RICOH Digital Camera GXR RICOH LENS A16 24-85mm F3.5-5.5 GXR+A16

RICOH Digital Camera GXR RICOH LENS A16 24-85mm F3.5-5.5 GXR+A16 KIT
Customer Ratings: 4.5 stars
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I have been using the GXR with the 2.8 28mm equiv module for nearly 2 years and the GXR with the with the Leica mount module for about a year. I recently picked up the A-16 24-85 module.

First, let me note that GXR is a great system. The 24-85 module, like the 28mm module, provides a sharp lens. The camera with module packs into a relatively small space and is easy to carry on long shooting strolls. I love the 24mm equiv wide end of the lens. I find myself using this the most. It is sharp, and the camera captures nice detail. I shoot RAW and find that the files (DNG files, another plus) contain an awful lot of detail that you can bring out in Lightroom which lets me shoot in contrasty light without blowing our highlights or losing detail in shadows. For this, Ricoh gets a "well done."

The zoom is operated using two toggle switches on the rear of the body. While a bit slow for my taste, it seems to work as well as other cameras that don't let you zoom manually. So, while I would prefer being able to turn the lens to zoon, this isn't so bad. It's even better when you realize that you are shooting with a larger sensor than most of these toggle zooms.

I like to use "snap" focus when I'm using the 24mm focal length. I set it at 1.5 meters (you have several choices) and the zone of focus is pretty wide and very usable. The auto-focus I use for other focal lengths is pretty good, too, but the Snap feature is splendid.

Ok, it's time for my gripe. When you shoot with RAW, the buffer is really slow, even after taking a single RAW image. If you use continuous shooting, you get three images before the camera stops taking photos and then you get to look at the last image for between 10 and 15 seconds before the camera is ready to shoot again. I wish the folks at Ricoh would work on this, since it can be annoying.

Despite this one glitch, I love the camera and all of the modules. You just have to keep a song in your mind to fill the time while the buffer clears!

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