Compact Camera Challenge
Thom Hogan just wrote a lengthy, thought-provoking rant on how a compact camera should be designed…which will cater both the casual user and the pretentious Galen Rowell wannabe.
I commend Thom for having the balls of steel of writing the article and even offered a huge sum of money for the first company to be able to produce this elusive camera (No, the Sigma DP-1 does not count).
I agree for the most part (do not want the built-in Arca-Swiss plate…yikes! that would make the camera thicker than the M8!), but I think the write-up could have been much shorter. And it goes something like this:
- Take the current Ricoh GR-D…with its near-flawless user interface.
- Slap a Bayer-pattern-designed 10MP APS-C sensor
- Improve the horrid RAW processing…make it at least 3fps in RAW mode.
- Keep everything else. (Yeah, even the idiot mode)
Seriously, Ricoh is so damn close it’s not even funny. Come on, Ricoh, I’m hoping you get this done for GR-D Mark II.
And I’m willing to pay…uh $699 for it. No more than that. Come on, Even the D40x sells for that price with the kit lens.
Popularity: 11% [?]
June 19th, 2007 09:35
Given any thought to the GX100? Definitely a complete blast to use, build quality is close to the GR-D, noise is a bit lower, etc. Hard to get one, but a ton of fun to use once you have it.
June 19th, 2007 22:28
nobirth:
No, I haven’t really given much thought of the GX100. I’ve heard of it, but when I read that it’s the same small sensor it was kind of a letdown and never bothered.
When I googled it, this page (http://ricoh.grfan.net/showthread.php?p=5476) came up and I must admit it was quite interesting…it’s kind of ironic that the zoom lens performs much better in corner sharpness than the GR-D’s fixed lens (!).
…and for a small sensor it held up the noise pretty much heads and shoulders above the GR-D