Caution

GXR, f2.5, 1/80, ISO 800, JPG, 50mm

The first day when I get to a new place (or even one I have been to before) and start taking pictures I take a lot of snaps but not many photographs.
It's more like going out with a sketch book and trying to get as much in there as possible. While most pictures end up being deleted, they tell me enough of the location and what I could focus next time.

I have also created a Dropbox gallery where you'll find more pictures that are regulary updated. Click here for the gallery.

Reflection

LC1, f5.6, 1/15, ISO 100, JPG, 90mm

Sometimes the most important thing is to get the picture you want, the technical quality is not important. This picture is slightly blurry and not properly focused but it is exactly the picture I wanted when I saw the mirror and the painting next to it.
I could have chosen other pictures from today but for me, this is the picture of the day.

I decided to use the JPG file and have edited it a bit by raising the contrast, adding some vignetting, cropping it to square format and also using some selective burning.

Back for More

GXR, f2.5, 1/35, ISO 800, RAW, 50mm

I am back after my break and I have to say I missed posting in the last week. Although I wanted to take a break I found myself going to my blog every evening and hovering over the 'New Post' button.

Thanks for all your comments, they have been very helpful. I will reply to all of you in the commets section of my last post personally.

I have spent the last week trying to figure out what to do from now on. The comments as well as me missing my daily post mean that I will continue with my 'One Day, One Picture' theme. I have changed my logo slightly as you might have noticed but will keep the blog name for now. Maybe in the future I will change the hosting and name for it but for now it's well known as is and there is no need for me to change it at the moment. The name of the blog should not limit my choice of cameras afterall.

As for any other changes, there will be some. I will keep posting a picture every day but will limit the text to cases where I have to say something about the picture or photography, there will be less gear talk on this blog (but possibly more on my Wordpress one). The pictures will be the main focus but unfortunately Blogger does not have a nice theme for this like Wordpress. At the same time, I really dislike the Wordpress interface and have a lot of problems linking pictures there as they sometimes disapear while editing the text. This means the layout will remain as is for now, it is simple and works but is not very nice.

As for what pictures I will post every day, I like the challenge of trying to get a good picture every day. This is not always easy but part of the fun. There will be an exception to this, should I not get a decent picture or not have enough time to take pictures I will use an older picture. In these cases I will try to post why I like the picture and how I took it to make these posts worthwile.

In the near future I will also have to start updating my Flickr and JPG Mag accounts but will also think about starting a trial with Zenfolio as soon as I get some picture organized.

My Wordpress blog will be changed soon since this is probably the main one in need of a change to be able to host more diverse reviews. I am planning on reviewing more cameras but also other tools depending on the time I have.

Even before starting work on my 'GR Digital III - A Serious Compact' book, I was working on another book project so my aim is to finish this and hopefully a few more book projects.
Since I am against advertising on my blogs and won't start charging people for my reviews, the books will give people a chance to support both blogs if they like and they even get something in return. So if you want to support this blog and like the GRD III book, go to Blurb and purchase a copy.

There are also a few other projects I have in mind for this year although I am sure I won't be able to fit everything in.

Since I will have the chance to go to New York for a few weeks from work, I will greatly enjoy posting my pictures from there. So from next week till March you will see my pictures from New York.
I have been thinking which camera(s) to take with me since this won't be a holiday but more work and have decided to take the GXR (especially since I will get the S10 module from Ricoh) and my trusty GRD I.

Thanks again for all your comments and for continuing to follow this blog.

2 Year Anniversary - Where to now?

Today is the 2nd anniversary of my blog. No picture for today, only a few things I want to say and see what other people think.

A lot has happened in the last two years and I had a great time updating the blog every day, it was not always easy but it was worth it. I met a lot of great people from all over the world through this blog and have learned a lot about photography since I started it.

Last year I even had the chance to publish a book on the GRD III for Ricoh and have some of my pictures printed and displayed in the window of the biggest camera store in Düsseldorf.

I have now uploaded the book to Blurb and you can get it by following the link below:

GR Digital III

A Serious Compact

By Cristian Sorega

Book Preview

You can also download a pdf version here or see the web version here.

Now after two years I wonder where to go from now and if it is not time to make some changes to the blog and/or the format.

I have been thinking to maybe start a new website which is more dedicated to photography and showcase my pictures better, like Zenfolio, or maybe change the format of the blog and post only when there is something to post instead of daily?
Maybe I should focus more on the camera and hardware reviews on my wordpress blog?
Should I just go on as before and see how far I can get?
How about the content of my posts, should it remain the same or focus more on specific themes (photography, post processing, gear, all of this)?
There are also quite a few of my older pictures that I like and would want to post but with running the blog and doing other things it is not easy to go through older pictures.
At the same time I would also like to create more books and get more pictures printed, creating a book takes time so maybe I should focus more on this.

