I've owned/used a number of P/S. The one I liked most was the Fuji DL Mini (Nonzoom). Too bad I lost it. The replacement is Fuji fotonex 3000i (APS). I'm not satisfied with the picture quality.

I'm searching for another P/S with high optical quality. The ones I have in mind are Minox GTE and Ricoh GR1. How do they compare. I've seen some GR1 photos and they have darkened corners. And I've heard that the GTE's flash is difficult to use.

-KK Cheung May 17, 1999

-- KK Cheung (cheungkk@sehk.com.hk), May 16, 1999

Answers

Both the Minox and the Ricoh have fine lenses. I have quite a bit of experience with the GR1 - see my GR1 site at:

http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/9273/gr1.html or try: http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~kennetht/GR1specs.html

If you can live with the "Guessomatic" focusing of the Minox and prefer the 35mm focal length, it may be more to your liking. The Minox is quieter operating and the flash is stronger. The GR1 lens is truly outstanding and the GR1 flash and exposure compensation controls are the best of any P&S, IMO. I'd try them both out in a store, if possible, and see which you prefer. are

-- John McCormack (jpmccormac@aol.com), May 18, 1999.

Thanks for the pointer. I went thru a lot of info there. I bought the Minox GTE set (with flash). Here in Hong Kong, the GR1 is selling at US$50 more than the GTE set, which is not substantial. Here is some of my feelings towards the GTE.

I tested the GTE with a roll of Fuji Superia 100, and developed at a reliable 1-hour lab. The results is very satisfactory. The contact prints indicate that the light meter is quite consistent. The lens is sharp from F4 to F16. I didn't try F2.8. The pictures are evenly illuminated (No light falloff detected). The color reproduction is rich and natural. Of all the sub-$300 P/S I've used, only the Leica Minizoom comes close in terms of lens performance.

Guesstimating the focusing distance is not as difficult as I expect. The slide shooters bracket their exposures, Minox users can bracket the focus :-) To summarize, with DOF and aperture control, the Minox GTE is fun to use.

Less satisfactory is the flash. At its selling price, the build quality is rather disappointing. It is powerful though. When I set the aperture according to the user's manual, subjects 6ft away are washed out. Restricting the shutter speed at 1/125 sec makes the flash difficult to use.

-- kk cheung (cheungkk@sehk.com.hk), May 25, 1999.