Ricoh GR-D II
The new GR Digital II was announced yesterday, finally replacing the two year-old GRD. Not much different here — which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Ricoh claims that a new processing engine has “dramatically reduced noise” but every camera maker says that. I’m doubly skeptical since they jammed in an extra 2 megapixels, which can’t help noise. Not that I care too much about noise levels anyway — the original GRD had a very unique visual signature at high ISOs, especially in B+W. If anything, I’m worried that the noise reduction will be too severe (like certain Panasonic compacts); thankfully you can switch the NR off.
The decreased RAW write times are nice, from 11 (!) seconds to around 3. Apparently there’s also a one-shot buffer so that a second RAW image can be taken right after the first. That’s a feature I wish my GX100 had. The in-camera stabilization included in the GX-100 is absent.
The other additions are a 1:1 mode (with RAW, not just JPG like the GX100) and a new 40mm-equivalent conversion lens. The conversion lens could be interesting if it doesn’t add too much bulk, especially because 40mm is closer to my preferred focal length. I’ll be waiting to see some results once the camera makes its way into users’ hands. As much as I’ve enjoyed the GX-100, the results have been a bit soft (perhaps it’s unfair to compare it to my rangefinder/lenses, but still).
That Sigma DP-1 is still out there in vaporland, too. I’m really hoping that when (if?) it gets released the camera proves that there’s a viable market for larger sensors in a compact camera. Maybe more camera makers can look up from the DSLR dogfight long enough to crank one out.
