sllɐqǝʎǝʎzznɟ

Ever since I sold off my Fujifilm F200EXR, I’ve been left without a pocketable compact camera (I’ve a Lumix water/shock proof cam but that’s more for rough use (or Fitzand’s use) and the photos from it kinda sucks) and after messing around with a friend’s Ricoh GRD 3 … I used the $ from the F200EXR sale plus a couple of other cams I sold recently … to purchase a GRD 3. It’s like deja-vu when I opened up the box and held the camera in my hands. Yeah … I owned the first generation GRD camera and sold it some time later because of the horrible noise control. Not that I’m a very fussy user who look at 100% crop … but it was really pretty bad. Hahaha. So after looking at some sample photos with my friend’s camera, I decided to go for the first generation GRD’s grandson … the GRD 3.

Unfortunately my wife was down with pneumonia and has been in hospital since yesterday and I did not have the time to really play with the new cam. While visiting her in the hospital this afternoon, I took the chance to take a few snapshots in the ward (she must be rolling her eyes when she saw me doing that). Lighting was pretty bad, so some of these were taken at ISO1600.

This one was taken at ISO64. I didn’t have to worry about handshake since I left the camera on the floor.

f1.9 at ISO800

f1.9 at ISO1600

Some of these were taken below my flat when I brought Fitzand downstairs for a walk. I had a mask on because I am coughing and you can imagine the number of stares I got taking photos with a mask on. Duh.

f4.4 at ISo100

f1.9 at ISO400

All these photos went through very minor post processing, with only slight curve/brightness adjustment to brighten the original. No noise reduction were run on them (on camera or post-processing).

So what do I think of the camera? Before I elaborate, please note that my thoughts (below) may not be correct. Hahaha. I am just a trigger-happy fella and I’m not qualified to really review or give any advise on the camera.

Firstly, I felt right at home with the buttons and controls on the camera. They didn’t ‘stray’ much from the original GRD’s design, thus making it really familiar to me. I love the bright (f1.9) lens. Since I don’t have much time to go out in the sun for photography, being able to get decent shots in low light is very important to me now. I know it will be much better if it had a bigger sensor but for the size of the camera … it will be quite a challenge for the R&D team eh? Perhaps someday that will come true but for now … I’ll have to make do with this.

Flash exposure doesn’t look too bad either

The ISO performance definitely (at least to me) is a big improvement. The noise at high ISO looks a little like film grains to me than those weird digital noise.

Another shot at ISO1600

Lastly … the focusing. Compared to the original GRD … it is way faster! I find the focusing, both in normal and macro mode is extremely fast. Of course you can’t compare it with a DSLR. Hahaha.

Ricoh introduced a cool leather half case looking thingie for this camera … the Ricoh GC-4. I checked with the shop and was told that they will only bring it in upon order and it costs … S$155!!! OMG! WTH! Guess I’ll have to give the cool case a miss and use the boring normal one instead.

Btw, thanks to those who sent well wishes to my wife. She’s pretty okay now and hopefully can be discharged tomorrow or the day after. For those who SMSed me to find out the ward she’s in … I appreciate your concern but too bad the hospital allows only two visitors at a time and since I’m there … it’s quite difficult to really take turns to visit her. The precautions they take (at the hospital due to the H1N1) makes visting patients a little headache eh? Hahaha. Anyway, my sincere thanks and I guarantee the next drinking session is on me. You guys are the best!