I have been shooting with the X2 for a month now….my impressions overall.
I love the analog feel. Holding the camera, pulling it up to my eyes…..pressing the shutter and moving on. The pure energy that I get from holding the camera alone wants me to shoot. Admittedly, there is some odd psychological factor at play when shooting a Leica. What is it, I say to myself? Also admittedly, the images alone without some processing to my ‘high contrast’ taste, lack those of the Ricoh. The Ricoh GR has such wonderful high contrast that when viewing, I am blown away every time. So it would seem I have the best of both worlds, or seemingly. I can’t combine the two cameras. I can’t combine that intangible feel of the Leica with the high contrast of the Ricoh GR. They are on two different plains as one is physical and the other mental. Bottom line….have I ‘found it yet”…. with ‘it’ being the camera.I have found “IT” in regards to my images via the Ricoh. What is more important, the intangible of the process of doing or the physical of the images? I know where I want to be, but how to get there in the process of the shoot itself?
Camera wise……I think the answer might lie in the X2 and in the processing stage; just highlight ‘contrast’ more so as I use the digital darkroom. It appears to allow me to obtain that extra contrast as the Ricoh does within the shot / camera itself, as opposed to using the software on the computer to do so. So, perhaps yes….I still might have my Nirvana. Not sure, still experimenting….