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It’s time to catch up with some interesting Ricoh GR news (preorders at Bhphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here). Let’s start with one hell of negative comment written by Guru Ken Rockwell: “Personally, I don’t see any reason for this camera, but that’s just me. Hobbyists love to throw all sorts of money at gadgets like this, so don’t let me stop you.“. He really likes to be direct 😉
Anyway, I don’t agree with Ken. The camera is the cheapest and smallest APS-C fixed lens compact. And that alone makes it worth to be considered. And what about the image quality? Just see these links:
Threeguyswithcameras (Cool name for a website!) posted a nice Ricoh GR review: “I think photographers all over realised too – the level of interest, intrigue for this camera, and even ignorant criticism far surpasses that of the Nikon Coolpix A (which is no slouch itself, to be honest).“
Extended GR comparison at Dpreview.
First ISO test at Techbang.
Image samples at Coolhunting.
Nouveau Ricoh GR: prise en main (Lepidi).
What do you think?
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Preorder links: Bhphoto (Click here) and Adorama (Click here).
38 Responses
Ken Rockwell bought a Coolpix A but doesn’t like the Ricoh GR?!
Ken Rockwell only likes something when it’s name is “Nikon”
That was before, now he is a Canon fanboy.
And his ego became quite big. see what he wrote today.
KR today:
“Maybe what I’m really whining about is how hard it is for me to find useful information when I’m trying to research my own purchases. Ii’s not helpful to me when all I find online are my own reviews! That’s my real whine: the fact that not everyone else is both qualified, and then married as well as I did so they could sit around all day and share what they know instead of needing to work a real job. ”
I would say to him: “When you remove all Adorama, B&H and Amazon links from your site, as also all Google ads and other advertisements, then I’ll agree you’re doing that with pure mind to teach people.
Well…
Dear Ken,
the Ricoh GR is a legend beyond street shooter cameras since the first analog one back in 1996 – but I guess, we all have just no clue about a “good” camera.
Sigh. Keep using your iphone then.
KR is just as critical about the Coolpix A specs as he is about Ricoh GR. He prefers Fujifilm X100(s)as it got both shutter-speed and aperture dials as well as a built-in finder.
Let me be Ken Rockwell like…. Quite honestly I don’t see a reason for listening to what Ken Rockwell has to say. And there ya have it…
Fixed lens fixed FL is a useless toy for wrong compositions virtually EVERY TIME. 🙂
I don’t like it either.. its only 100 less than the sigma and you can and soon the nikon A and i like the results of those much better. functionality not a big deal for me. its P&S with the compact. all the composition I’ll do with the DSLR. imho
For all the Sigma fans who just love DP1M/2M. Yes, we get it. Foveon sensors are amazeballs when it comes to resolution, sharpness in good light. It is truly revolutionary tech that is still more or less in its incubation stages. I would hate to see if high iso performance cannot be drastically improved. Landscape photos out of them are truly amazing.
If you want to set up a shot on a tripod in good light for some life changing landscape photos, Merril is your weapon, no contest. But if you tried even for 10 minutes to use the Merril the way one would use any GR camera (snap shooting from hip, at a moments notice) you’ll quickly find that it is a frustrating exercise, because it was simply not designed to do so.
But for everyone else who’s willing to sacrifice a fraction (I’m not going to argue how much) of sharpness to get a pocketable camera that works with them for their style of shooting (esp street) and outputs more than acceptable quality of pictures, then Ricoh or Nikon works better.
To compare DP1M on price per pixel quality at iso100 with GR or Coolpix A implies a fundamental misunderstanding of what each of these cameras should be used for.
Ken also thinks that the EOS M is the best mirrorless system camera out there. Need I say more?
I like his reviews, but his bias for Canon/Nikon/Leica is ridiculous. I guess more than a car downpayment came from that direction…
Ken Rockwell is pure link bait. Don’t link to him, his entire business model is to say ridiculous things and get people to link to him.
I tend to be interested in what photographers have to say when I see an image they’ve made that inspires. I’ve never seen such a one from KR. When Ken produces work that’s interesting, maybe we should be interested in what he has to say.
