I just sent back my second Ricoh GR. This time it was a used body from lensauthority (they were great to deal with by the way). This one had a grinding AF motor that I don't think anyone would have picked up on unless they dealt with Ricoh most of the time. The first one had really nasty coma and I noticed that soon after it was accepted back by Adorama that they had a used copy available for significantly less then they usually do. On that one the coma was bad, real bad. All whites looked like they were glowing. Maybe coma isn't the proper term but whatever, the IQ was poor. However, I absolutely love Ricoh's and it's amazing that I had two bad copies in a row.
Now that my rant is over I'm trying to figure out what to select as a new camera. I loved the GR and I doubt that a third copy will be bad but I did notice that I really missed having some zoom capability. Yes, having a fixed lens did force me to become a better photographer but since I'm taking a lot of active kid pics a zoom was helpful. I figured this out as I was using my canon s95. While I was decrying the lack of high iso and the the shutter lag that caused me to miss many street shots, I did realize that having a little zoom was a good thing.
I'm guessing the only options for a camera body that's no bigger than the GR are: rx100(iii) if the AF issue has been straightened out, the upcoming G7x, the Panasonic GM1/GM5 with pancake and zoom in pocket or the J3/J4 with pancake and zoom in pocket.
What I really would like, as I'm sure so would many of you, is a Ricoh GR VI with a zoom or with phase detection AF as quick as the Ricoh GR IV was.
I don't know, I'm at a loss and part of it is because of having 3 bad cameras in a row. This started with a D600 that had a legitimate oil on sensor issue. I'm almost thinking of going back to film with an Olympus XA that I already have but I know that's not really feasible for the long term given the quantity that I shoot. Maybe I'll combine that with an iphone camera, who knows. Too bad the Panasonic cell phone camera isn't available in the US. Thankfully, these are all first world problems...
So, anyways, thanks for listening to my rant.
Now that my rant is over I'm trying to figure out what to select as a new camera. I loved the GR and I doubt that a third copy will be bad but I did notice that I really missed having some zoom capability. Yes, having a fixed lens did force me to become a better photographer but since I'm taking a lot of active kid pics a zoom was helpful. I figured this out as I was using my canon s95. While I was decrying the lack of high iso and the the shutter lag that caused me to miss many street shots, I did realize that having a little zoom was a good thing.
I'm guessing the only options for a camera body that's no bigger than the GR are: rx100(iii) if the AF issue has been straightened out, the upcoming G7x, the Panasonic GM1/GM5 with pancake and zoom in pocket or the J3/J4 with pancake and zoom in pocket.
What I really would like, as I'm sure so would many of you, is a Ricoh GR VI with a zoom or with phase detection AF as quick as the Ricoh GR IV was.
I don't know, I'm at a loss and part of it is because of having 3 bad cameras in a row. This started with a D600 that had a legitimate oil on sensor issue. I'm almost thinking of going back to film with an Olympus XA that I already have but I know that's not really feasible for the long term given the quantity that I shoot. Maybe I'll combine that with an iphone camera, who knows. Too bad the Panasonic cell phone camera isn't available in the US. Thankfully, these are all first world problems...
So, anyways, thanks for listening to my rant.