Scenes Seen: & The Long Road To The Ricoh GRIIIx.

Run now. This is a full on ramble fest cataloging every camera I tried that eventually led me to the RICOH GRIIIx.

Where it started is where it should have ended.

To be clear, I love this camera. It is the lens I never got on with. The photos I got out of it could have been created with a phone. I cannot put a finger on it, but to this day I think my Flickr gallery for this lens has the lowest pic count of any lens I have catalogued. It is the rare lens that I can say with my whole chest I do not like it. I always wished Sony would come out with an improved version II of this lens. Why? I am glad I imagined you asked.

Other than the IQ (Yes. Very important.) it is the perfect daily carry lens for Sony APS-C.

Tiny.
- A true Sony pancake lens.
Well built.
- Mostly if not all metal if memory serves me.
Looks good.
- A perfect aesthetic fit for the a6000 line.

But none of that matters if it does not produce an image you like. And I gave it more than one chance.

Next up was the Rokinon/Samyang 24mm f/2.8 FE small for what it was but too large to be a pancake lens.

I used it with full frame…

…APS-C.

Straight off the bat regardless of the sensor I used it with, IQ was not the issue.

This is where a sane person would have stopped.

But that is not me. My issue, I once again imagine you asking? I refer you back to my too large to be a pancake lens thing. A common thread through the rest of this post. In fact let me just do a speed round through what I call:

The small for what it is, but too large for my purposes collection.

One bullet allowed for each.

Leica Q. The expensive option.

A fantastic camera and lens combo that was too dear and a bit too large for my purposes.

Next up a twofer. Two lenses with the same outcome. A7C with the SIGMA Contemporary 45mm f/2.8…

and Sony 40mm f/2.5 G.

Beautiul lenses with great IQ and while not large also too big for my purposes.

My first RICOH GR pass and its GXR cousin.

RICOH GR.

Perfect in fine health, but its old age caught up with it. After a common sticky shutter issue required a shutter press after powering up I gave it to my son.

RICOH GXR.

Be careful what you ask for. Optional add on EVF and interchangeable modules made it too large to fit my purpose.

The MFT pivot. The GF1 and 20mm f/1.7.

Once again, too large for my purposes now that I have been spoiled by the RICOH GR.

While I was at it I also let go of my OG Foveon camera, the SIGMA dp2 Quattro.

All of the weird ergonomics in the world could not survive a double onslaught. On the Foveon side the sd Quattro displaced it. It is hard to argue with a 30mm f/1.4 Art lens and access to non destructive digital infrared photography. On the all in one camera/lens side its wonderfully oddball shape and Foveon tendencies precludes it from being a practical daily carry camera for my purposes.

A previous favorite film camera system was let go of, but that is not a story for this post.

Normally, I would have concerns about letting go of so much gear at once, but I knew I could not lose with a newer, better GR with a warranty and everything.

And so far my confidence in it has been more than validated. Here are some recent Scenes Seen pics taken out and about including my weekly trip to rehearsal.

A trip to the cubicle farm.

Thoughts.

Still there? If so thank you. I said “for my purposes’ repeatedly in this post. This is basically a spec sheet that only GR meets. Gives up some things, like an EVF for instance, but I am happy to do without because of the following.