Ricoh GR dital or what? help

JohnMF · Jul 21, 2006

a friend o mine who is just getting into photography has decided he wants to upgrade his point and shoot digital to something a bit more serious.

I suggested the usual 350d and d50 which he seemed quite interested in, but now he's started looking at the Ricoh GR digital and has asked my opinion of it, but to be honest i haven't got a clue about that camera so couldn't really help him. I've done a bit of research on the net and it gets good reviews. i have some concern that it has a fixed focal length of 28mm and although the lens itself seems to be top quality, i think this might just restrict him abit as he starts experimenting more as he is learning (i dunno, maybe this is a good thing?!). It may also be an unnecesary stop gap before eventualy getting a dslr anyway.

Does anyone use this camera?

do you think he would be better off getting the dslr instead???

JohnMF · Jul 28, 2006

anyone???

Don Simon · Jul 30, 2006

No replies? Looks like no-one's got one, and since I don't either, you might be better off ignoring me completely

but for what it's worth...

From what I've seen the Ricoh produces very nice images for a compact. And in addition to the focal length being wider than is possible on the majority of compacts, the lens is also relatively fast at f/2.4. Whether with compacts or SLRs it's not cheap to get a fast 28mm-equivalent lens on digital cameras, so if such a lens would be particularly useful to your friend then it might be a very good choice.

There's also the advantage that it can be carried around at all times. As great as SLRs are, even if you're happy to carry yours round all day, there are always places and times where you can't take an SLR, but could take a compact.

BUT... you said your friend already has a compact, so he probably won't another one for the size and portability factors alone. And since even with a good prime lens and a good sensor your ability to crop images from a compact will be relatively limited, the GR could well be very limiting if a large part of your friend's photography isn't landscapes or other work requiring a wide-angle lens.

One of my favourite cameras is my Olympus XA2; unlike SLRs I can take it with me anywhere, and I consider the 35mm fixed lens more flexible than 50mm. But there are still many occasions when it's not the right camera for the job, and if it were a 28mm I think there would be still more of those times. I guess the best advice really is, if you can't get your hands on a GR, to lend your friend a 35mm compact with a fixed 28mm lens, or an SLR with a fixed 28mm lens (or a zoom lens and tell him to only use it at 28mm). Let him use that for a while, taking different kinds of shots in various environments, and if he's happy with the results then it sounds like the GR might be for him.

ksmattfish · Jul 30, 2006

JohnMF said:
i have some concern that it has a fixed focal length of 28mm and although the lens itself seems to be top quality, i think this might just restrict him abit as he starts experimenting more as he is learning (i dunno, maybe this is a good thing?!).

While he'll have to stick with a single focal length, it probably has a larger maximum aperture than a zoom lens. I think it's a personal thing, but I'd give up a zoom lens to have more DOF options and a faster lens.