GXR system

I have a gxr body and VF2. Now I'm looking for the right lens. To be honest, I didn't see a good photo out of any unit so far. I was thinking of the A12 mount, but even at base iso I see a lot of noise. The new A16 seems to me a plastic toy that produces very soft photos with even softer corners. The most review photos on the net are made by people who can make a review but not can take a descent picture.

Maybe someone of you on this forum can show me that it's worth investing money in the system or sell te body and vf2.
btw I have L mount lenses and several good M42.

You might try looking for GXR photos of Flikr.

BTW, there is more to good photography than the technical specs of the camera - you might consider "good enough" rather than "best" high ISO noise performance, etc. The handling characteristics of the camera are equally important IMO.
--
Jim King - Retired Colormonger - Suburban Detroit, Michigan, USA; GMT -4h (EDT)
Pentaxian for over 50 years.





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A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.

• Sir Winston Churchill

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• Albert Einstein

I am interested in what system you may end up with, I am not too aware of noise issues except t high IS0s so I expect it there.

Can you show an example of the noise you speak of?

What workflow do you currently use to manage noise?

More importantly what other systems are you considering?

I'm using Sigma Sd15 with a lot of lenses and DP2s. And I will buy the SD1M.

But for travel I'm looking for an other system. The GXR body weights nothing, so with a couple of lenses (3) I could have a nice travel combo.

not sure what to make of your question.

the GXR + A12 Camera Mount (GXR-M) or either of the A12 28 or A12 50 camera units all produce good results up to about ISO 1600, provided you expose correctly. you'll have to post or link to images showing the noise you're referring to. such images are likely underexposed.

a GXR-M and two/three of the compact Voigtländer lenses makes for a small and handy camera kit that performs very nicely for me.

z

+1 on the above if manual focus lenses are work for you and your style of photography. Careful selection from within the CV lens line up should give you a fairly inexpensive 3 lens kit for travel. If you want to look at other options, there are many - we can talk for many posts.

For autofocus, the 50mm (effective) GXR module is highly regarded plus you get some macro capability out of that module/lens which you won't get from a rangefinder lens on the Mount module.

The 28mm (effective field of view) module is good but can be bested by a really good 18mm manual focus lens, but you'd pay substantially more for that lens and lose autofocus as a feature. The "snap" focus ability of the Ricoh modules many find extremely useful - these things need to be considered in addition to image quality. Or you could go slightly wider (and much less expensive) and pick up the well regarded CV15 which also performs very well on the GXR Mount.

The Zoom... not my cup of tea so I'm not paying much attention to it.

I'd love to have a better understanding of what you consider a "good photograph".
Not a standard for everyone, just the meaning for your own vision.
Don
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http://www.streetshooter.us

I currently shoot with several Voigtlander L lenses (15/4.2, 28/1.9 and 35/2.5), using a Bessa R as a simple RF body. My goal is to acquire a GXR + M Mount, so I can carry one set of lenses for both digital and film bodies (I can then get a better RF body, more lenses, etc).

I've spent months looking at the options before settling on the GXR Mount, the quality looks great to me. I also like the flexibiliy of the body, and the Ricoh approach to digital camera firmware (which, to me, is extremely shooter-friendly).

Well Harry, that is what I like in the concept, I have the lenses, so maybe I give it a try. The only thing that concerns me is that there will be a 24 Mb L module the moment a bought it, but that's life.

Hi Jan,

I have investetd in the GXR system and I actually have the P10, A12 28, A 12 50 and m-mount with very much Leica glas R and M. My cameras before where 5D and Oly EPL1 which both where also great tools. 5D was always at home and the EPL1 was a very good one but GXR with GR lenses are a lot better.

What you have to know is what kind of shooter you are. If you always use AF and you like to have it very fast the GXR might not you thing. Go for an EP3 with nice Oly lenses like the 12 f2 an you will be very happy.

But if you like to think and compose and you want that special look of that old films and a high per pixel sharpness the a GR 28 or 50 with an OVF is very nice. Leica and Ricoh for me are great to combine.

At the moment I also like to shoot film with an old screw Leica IIIf which is very nice experience for me.

I like Ricoh and thats it for me. But if you don´t feel familar with the GXR there is so much outside that will suite to you and your style.

