Mini Review of GRD II by Colin Bradbury

Today, we are going to learn some useful insights from Colin Bradbury in his mini review of the GRD II. Colin is a professional photographer stationed in Hong Kong. Photos are copyrighted to him.

(St Agnes, Cornwall. 'Environmental' portrait)

By COLIN BRADBURY: Just back from 2 weeks in rural England with the family over Christmas. Since this was a family holiday and not a photography trip I wanted to travel light. On that basis I left my DSLRs at home and took the GRDII as my only camera to save weight but also to see how useful it would be as the only camera in a variety of photographic situations. I have to say I was very pleased with it and didn't miss having a zoom or longer lens at all. The 28mm is a perfect single focal length and proved itself useful in a variety of situations. Landscapes are clearly well suited to the 28mm but less obviously I have also found it to be great for portraits. With a 28mm you are forced to do 2 things. First, to get in closer to the subject, which gives the images a real feeling of intimacy. Secondly, I found myself naturally including more of the surroundings in my people pictures, making them much more interesting as environmental rather than just 'straight' portraits.

(Bodmin & Wenford steam railway, Cornwall. Available light portrait)

As far as settings were concerned, I bought the camera primarily for it's high degree of manual control and ended up using manual exposure, Spot metering and Spot AF most of the time. The ability to switch to manual focus for landscapes and 'action' shots (pre-focusing in the case of the latter to make use of the large depth of field for the 28mm) gives the GRD additional flexibilty and expands the range of situations where the camera 'works'. Overall, the user interface is very intuitive and the shortcuts which I used for rapid shifting of ISO and focus modes were used regularly.

(Porthtowan, Cornwall. Use of wide angle / perspective)

I had been considering buying the 40mm and 21mm converters but I think I will wait awhile and make myself learn much as possible about the potential of the 28mm. There is definitely something satisfying about taking photography back to basics and I think one of the really attractive aspects of the GRD is that 'less is more'.

(Porthtowan, Cornwall. Landscape - benefits of manual exposure control)

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About Colin: 20 years photographic experience. Started as a hobby - landscape, travel, underwater photography - then 9 years ago I spent 3 years studying for a photography degree before turning professional. I opened 2 high street portrait studios and ran them for 4 years. Also continued to work as a freelance photographer covering sailing, local press work and landscape work for local tourist board. Current gear - GRDII, Nikon D2x, Hasselblad 501.

(Sai Kung, Hong Kong. Marmite the family dog. Close up wide angle)

A Real Hero

(Grip On Reality: This photo was taken on my way to work. I was walking past trucks parking on a cul-de-sac when the ropes caught my attention. The light was right, the colour was right and the criss-crossing pattern was perfect and I held up my GX200. People passing by checked me out and wondered what could be made out of such a boring scene. To me, the fun in photography is that the photographer makes something interesting out of what is not obvious to most at the scene. The ropes tied in knots somehow reminded people I know who are in the grip of the recession) You must have also known a friend or two, or even yourself, being baffled by the spiral downturn of the economy. Bank went bankrupt and the rich was faced with a shrinking wealth. A friend of mine has just had his salary cut by over 10% and some of his colleagues started to be shed. But, wait. Was this done really for the sake of continuing the business? Or is there a factor or greed in it? I wonder whether the

New Low Prices

The window shopping some hours ago has almost provoked my AgIDS illness. Just in case you’re in Hong Kong or are coming here, and have the money to burn (All in HK$/ body only): GX200 = $3,280 GRD2 = $3,380 LX3 = $3,180 G10 = $3,280 Prices are available form a gear shop on the 1st floor of the Mongkok Computer Centre. Besides these new low prices, I found that Wing Shing Photo (55-57Sai Yeung Choi St., MK Tel: 2396 6886/ 91-95 Fa Yuen St., MK Tel: 2396 6885) is offering a Sony A700 + Carl Zeiss Lens package for HK$9,980 (hopefully, a bargain will make it some hundreds cheaper).

Eye Contact

(Leica D-lux 5) The digital era may make it easier to end up with fave shots. Even lousy photos may be turned likable after a few clicks in the post-processing workflow. But if digital advancement or amendments have any bearing on the cultivation of personal style, no photographers will need to discover his or her own photographer’s eye. Undoutedly, this is out of the question. Only with a trained photographer’s eye can we give a thinking gaze and capture an eternal moment, in our unique style. Style is the soul of a great photo. A few posts have been written in GXG to touch on the topic of photographer’s eye. Instead of finding an answer, which would require academic discussions, the posts are intended to give my general reflections and spark interests in moving towards further exploration of the topic. The posts can be viewed after the links: 1) Photographer's Eye: Storytelling 2) Photographer's Eye: Little Show of Observing 3) Photographer's Eye: Sight-Worthy 4

AtomicZen said…

Thousand thanks for very interesting post.

14 January 2009 at 12:18

Nevin said…

You're welcomed. We should thank Colin. Glad that you find his post useful.

15 January 2009 at 02:33

jackpeat said…

All very interesting but where are the Cohen tour pics?

17 February 2009 at 10:49

Need me to ask Nevin to forward your question to Colin? I think those are all the pics he hoped to publish for this :) Good works, aren't they?

17 February 2009 at 12:18

GX GARNERINGS

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