S
Sean_Reid
Guest
I don't think the camera is hyped, per se, but maybe you're reading things I haven't read. It certainly isn't hyped in my review. I wouldn't call it a toy at all, though, and I think people have to be realistic about the files that small sensor cameras make. I've heard some compare the output to the M8 and I really can't quite see that comparison myself.My first feeling is that the GR2 is hyped. It has inherited the crown of 'the toy camera that serious photographers use and can be used to make serious work' and in truth it's pretty good but after a small number of side by side shots against the LX2, it's not as good.
Again, are you working from RAW? What's your workflow?
My gut sense, and again I haven't compared the two, is that the D-Lux 3 files will appeal to the eye as much as the GR2 files when both are straight from the camera. But I also have a hunch that if one begins pushing both kinds of files, those from the GR2 will hold up better than those from the Leica/Panasonic. I don't know if that's right. The fact that the GR2 files are a bit cleaner than those from other small sensor camera (cleaner as opposed to more smoothed) allows them to have a bit more resilience, a bit more like they came from a camera with a larger sensor.
The Leica D2 RAW files, for example, were lovely so long as they weren't pushed very hard in post. But push an ISO 400 D2 file, and I made thousands of those, and it can fall apart in a heartbeat. The underlying noise in a small sensor file, which some like so much (under certain circumstances) can eat the picture alive if one isn't careful.
Cheers,
Sean
Last edited: