the LCD and the EVF quite a lot on this trip, and which I chose was somewhat linked to which lens I was using. I was carrying three lenses: Skopar 21mm f/4, Nokton 40mm f/1.4, M-Rokkor 90mm f/4. When I'm shooting with the 21mm, I often used just the LCD ... with the 90mm, I used the EVF most of the time ... and with the 40mm it was about half and half, depending on the circumstances.
I never find using the right viewfinder for a particular job a "hassle" ... ;-) ... I use whatever gets the job done best for my needs.
How is the battery life? While it would be prudent to bring along extra batteries while traveling, how many shots per charge were you able to achieve per charge?
I would
never go traveling without at least one spare battery for any camera that requires one. Batteries are small, light, cheap, and without them you don't have a camera ... you have a brick. I also always buy a spare charger. I usually have three batteries and one charger with me when traveling. That way I can always have at least one in the camera, one fully charged in the bag as a spare, and one can be recharging. I number them and the policy is always to use and recharge them in rotation so you always know which is the next fully charged one.
How many exposures per charge is a function of how you're using the camera and many factors influence that ... I didn't do a formal recording of how many exposures I made with each battery, but through the entire trip I made about 800 exposures and charged each of my three batteries once. I didn't wait for the camera to stop functioning, I put the next battery in as soon as the notifier that the battery was low turned yellow (it's usually green); the battery in the camera wasn't there yet when I arrived home.
Given that, and given my prior use of the camera since late April, I'd say the GXR gets between 300 and 450 exposures per battery charge in normal use, from fully charged to no longer functional. The batteries are small, light and easy to carry ... I always have a fully charged spare in my bag.
I look forward to your pictures (seen them ever since I started here over at the Pentax forum), but given your enthusiasm as well as many others, it looks like Ricoh is on the right track.
If your interest is a compact, light, TTL camera with excellent image quality, that operates best manually, has a great deal of customizability, and has the ability to use both Leica M-bayonet lenses as well as many other lenses via adapters, at the moment I can't think of a better choice than the Ricoh GXR + A12 Camera Mount (or I'd buy it...
).
Adding one or two of the other camera units, you effectively have several different, high quality cameras all with the same control interface. The A12 28 and 50 mm camera units are both excellent performers, each with its dedicated, fixed prime lens; the S10 and P10 camera units have also proven to produce high quality results if you want a convenient zoom point and shoot for more casual picture taking. All five camera units are compact and reasonably priced for their performance.
As a system, it suits my present desires and needs perfectly. On the other hand, if your desire is for a more automated, SLR-sized sensor camera with faster shot to shot capture speed, a dedicated lens line, etc, I would look elsewhere.
I'll be working on and presenting more photos as I have time. The complete set of photos I processed and presented while traveling is now available for viewing as a set on Flickr:
On Travel - Isle of Man - 2011 ::
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdgphoto/sets/72157627871704963/
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Godfrey
http://godfreydigiorgi.posterous.com 