GXR, f7.1, 1/233, ISO 200, JPG, 50mmAfter the Dutch train company decided that a bit of snow is too much for them to allow for trains to go to Germany, I had to spend most of my day travelling instead of taking pictures with the GXR.
I still had time with the camera though and really love the feel and handling. It's a typical Ricoh in that you want to go out and take pictures with it.
Yes, the AF is sluggish compared with the direct competition of the GF1 and the LCD freeze kills it for any action use, the 50mm lens is also neither wide enough nor long enough and is with f2.5 not even fast enough. But when you adapt to the limitations and give the AF enough time or more important enough contrast (I refuse to use manual focus with any focus by wire system), it works pretty decent for the kind of shots you would use a 50mm macro lens for.
The EVF is simply outstanding and beats the one in the G1 even.
I have to return the camera tomorrow but really liked using it even with all it's flaws. Let's hope Ricoh can iron some of them out in a firmware update.
The picture from today is for Wouter.
One of the complaints I have heard about the GF-1 and 40mm is that there is no distance scale on the lens, and no easy way to set the distance for zone focusing. I am wondering if it is easier with the GXR and the 50mm equivalent lens. When I street shoot with my Epson, using a 35mm (52 equivalent) lens, I often set the distance at around 8 to 10 feet and shoot at F8. I am wondering how easy this would be on the GXR.
ReplyDeleteThe Dutch rail system doesn't like extreme weather conditions, in August it came to a grinding halt because it was too warm - and we complain about the British system :)
ReplyDeleteI am little disappointed that you are so lazy only shooting jpg. You could shoot with a sony compact and not tell the difference. You are not getting the best by using autofocus either. Why don't you use low asa, hyperfocal focusing, along with some clever raw post processing? Why bother reviewing a camera if you don't explore the full capabilities of it? Honestly, I am quite annoyed with you. You don't deserve to be a reviewer.
ReplyDeleteJack, the GXR has a distance scale and also a green DOF preview bar so scale focusing is possible. It's not as nice as on your Epson but it's usable and better than the MF on some other cameras.
ReplyDeleteYesbuts, the Dutch rail system seems to be pretty much like the British one. This is not very good unfortunately.
Thanks for your comment and feedback Anonymous.
I am not reviewing the GXR, 3 days is not enough time for a proper review.
At the same time I believe a camera should provide good results even in JPG and by using AF, it should not rely on clever RAW processing in order to beat a compact camera.
I also use RAW or JPG depending on my intention and not just to make a picture look better. This picture was also taken at the lowest ISO, which is 200 for this module.
If you want to read my reviews go to my Wordpress blog and there you'll find RAW files. This blog is for my daily pictures.