Steve Huff: The Ricoh GXR Review (with the 28mm and 50mm Modules)

Steve Huff is one of the very few “professional reviewers” that tested the Ricoh GXR: “So all in all, the Ricoh seems like a misunderstood camera. Those who own one LOVE it. Those who don’t dismiss it because it is different. Me, I like it and I am having a blast shooting with it. The camera really is for  those who put quality photos first. For $1000 or so the body and 28mm would make a great starter set. Adding the 50 makes it much more versatile.“

Which is the best mirrorless Kit lens?

Serious compacts compared the image quality of the kit lenses of each mirrorless system:

Sony E 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 (Kit zoom for Sony NEX cameras) tested on Sony NEX5
Samsung 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 (Kit zoom for and tested on Samsung NX10)
Panasonic G 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 (Kit zoom for Panasonic G1 (discontinued) and GF1)
Panasonic G 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 (Kit zoom for Panasonic G2, G10, and GH2)
Olympus mZD 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 (Kit zoom for Olympus Digital Pen Cameras)

Which is the best lens? Difficoult to answer because eveyr lens has it’s pros and cons. Check out Seriouscompacts to see all image samples and to read the conclusions!

Samsung NX100 user report…

The Samsung NX100 compact camera will be announced on September 14 but we already found a suer review of the camera on the korean website Paran.com!
A koreak friend translated the text for us (google translation does a terrible job here!)

“1. Design
As looking the design, it is a box type like Samsung compact cameras. So EVF is missed. (But there is an external EVF)
Grip is also curved and tidy even though the holding is worse than NX10. In the backside dial button is added, so this is easy to take a picture with manual mode. It’s sorry to miss unexpectedly handy internal flash. In general it is easy to understand that the interface is a kind of E-P1’s. And the thing I can’t understand is why they carve the logo of NX100 with red. For the moment it’s not bad, but I think it give me the feeling to imitate Leica, so it gets out of identity.

2. Sensor
The size is the same with NX10, but it is difficult to judge if the image processing engine is changed. The result is similar with NX10.

3. ISO
For now, the range is 100~3200 and 6400 if you use extended ISO. (At usable ISO) the noise when using high-sensitivity looks like enhanced. (Just my opinion.)

4.GPS
It’s added. But the receiver is needed to but. But is this essential? I think it is right that this is built in the body but not optional, doesn’t Samsung?

5. Related to lens
20-50: OIS is missed. The aperture value is same with previous kit lens.But it is a lot small and a lot light. The image quality is also very good. (subjective judgment)
20 prime lens: I couldn’t be satisfied because of F2.8. But the image quality is good. But the minimum shooting distance
is so shorter than the previous 30mm F2.0 lens. I can’t know the minimum shooting distance.

6. Other parts
There aren’t the noticeable differences from NX10.

7. Conclusion
About the design Samsung applies individual taste, but it’s not a higher model than NX10 when I look the specifications.
But if you aren’t satisfied with previous design, it is the best choice to you. Personally I think the matching with 20-50 lens is very good. The portability is almost like prime lens.“

Ricoh reviewed, Ricoh financial results and Ricoh bricolage ;)

Dpreview posted a Ricoh GXR/P10 28-300mm F3.5-5.6 VC Quick Review. Their conclusion? “[shoplink ‘Ricoh 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6’]The GXR P10 28-300mm VC[/shoplink] comes with GXR’s excellent user interface and operation but the lens/sensor combination in the camera module only produces average compact camera image quality.“

According to the lasted financial report Ricoh makes more money (as whole company) but less money with digital camera compartment (Source: Photoscala)

One more thing: The japanese website DC.watch explains how to tranform your Ricoh GXR of “A12” in a macro unit!

Mega mirrorless size comparison by serious compacts!

Above (left to right): Olympus mZD 14-42mm lens (kit zoom for Olympus Micro 4/3 cameras, shown collapsed), Sony NEX 18-55mm lens (kit zoom for Sony NEX cameras), Panasonic 14-45mm lens (kit zoom for Panasonic G1 and GF1), Panasonic 14-42mm lens (kit zoom for Panasonic G2 and G10), Samsung NX 18-55 (kit zoom for Samsung NX10)

Above (left to right): Sony NEX 16mm f/2.8, Samsung 30mm f/2, Panasonic 20mm f/1.7.

Above (left to right): Olympus E-PL1 with Olympus mZD 14-42 (collapsed), Sony NEX5 with Sony 18-55, Panasonic GF1 with Panasonic 14-42 (Sorry, wrong kit lens pictured; should have been the 14-45, which is slightly smaller as shown in the first image in this post)

Above (left to right): Panasonic GF1 with Panasonic 20mm f/1.7, Sony NEX5 with Sony 16mm f/2.8, Olympus E-PL1 with Panasonic 20mm f/1.7

Source: SeriousCompacts.com

First Sony NEX5 + Leica lens test

Sawamura Tetsu from DC.watch tested the $loc = $_SESSION[‘geoip’];

if ($loc == ‘GB’ OR $loc == ‘UK’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>Leica Super-Elmar-M 18mm }
if ($loc == ‘ES’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>Leica Super-Elmar-M 18mm }
if ($loc == ‘IT’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>Leica Super-Elmar-M 18mm }
if ($loc == ‘AT’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>Leica Super-Elmar-M 18mm }
if ($loc == ‘DE’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>Leica Super-Elmar-M 18mm }
if ($loc == ‘BE’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>Leica Super-Elmar-M 18mm }
if ($loc == ‘AU’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>Leica Super-Elmar-M 18mm }
if ($loc == ‘FR’ OR $loc == ‘FX’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>Leica Super-Elmar-M 18mm }
if ($loc == ‘NL’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>Leica Super-Elmar-M 18mm }
if ($loc == ‘CA’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>Leica Super-Elmar-M 18mm }
if ($sel != ‘1’)
{?>Leica Super-Elmar-M 18mm } ?> on the new Sony-NEX5. Click here to read the google english translation.

By the way, the Leica Super-Elmar-M 18mm is a very expensive lens…$loc = $_SESSION[‘geoip’];

if ($loc == ‘GB’ OR $loc == ‘UK’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>available for 3.000$ on eBay }
if ($loc == ‘ES’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>available for 3.000$ on eBay }
if ($loc == ‘IT’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>available for 3.000$ on eBay }
if ($loc == ‘AT’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>available for 3.000$ on eBay }
if ($loc == ‘DE’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>available for 3.000$ on eBay }
if ($loc == ‘BE’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>available for 3.000$ on eBay }
if ($loc == ‘AU’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>available for 3.000$ on eBay }
if ($loc == ‘FR’ OR $loc == ‘FX’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>available for 3.000$ on eBay }
if ($loc == ‘NL’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>available for 3.000$ on eBay }
if ($loc == ‘CA’)
{ $sel = “1”; ?>available for 3.000$ on eBay }
if ($sel != ‘1’)
{?>available for 3.000$ on eBay } ?> :(