One of the main questions is also the name of my blog, should it remain the same or should I change it to something more general? I have thought of changing the name to 'One Day, One Picture' if I keep the format but this is already taken so will have to see what other name would fit.

In order to give me time to think about the future of my blog, I have decided to take a short 1 week break from posting. Don't worry though, I will not stop taking pictures and will be back next Friday. Instead I will use the break to write my review of the GXR and start working on my next book project.

New Look

GXR, f2.8, 1/810, ISO 800, RAW, 50mm

Took this picture while walking around Moorgate today. I found it quite funny and the guy really made the scene work for me.

Goal

GXR, f2.5, 1/3, ISO 1600, RAW, 50mm

While taking some pictures during a late evening walk, I notced once more that the GXR AF is completely useless in low light. And with this is don't just mean that it is slow and hunts for over 2 seconds but it simply never manages to focus on anything. Anything I tried to focus on even something with enough contrast was too difficult and the camera gave up. This is pretty disapointing since the CX1 shows that Ricoh can produce a camera with fast and accurate AF in low light, unfortunately neither the GRD III nor the GXR come even remotely close. Hopefully Ricoh can improve this with a firmware update.
As it stands now the best thig is to just disregard the AF completely in low light and see the GXR with A12 module as a manual focus only camera.

This picture has been cropped to get the desired composition, I had no tripod so had to use what was available but could not get the framing I wanted.

Line Painting

GXR, f4, 1/203, ISO 200, JPG, 50mm

Took only a few pictures today, the light was not fantastic. This picture is the best one but I can't help thinking it could have been better with a wideangle lens allowing me to get closer.
I do struggle with the 50mm fixed lens after using almost exclusively a 28mm in the last 4 years.

Sunset at the Observatory

GXR, f10, 1/3000, ISO 200, RAW, 50mm

After the last weeks of snow and rain the sun came out today and so did the people and headed to Greenwich park. You could see that they were happy to have a nice and sunny day in the park.

SWPP Model 2010

GXR, f2.5, 1/189, ISO 200, RAW, 50mm

After the picture of a model at last year's SWPP Convention and Tradeshow, I decided to post another model picture.

One technical thing is that the GXR EVF is the best EVF currently on the market as it never gets grainy no mater how little light you have available. The m4/3 EVFs all get grainy in low light and when pointing to anything black as I have tried out on the EP-2 today.

I have also tried the Panasonic GF-1 and am still very tempted, it is in a different universe when it comes to the AF compared to the GXR. It has it's own problems but as a camera it's fantastic and Ricoh really need to look closer at this for their next GXR module. If Panasonic can release a GF-1 with the LC1 build and controls I will be the first in line to get one.
I also believe the m4/3 sensors are superior to APS sensors for any live view camera and hope Ricoh will release a m4/3 camera or at least lenses for m4/3 that don't rely on in-camera tricks.

Orchid

GXR, f6.3, 1/2500, ISO 200, RAW, 50mm

Today, I decided to finally try and put the GF-1 flash to some use and also make use of the macro capability of the A12 module.

To be honest I have never really seen the point of using a bis sensor for macro photography where a small sensor does a much better job and macros are usually low ISO pictures anyway. Since the macro AF is completely useless on the GXR and never manages to focus on anything I had to use manual focus for this picture. And trust me, manual focus on a black screen is great fun ;). Since improvising is fun, I made use of the flashlight application for the iPhone to get enough light to focus.

Now, the GF-1 flash is huge and I really don't understand what the point of it is since it completely unbalances the camera. Although I am not a huge fan of flash photography, I decided to see if it's at least usable as off camera flash to be remotely triggered by the on-board flash. This works indeed much better and means it's the only way you would use the GF-1.

This is the best picture of my trials and I know two things now. First, I still don't see the point of using a large sensor for macro and second, flash use is nice but not for me.

A Dog and Two Seagulls

GXR, f4.5, 1/230, ISO 200, RAW, 50mm

Took this picture while walking through Greenwich Park today. I wanted to use the sepia JPG out of the camera but due to the somewhat strong NR (even when set to off), which unfortunately has become a Ricoh 'trademark' recently, I had to use the RAW to get a crisper image with more details.

Train

GXR, f5, 1/143, ISO 200, JPG, 50mm

I have been taking a few pictures from this spot but the reason I took this today is the folling post from almost one year ago: No Trains.

