People in Boston

Arrived in Boston at around lunchtime, after the sort trip from the airport to the hotel, I set out for a walk to explore the city. Since the weather was fantastic, I decided to go to the waterfront and walk around there to the ICA.

Boston is a very nice place, it feels a bit European and the people are quite relaxed, one not so European thing is the good sevice you get.

This is a series of some street photography from my walks, in the upcoming posts I will try to post more of the architecture.

Walking to the Gate

GRD, f4.5, 1/250, ISO 64, JPG b&w

Again at an airport, it was Munich for work today.

Tomorrow, I will head off to Boston and New York for a few days holiday and photography. This is my first real holiday this year although it feels like I have not stopped travelling. If anyone reading my blog is around Boston or New York and wants to met up for a coffee and some photography discussion and shooting let me know.

I will take my GXR A12-M with me and a 3 lens kit, I have too many lenses so I try to always take 3 with me for any longer holiday or trip. This time it will be the Voigtlander Heliar 12mm, Nokton 35mm and the Jupiter-8 50mm lens. I wanted to take the GR lens along, too, but decided to take the GR lens on the GRD I instead and so have a spare camera.

Looking Up

GXR A12-M, f5.6, 1/30, ISO 218, RAW, 22mm (Voigtlander Heliar f4.5 15mm L)

Smoke over the Wharf

GXR A12-M, f5.6, 1 sec., ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Jupiter-12 f2.8 35mm L)

If you get woken up at 3am by an air siren in London, it either means the Germans are fed up with the European situation and decided to finish the job in bombing London or there is a big fire somewhere at factory or warehouse. ;)
Today, it was the less exciting option and it just meant I did not get much sleep between 3-5am because of a fire at a warehouse in North Greenwich.
Since I was up already I decided to take some pictures of it an got a few from my terrace, I should have probably gone to the Thames for some more spectacular pictures but I was too tired for this.

Bird on a Wire

GXR A12-M, f4.0, 1/125, ISO 436, RAW, 135mm (Leica Elmar f4.0 90mm L)

Flowers of Savill Garden

Went for a visit to Savill Gardens and took a set of 3 lenses with me, the Jupiter-12 35mm, the Voigtlander Heliar 15mm and the Leica Elmer 90mm. The pictures posted are taken with the Jupiter-12 and Leica OUFRO macro adapter and the Leica Elmar lens. I took some with the Voigtlander Heliar but did not end up selecting them for the post.

Morning Prayer

GXR A12-M, f8.0, 1/440, ISO 200, RAW, 18mm (Voigtlander Heliar f5.6 12mm L)

Only One Man Laughing

GXR A12-M, f6.3, 1/620, ISO 200, RAW, 22mm (Voigtlander Heliar f4.5 15mm L)

Euromix

GXR A12-M, f8.0, 1/4000, ISO 200, RAW, 22mm (Voigtlander Heliar f4.5 15mm L)

Squeezing Through

GXR A12-M, f8.0, 1/440, ISO 200, RAW, 22mm (Voigtlander Heliar f4.5 15mm L)

Cannon Street Bridge

GXR A12-M, f5.6, 1 sec., ISO 200, RAW, 42mm (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm L)

Running Up the Stairs

GXR A12-M, f2.8, 1/60, ISO 766, RAW, 42mm (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm L)

Waiting at the Bar

GXR A12-M, f2.0, 1/125, ISO 2075, RAW, 75mm (Jupiter-8 f2.0 50mm L)

This is taken with my 2nd Jupiter-8 lens, which is hazy inside and could benefit from a clean. On the other hand it gives less contrasty pictures with a glow around the lights.

Alfresco

GXR A12-M, f4.0, 1/125, ISO 250, RAW, 42mm (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm)

View over Zurich

GRD, f8.0, 1/1000, ISO 200, JPG

I know, a colour picture from the GRD I is unusual for me but this scene just needed some colour. I shot it using the Colour Bracketing mode since it gives me b&w, colour and sepia pictures without the need to wait 13 seconds for a RAW file. I edited the JPG with RAW Therapee to get more dynamic range out of it and it did work quite well.

Over or Under

GRD, f2.8, 1/100, ISO 400, JPG b&w

Another quick visit to Berlin for a meeting so I took the perfect camera for these occasions with the GRD I, after all it fits in a suit jacket pocket and is not noticeable.

Nelson's View

GXR A12-M, f1.2, 1/73, ISO 3200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Ricoh GXR (S10, P10 and A16) Zoom Review

From left to right: S10, P10 and A16 modules

While prime lenses are nice, every camera system needs it's own kit zoom lense. While I am not a big fan of
zoom lenses, I do love the zoom lens on the Panasonic LC1 and it is one of the best lenses I have used.
Looking at the GXR, Ricoh has released three zoom modules for it and each is quite different from each other.

