Pocket Battleships

[7ian7]

In March, 2008 Michael Reichman declared that the Ricoh GX-100 "has
quickly become my favourite all-time pocket camera."  Since his review,
the GX-200 was released — basically the same camera but with a
raw buffer.

So I'm surprised that this camera isn't included in the extensive shoot-
out between the LX-3, P6000, and G10.

Meanwhile, I still own a GX-100, and have actually used it successfully
for professional editorial assignments — even a cover, believe it or
not.

But ... I admit that the robust handling and longer zoom of the Canon,
despite it's slower lens, is really attractive. Michael's review of the G10
has further tempted me.

Now that many of the current RAW-capable digicams have buffers, waiting
for five seconds between every shot is just crazy, so an upgrade is inevitable.

[situgrrl]

I was about to ask a similar question!  Since the demise of my Ixus 850 i have been wondering what to replace it with - I would hold out for the new Olympus micro 4/3 camera but I suspect that might mean a long time without a camera....

I want something that is fast for shooting people and with at least a 28mm lens. Viewfinders are still a big deal to me.  Much of what is shot will be converted to B&W.  Usable high ISO is hugely important but this will mainly be converted to B&W.

Is there anywhere I can download high ISO RAWs from the LX3, GX200 and G10?  Also, do the LX3 and G10 have a mode comparable to the GX200 Snap/hyperfocal mode?

thanks

Charly

[Dale_Cotton2]

Situgrrl wrote:

Is there anywhere I can download high ISO RAWs from the LX3, GX200 and G10?

There is this site for sharing dSLR raw samples and you'll find the occasional dpreview.com forum user posting raw samples for compacts. The problem with both is competence. You don't need just any high ISO raw file, you need one that's properly exposed and one in which the lighting conditions are appropriate to high ISO shooting, etc., etc.

OTOH: I find a page like this one by LL poster Wayne Fox for the G10 is so well done that I don't feel the need to repeat the test myself. I can see instantly how the G10 compares to my dSLR, can see that good noise reduction would leave the 400 ISO reasonably usable and at 800 it would depend on how much detail I needed for the subject matter I was working with. Having seen Wayne's page and having read Michael R's report that the LX3 has essentially the same high ISO noise characteristics as the G10, I'm comfortable that I have a handle on both camera's ISOs.

What would be ideal would be if Wayne could explain exactly some standardized procedure for taking usable test shots like his for ISO/noise, DR, and res. This would need to include some readily available, standard test material, like Bjørn Rørslett's good ol' brick wall for resolution. Then when an LL forum member acquires a hot new camera, he could take the appropriate raw shots and post them to raw.photosite.pl. This is really the job that review factories like dpreview should be doing, but regrettably they all seem to have been permanently hypnotized by the JPEG format.

[barryfitzgerald]

I liked the article, it was a good read, and useful to potential buyers.
I have to admit, I have never been drawn to the G series cameras, though they remain popular, prices in Europe are not so great with them. Nikon seem to again take a bit of a bloody nose, I have never really taken them seriously in recent years outside the SLR cameras.

[PeterT]

I'm also wondering how the GX200 fits into the picture. Ricoh seems to have the ergonomics down quite well on their cameras.