--
http://spiegellos.de

Jan Rietsema said:

but even at base iso I see a lot of noise.

Click to expand...

Well, thats interesting. As far as I look at results I'm getting from this camera and the A12 lensors, there is no "lot of noise" at base iso. But may be I'm wrong.

You should define your needs. Than have a look, what the market is offering. For streetsnaps and cityscapes the GXR is quit perfect. That's all I can say after some month of experience.

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http://www.125tel.wordpress.com

Thanks for the responds, I give it a try and order the M mount next week. Let you know (and see) soon.

It depends what you're used to. I too purchased the body and the M-mount last year for occasional street photography use to also complement my D700. When I looked at photos taken I immediately saw what you referred to here in your comment, i.e. small amounts of noise even at lower ISOs. At higher ISOs (> 800) you really see noise creeping in (look at dark areas in the image), I just can't get past that. That's marginally better performance than my older Panasonic LX3! I was disappointed to say the least.

Overall in my view, this camera while really nice, is behind in many respects compared to cameras by the competition (Nikon D7000, Pentax K5, Fuji X100, etc.). It is not quite the issue of purely technical specs either, as some one mentioned in response to your question, photography is more important that checking out numbers, very true! BUT, certain things aren't acceptable anymore in this day and age and the shortcomings of this camera are among them. When you are among the only manufacturers who don't meet the high specs, we got a problem.

M-mount module, while hugely convenient for using L/M mount lenses, it suffers from a number of shortcomings that have been discussed here and elsewhere over the past months. If you decide to buy it, you will no doubt enjoy the experience ( I have and still do), but don't get rid of your better gear yet! I still use my D700 for all my serious work. The difference becomes even clearer when you print your photos A4 or larger. You will know right away which photo came from which camera! It's that obvious. I wish Nikon would develop something like this (APS-C or FX) with D7000 capabilities inside! Someday...

Lenseye,

Thank you for your reply, I think I wait for the next M mount with better sensor.

I looked at many gxr pictures at me 27 inch (2500 lines) and all pics, also the 50mm macro have this problem. OK, jpg's, maybe the raw is better, but I doubt the quality of the lensors.

Overall criticisms aside, this is not that bad of a lensor! If you know the limits going in! Just should not be compared to more capable units out there! I have stopped expanding my GXR system for the moment to see what happens next. If they come up with a full frame lensor with top notch performance, I'm in, otherwise, Sayonara!

I'm happy with the A12 mount myself. I sold my Leica M8.2 once I saw the results with the GXR. Sure the low ISO 200 is not as 'clean' as the Leica at ISO 160 for example in blue skies, but the high ISO is much better than the Leica ever was.

Like others I hope that Ricoh continue to improve the GXR, as it is a sweet system and I use it a lot more than my Sony A900 system now, as its lighter, the quality from RF lenses is great, no AA filter gives really sharp results from 12M Pixels. Much better than the equivalent sensor in the Sony A700 which I had. (A700 is similar to Nikon D300 sensor).

If you have the GXR + EVF, why not try the A12 Mount? Even if it gets updated sometime.

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David

That's what I have! M-mount plus EVF, in fact that's the only Ricoh lens I have... the rest are my Nikon lenses I use on it through an adapter plus one Voigtlander M-mount lens!

I like the system but like I mentioned the general specs aren't cutting it today. In this day and age you got to have clean ISO all the way to at least 6400 even if you don't use it that high. It's just normal! And yes, Leica is also terrible in ISO performance. There is no excuse for that! But since I know the limits of the system I can work around them pretty nicely! Won't dish out a lot of money on it anymore though!

Sorry Lenseye, that comment was for the OP not you.
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David

lenseye said:

.. And yes, Leica is also terrible in ISO performance. ...

Click to expand...

i hear this all the time and i flatly disagree. i like the look of grain in low light work and with the M9 at ISO 1600 and 2500 I'm always having to add noise to the image , it is too smooth.

I also disagree with your statements about the GXR's performance at ISO 200. but then i look at photos for the photos, not for what noise there might be. If all i'm looking for is pixel cleanliness and noise, there isn't much interesting in the photo anyway.

z

Today few cameras have "clean ISO all the way to at least 6400 "