This review will cover all three of them and look at the performance of each, the main question though is which module does the best job as a kit lens. This is a short review of each module so I only go over the main points, I will point to previous reviews or previews which provide more information at times. As before this review will only cover the modules, for the review of the GXR body and controls look here.

Let's look at each of the modules covered and their main features before delving into the review.

The first to be released was the S10 module, it is a 24-72mm f2.5-4.4 IS zoom lens with a small 10MP 1/1.7" CCD sensor. In a lot of ways this is the successor to the GX200 so let's see if this is the GX300 people were waiting for.

The second zoom module to be released was the P10 superzoom module, it is a 28-300mm f3.5-5.6 IS zoom lens with a small 10MP 1/2.3" CMOS sensor. This is essentially a CX camera without the body but this is not necessarily a bad thing.

The last zoom module to be released is a 24-85mm f3.5-f5.5 not image stabilized zoom lens with a 16MP APS sensor without AA filter. The large sensor in this module and the lens starting at 24mm were what got people very excited about it.

Now that I have introduced the modules let's have a look at how they perform.

NOTE: The below review will be updated with pictures taken with each module.

Cutty Sark

GXR A12-M, f8.0, 1/1070, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Jupiter-12 f2.8 35mm L)

Hit

GXR A12-M, f5.6, 1/1070, ISO 200, RAW, 203mm (Jupiter-11 f4.5 135mm L)

B

GXR A12-M, f8.0, 1/1070, ISO 200, RAW, 128mm (Jupiter-9 f2.0 85mm L)

Graves

GXR A12-M, f2.8, 1/217, ISO 200, 53mm (Jupiter-12 f2.8 35mm L)

What do I do now?

GXR A12-M, f2.8, 1/410, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Jupiter-12 f2.8 35mm L)


Isn't this a question we have all asked ourselves before?

I liked it when I saw the guy walking in front of me and knew it would make a good picture, especially with the well dressed couple walking towards him.

Walking Past

GXR A12-M, f5.6, 1/760, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Jupiter-12 f2.8 35mm L)

Reading the News

GXR A12-M, f2.8, 1/125, ISO 1822, RAW, 53mm (Jupiter-12 f2.8 35mm L)

Kind of funny, on the same day I publish my 'Spring Clean' post, I receive a collection of Russian lenses and 2 FED-4 cameras to go with them.
My Russian comrades would be proud of my collection of Jupiter and Industar lenses. ;)
I now have the Jupiter-8 f2.0 50mm (twice, one to sell), Jupiter-9 f2.0 85mm, Jupiter-11 f4.5 135mm, Jupiter-12 f2.8 35mm and the Industar-61 f2.8 55mm (twice and one to sell) and some Fed and Zorki cameras I need to run some film through.
Having all these Russian lenses, I have to say that they are all really nice to use and offer very good quality. Especially the Jupiter-12 is a beautiful lens to look at with the rear element looking like a drop or the Jupiter-11 with the blue glow on the glass or the 1:1 Zeiss copy of the Jupiter-9. The seamless aperture is also very good for video I would imagine.

I will do a post on these at some point but if you get get a good copy I can fully recommend these lenses since they perform very well and especially the Jupiter lenses are also well built (can't say the same about the Industar ones). How else can you get a full collection of lenses for less than the price of an old Leica lens or even a Voigtlander lens.

Spring Clean

Although I am not a fan of advertising on my blog, I think a bit of self advertising is allowed.

As it always is with gear, one purchases way too much gear to sensibly make use of or actually need all of it. So now it's time to get rid of some of that accumulated stuff, all the items above are for sale so if you want to buy any of them let me know in the comments or better via email.

All items are in very good condition and like new, unless otherwise stated. Prices can be negotiated.

Panasonic 7-14mm f4.0 lens for m4/3

!!SOLD -Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f1.4 lens for Leica M - SOLD!!

Leica Elmarit 28mm f2.8 lens for Leica R with lens hood (with R to M adapter or R to m4/3 adapter if needed, see below)

Canon 50mm f1.8 lens for Leica M39 screw mount (fungus in optics, see picture below)

Jupiter-8 50mm f2.0 lens for Leica M39 screw mount (slight haze in optics)

!!SOLD - Helios-44 58mm f2.0 lens for M42 with holder and UV filter - SOLD!!

m4/3 adapters (OM to m4/3, C/Y to m4/3 and R to m4/3)

Leica R to M adapter

Carrier Watching

GXR A12-M, f5.6, 1/2000, ISO 200, RAW, 22mm (Voigtlander Heliar f4.5 15mm L)

Pier

GF1, f0.95, 1/30, ISO 1000, RAW, 50mm (Voigtlander Nokton f0.95 25mm)

Book Fair

GXR S10, f2.7, 1/30, ISO 351, RAW, 28mm

Theatre Left

GXR P10, f4.5, 1/20, ISO 1600, RAW, 200mm

Walking Home

GXR A16, f6.0, 1/710, ISO 200, RAW, 28mm