Ricoh GR-II.

I don't know if Mamiya makes compact cameras, but they might be another good option. I have a 35mm by them that takes ridiculously good pictures.. I don't know much about cameras so I won't pretend to give advice about them, but that GRii does look really nice. I might consider buying one myself now.

buddy of mine had the GR Digital one. It was great, pics were fantastic for such a small cam. The GRII is supposed to be even better. You may want to check the Sigma DP1 also, or the Ricoh GX100

Ricoh GR-II... I want one.

I've had two so far. I had a GX100 as well.

The GR-II is an excellent camera, there are a few WAWYN shots that I did with the GR-II because I had nothing else handy, they came out ok.

Distortion is pretty reasonable for such a small camera, purple fringing is limited. Sharpness is good, but surprisingly I did a quick comparison with a GX100 and found that the GX100 was slightly sharper at open apertures even at 24mm (vs 28mm for the GR-II).

Obviously, noise is through the roof so I hope you like your high ISO photos grainy. The RAWs process relatively well, you can push the exposure a little bit and it doesn't show very obvious banding, just noise.

If you aren't using this camera with the intention of using RAW files and complete manual controls, you would be better off looking elsewhere.

Compared with the GR-I and the GX100, the buffer is larger and the write speed is better. You can shoot two RAWs back to back before having to wait to flush the buffer. Image quality is comparable but the metering is better on the GR-II. If you shoot completely manual focus, the shutter lag is good. Autofocus is a bit slow and noisy, I try and manual focus where I can.

Incidentally, I'm considering the DP1 as well but from what I've heard, it is quite an unresponsive camera. Not surprising given its a first generation product from a company that hasn't done a digital compact before. Still, that sensor. Mmm...

End of the day ... still no perfect compact P&S though I hear the Canon G9 is quite promising as well.

Is it a full frame operation?

Unfortunately not, the GR-II it is a dinky sensor camera. Of course, you get quite significant depth of field because of the sensor size, even at wide apertures.

The DP1 is revolutionary in that it is a APS-C (1.5x) sensor. I have to say I'm quite impressed they even managed to stuff a 28mm F/4 onto the body given the sensor size.

Do you ever enlarge photos you take with it? I mean like 4' x 4'.

Never done anything that large. I think at 4'x4', you'd already be pushing it with a mid-level DSLR. I've done a handful of 8"x10"s on an Epson R2400, turned out ok but a little bit soft even with post processing. Still, if you are a go anywhere, photograph anything sort of photographer, it's a capable little instrument. In fact, the more I write about it, the more I like it haha. I'll post some pictures at some point. My friends might get mad though, it's mostly just them in various states of inebriation.

The Ricoh camera is basically a stylish, glorified sub-compact P&S. It's good at what it does, but it's really expensive considering its lens and sensor.

I also have the G9 and am very pleased with it - but I was tempted by the Ricoh when I was shopping for my camera.

You will get excellent image quality with either camera. Not quite to the level of a DSLR, but better than just about any P&S camera. Both cameras also allow you a lot of manual control.

The main selling point for me of the G9 over a DSLR is the size and weight. It's small enough to carry around easily (meaning I will actually use it a lot), without giving up too much from a DSLR. The Ricoh is even a little smaller than the G9.

Main downside of both cameras is high resolution on a small sensor - which means lots of noise if you're shooting on anything other than low ISO. Stick to under ISO 200 and you will get great shots from both cameras.

Pricey yes, but I wouldn't dismiss it so easily. I justified the premium because of 1. RAW, 2. Reasonable RAW write speed, 3. Good 28mm performance at F/2.4 to boot, 4. Complete control set including two control dials, one FN dial, adjustable flash compensation. If none of the above appeal to you and you expect beautiful fairy magic straight out the camera, then yes, you've bought a stylish, glorified sub-compact P&S. Albeit one that I would stop you in the street over.


I had the Epson R-D1 which was a digital rangefinder as well. The first ever made! I sold it, but I very much regret it. That was a seriously fun camera to use and I've made good 13x19s with it. If the M8 was 3k less, I'd buy it in a heartbeat but it would still be missing some of the charm of the R-D1 Those are wonderful cameras if you are pretty good at judging distances by eye for manual focus and prefer shooting wider lenses (<35mm).

Incidentally, while I do have great hope for a wide angle, DSLR sensor-ed compact camera, I doubt I'll ever get to see one Most people prefer larger cameras, especially if the price is high so the market for something like that is relatively small. The DP1 is an exciting proof of concept but its body could not be called svelte simply because it's physically difficult to make a 28mm that is small but still suitable for the sensor. If you look at the pictures of the DP1 with its lens fully extended, especially compared to the GR-II, you'll see what I mean. Still, I might buy one. O god camera lust ... blarrghllle...