Discovered the GXR

Since picking up a Ricoh GR in January, I've been really impressed by it. I love the small size and impressive image quality. The little 28mm lens is particularly good. I was suprised to find I like the shooting with the LCD, you can see the effects of different aspect ratios and bw/colour, etc before you take the picture.

The more I used it, the more I wanted one with a longer focal length to pair it with. In the absence of a 50mm GR, I stumbled upon the next best thing, a Ricoh GXR with 50mm APSc lens module.

For the same reason it wasn't really popular when new, the combined lens and sensor module means these are pretty good value second hand now.

Like the GR, the build quality of the GXR is excellent. Once again the lens surprised me, the image quality from the 50mm macro is really good. It also has a nice pull out hood, "Limited" style. Ok the 12MP sensor is lacking the dynamic range of the GR/K5, but it's still useable enough in good light. The focus is noticably slower than the GR, but it's got "snap" focus like the GR so I'm ok with it. It's usefully smaller and lighter than the K5ii, so it comes with me most of the time now.

The plan is just to stick with the 50mm module. I don't need the 28mm and I really don't need the Leica M mount module...


Here's a couple of pics comparing it to the GR and K5ii with my nearest equivalent lens: the DA 35 Ltd

Nice and desirable combo. It would be interesting to know how close the GXR with the 33mm F2.5 Macro (I call it that as I don't like the way Ricoh called it a 50mm, its a 33mm. Call it OCD if you like) and the 35mm Ltd Macro on the K-5. I am sure that you will get the A12 module and a Leica 35mm Summicron to compare too

In the end though, it is a shame that the GXR failed to alight the photoworld as the concept is excellent.
The GR however I just cannot justify getting one, I don't have the pennies, even though it is a mighty camera and the Nikon A destroyer

Yes it's a shame the GXR didn't take off. I'm sure the cost of having to buy a new sensor with every lens put a lot of people off and it's difficult to get past the fact that perfectly good lenses become obsolete with sensor technology. I wouldn't have been particularly interested myself in this system when new, but second hand it's a good deal.

What I've realised since having it though is that it priortises size and image quality over other attributes including cost. In this regard it really deserves to be more sucessful, I'm sure there are plenty of people prepared to pay a premium for the last "nth" percent in image quality.

A few more lenses might have helped the cause. I'd like something in the 70-90mm range.

I've not yet had a chance to directly compare the GXR 50mm module (33mm ) with the 35mm Limited. But I've shot quite a bit with the GXR now and I'm sure the 50mm betters a lot of my Pentax lenses. It's sharp across the frame even a wide open, and the in focus/out of focus tranisition seems very fast. However given that the 35mm Ltd is also superb I wouldn't be so brave as to make a comparison between the two just yet!

I always thought the GXR was an odd design and I wasn't really happy with the idea that the sensor size would vary with different lenses. That would surely lead to variable results across the lens range.

It's good that manufacturers will try things though, and hopefully they weren't left too much out of pocket.

Yes, good to see innovation, even somewhat eccentric innovation. The real problem, entirely foreseeable, is that the sensors were always going to 'age' more rapidly than their attached lens. When the sensor is over the hill, a good lens inevitably follows it into the sunset rather than being available for use on the next body.