Finally, anyone who RAVES about Leica being the best for IQ and portability and then turns around and pooh-poohs something with outstanding image quality and portability on price is a fool.
ken likes the ones which can feed his family. ?who trust h8m anymore
REQUEST: Stop promoting this idiot KR by using his name anywhere near top of the posts. Let his miserable website die in some forgotten corner of the internet.
+1 If admin really needs to add a mirrorless expert name, I suggest someone like Steve Huff. He’s direct but helpful. KR is simply…. Well, words fail. 😉
Linking to KR and calling him a Guru somewhat lowers the credibility of this site.
kR doesN t know what he is talking about. Bad and non comprehensive analysis, it is not even a review, just his personal opinion without any proper analysis. I am going to be direct like him, the review is just a piece of crap.
In addition, his writting is terrible. The only sentences he keeps using are “far superior” or “far inferior” not subtle at all
the GR is actually looking pretty dope! i like the some of the built in functions actually and the wide angle adapter is a great idea (even if its not THAT original)
KR just strikes me as a guy who’s batshit crazy and has spun so much hyperbole he no longer knows which way is up. The king of copy/paste content creation.
You guys love to bash Rockwell, sort of like it’s the “I’m a big kid now, I don’t need daddy Rockwell telling me what to do!” but Rockwell’s site is not meant to be read literally. He clearly states that:
“This site is my ‘aggresive personal opinion’ and not a ‘logical presentation of fact’
He is telling you he is out to present his own opinion (and push his points across by going over the top… which means he understands how the internet works and how to get noticed on it). Regardless of Rockwell’s biases (he already states that he projects his OPINION! He does not advertise himself as generator of pure fact and obejctive analysis), he does push some good kernels of truth. He wants you to focus on the process of taking a picture. Most of his critiques of cameras bash a camera for being too complicated and not quick or direct enough. Most compacts like the GR or Coolpix A are not the ideal devise for creating a picture- they are a compromise for portability and Rockwell points out (and i think this is a good point here) that the fuji x100 is an excellent small camera that still provides tactile control and great IQ. Compacts are a compromise, Rockwell thinks the GR and coolpix A are too great a compromise given their cost. How is that such a wrong thing to say?
This is why Rockwell tells you the Fuji quicksnap is one of the greatest cameras ever made. If you don’t get why he is making that comment, it’s over your head!
I think there must be a lot of unhappiness in him for him to write the way he does.
“I prefer my iPhone 5, which has colors and tonal range superior to any DSLR or compact digital camera I’ve ever used at their default settings”. A person like this can review camera?
As Matthew Robertson once wrote, der K en Bockwell loves to write about gear, he never owned and in such cases he never likes it. Unless it’s aNikon (or recently a Canon).
So, even if Ken doesn’t like something, it doesn’t mean anything. It means actually less than an official north corean statement or a column on page 122 in a boulevard yellow press.
Why do you even care about ken rockwell’s take on this camera – or on anything, for that matter?
The more you refer to that guy, the more you lose credibility.
Mr Rockwell likes to play the bully.
I find his photoworks uninteresting and his reviews and articles very unprofessional.
As Justin mentions above: Pure link bait.
Luckely there are plenty good alternative sites out there.
ken r. is retarded.. period
I don’t mean to be disrespectful to Ken personally, but at the same time from a technical approach, his reviews are a joke. It’s like trying to digest a scoop of ice cream lying in a trough of horse feces. There are some good bits of info here and there but to get to it you have to sort through insane overstated opinions and misinformation. The problem for me comes down to beginners I have met who made large purchasing decisions based upon his reviews and (often incorrect)opinions, when it was ultimately a terrible choice for them.
…and some how his website is one of the first sites to appear on web searches? I don’t get it.
Who is Ken? The Housband from Barbie?
He take his kids for get mony, thats bad.
I find Ken’s lack of ability surprising, I would think that it is entirely possible he still haven’t figured out how to remove lens cap, let along taking photos.