New Toy

This was the reason why I love photography. Beautiful vivid imageries and in contrast, deeply saturated monochromatic feel in BW. Ah, for some time I almost forgot how I enjoyed composing the scene and pressing the shutter release button. I never dreamt of owning one of those huge SLRs. Didn’t like the price, didn’t like the complication of using one, and mostly I didn’t feel like lugging those heavy and expensive items around town, where most likely you’ll be the next mugging target at the street hawking eateries and the traditional markets (my favorite objects).

Amateur photographers, you may relax now. The new toy, Ricoh GR-Digital, that I am holding dear to my heart today is small enough, a little longer than your cigarette pack, extremely fast and responsive, and best of all it is very easy to get creative with.

The camera may look ugly for some people. But for me it is a retro-classic item. All black with leather like rubber grip on the side. Pardon me for being technical here. But these details are all the reasons for me to have one. In Manual Mode, your aperture selection ring is placed at the front of the camera, the shutter speed selection ring is placed exactly at where your right thumb would rest. Furthermore, ISO and white balance settings are only a click away with the adjustment button. If I can give one credit for Ricoh on this toy: the seven GR lens worked beautifully in Macro mode to give you catalog looking professional blurred background shots. While most digicams are set with an equivalent of an approx. 38 - 114 mm equivalent to 35 mm film camera, this baby is packed with 28-70 mm lens (eq. to 35 mm film camera). It also shoots in RAW and fine mode (8 Mega!). And get this, you only need 1.5 cm distance to get an extreme close-up of your object! For expandability you may even get a lens adaptor to set up lens filters and yes, a 21 mm wide angle conversion lens sold separately by Ricoh. I only wish that they'd produce any 17 or 18 mm wide angle soon in the future.

No wonder Davy Linggar just got one as well.

Finally, I could rest my fingers at ease. Who needs Photoshop anymore?
People take me everywhere!
Let’s roll babe.

Below you may find some sample shots that I took.

Special Note: Older version of Safari for Mac may not be able to view the scrolling pictures above. Please click this link to view a larger version of the images from my album at photobucket.com.