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    Join the NO DSLRs Flickr group here.   Each month I'll pick an artist and feature a favorite photo here with a link to the artist's Flickr group.  All rights reserved to artist.   

    The picture above is from Clancycoop.   Check out his Flickr site here.  He's got some very good HDR images and shot this shot with and Olympus EP-1.    

     

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    Entries in RRicoh GRD III (1)

    Sunday
    Dec062009

    Small Fixed Lens Compacts

    DateSunday, December 6, 2009 at 6:53AM AuthorGnat Comment6 Comments

    Lately, I've been shooting the GF1 quite a bit.   I've also found that I'm leaving it at home a bit on "faster" and more "spirited" group rides.   Yet, I want to bring a camera with me on these rides, but it has to be light and it has to be fairly fast.   Because of this, I've been looking at small compacts again and thinking about a fixed lens super compact to carry with me.    Funny thing is, there are only about 5 cameras to choose from, 3 if you only consider current models from these brands.  

    - Ricoh GRD III

    - Sigma DP2

    - Leica X-1

    Wow!  When was the last time you actually only had 3 choices in a camera or camara accessory you wanted?  

    I can quickly rule the Sigma DP-2 out for operating speed reasons and the Leica X-1 out of cost reasons.  That leaves the lovely Ricoh GRDIII.   Let's take a closer look.

    I've been following the Ricoh cameras for a number of years.  I went to Japan several years ago and several of the people I met while on the trip were shooting Ricoh GX100's.  I also followed a few blog sites from Europe where the authors were using Ricoh cameras.     Everyone always told me the same thing, the build quality and the functionality were unmatched.   

    As I look more and more at the GRDIII, I think this is a perfect camera for riding.   Here is why.  

    - Incredibly small.   Dimensions are 108mm wide, 60mm tall and 26mm deep.

    - Weight.  Only 188 grams (without battery)

    - Fast.  Fast can mean a lot of things, but this camera has a bright and fast lens at f1.9 and has functions like snap focus that allow you to shoot quickly with a fixed focus distance without the camera searching around for a focal point.    

    - Takes AAA batteries in a pinch.   You won't get many shots, but given the ability to use them and that AAA's are available almost anywhere, you have a reliable back up source.   It also just so happens that my Princeton Tec headlamps also use AAA's so I usually have a spare set in my bike gear kit.   

    I'm pretty much set to add this camera to my list.   I've sold LX3.  I just want to do a little bit more research as I may also consider the Ricoh GX200 .   To that end, I added some new reviews to the Ricoh camera pages.    Here is a link to a 9 part review by Christian Sorega.   It is also added to the Ricoh Blog pages.  

     

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