While I was walking over the railway bridge I heard the train coming so I decided to take a picture which could act as a follow up picture to my previous one.

Road Closed

GXR, f2.8, 1/39, ISO 1600, JPG, 50mm

For some reason most of my pictures today were all taken under rail bridges. This I liked best and decided to use the un-edited JPG.

Ricoh GRD III Review – Part 8

After looking at the features and the image comparisons it is time to move on to the final part of this review, the image quality and the conclusion.

Under a Tree

GXR, f2.8, 1/3, ISO 1600, JPG, 50mm

Did not take many pictures today but wanted to continue my evening series. This is the best out of the pictures I took today.

Walking the Dog

GXR, f2.8, 1/20, ISO 1600, RAW, 50mm

Sometimes I have a specific picture I want to take in my mind, like today. So I set out in the evening to take it.
On the way there I came upon this scene though and it made for a much better picture. I still took the intended picture but it just does not work as well as this one. This is why it's good to keep an open mind and the camera ready.

Ricoh GRD III Review – Part 7

This part will briefly compare the RD1s with the 28mm GR L-mount lens with the GRDs.
It was planned to be published before Christmas but got delayed. I got the chance to try out the new Ricoh GXR with 50mm lens so put this review on hold for a bit in order to have enough time to try the GXR and see if it could be included in this review for comparison.
After having tried the GXR for a while now and only have the 50mm APS lens module, I felt it did not make sense to include it here and it would have taken too much time to go out and reshoot all pictures for comparison. There will be a review of the GXR coming up.

Lets move on now and see how the cameras and lenses compare. This comparison is more out of curiosity and is not meant to determine which camera is better since the GRDs are completely different from the RD1s.

Cleaner Break

GXR, f5, 1/570, ISO 400, JPG, 50mm

Today, I have used the GXR for some proper street photography in London. While the AF is pretty much useless for this, using MF works quite well.

Flowers in the Snow

GXR, f3.5, 1/1600, ISO 200, RAW, 50mm

Whenever I go to a new area or place for meetings, I always try to have a look around. Same as today, when I went to Beaconsfield for a meeting. Afterwards I took a walk in the snow to explore the town for a bit and take a few pictures. This is the one I liked most although I was quite tempted to post a picture of icicles. I really like icicles and miss having them in London during the winter.

Crows on the Roof

GXR, f3.5, 1/1500, ISO 200, RAW, 50mm

Another picture from snow covered London. It is a lot nicer to have snow if you don't need to take public transport.

Square Heads

GXR, f2.5, 1/60, ISO 1234, RAW, 50mm

After the last rather sunny days it started snowing last night. This meant that as usual the whole city...no country came to a halt. While the Dutch were no better at running their trains with a bit of snow, I have to laugh at all the 'Extreme Weather Warnings' just because it's snowing. Guess what, it's winter and we are not in the Caribean so it might snow.
This was actually quite entertaining and I could take some pictures although it took me more than twice as long to get to places with public transport.
This is my favorite picture and yes, the ISO is indeed reported as 1234 and is not a typo. ;)

Parking in the Back

GXR, f4.5, 1/133, ISO 200, JPG b&w, 50mm

Took this while on a walk today. I am not sure why it's not that sharp but still like it.

Jazz

GXR, f2.5, 1/90, ISO 200, JPG 1:1, 50mm

The weather continues to be great here so I took a walk to Canary Wharf and stopped by Mudchute Park & Farm to take some pictures. This is one of my favorites.

Changing the aspect ratio on the GXR is quite cumbersome so I don't change it often but for this one I felt that the square format works better. I hope Ricoh will provide a firmware update that makes it easier to change this.

Lights in the Dark

GXR, f2.5, 1/50, ISO 872, RAW, 50mm

Took this on a walk this evening and quite like it. Nothing too special but simple.
I cropped it to the 4:3 format, added some noise and used some fill light to make the leaves on the side more visible.

No Smoking

GXR, f2.5, 1/330, JPG 1:1, 50mm

After the nice weather yesterday, I almost expected it to rain today. So I was glad to see that it was a very nice day again and decided to go out and take some pictures. It was a very productive day and I got some good pictures with the GXR.
While the slow AF and the 50mm lens are not great for street photography I did try it for some shots and it worked ok. Given the choice though the GRDs with their 28mm lenses and more important small sensors will always have the edge.

Greenwich Church

GXR, f2.5, 1/40, ISO 1600, RAW, 50mm

The new year started with great weather in London. It's been a sunny day so I went for a walk around Greenwich. Took some pictures but was not really happy with most. This I like best and cropped to the more pleasant 4:3 format, for portrait pictures I don't like the 2:3 format at all.