GRD IV, f2.5, 1/440, ISO 80, RAW
One strange thing I noticed about the GRD IV is when you shoot in P mode the camera almost always chooses f2.5 as the aperture unless it's way too bright or very dark and it can't use this. I am not sure why it's behaving like this since it's not what I am used to from the other GRDs. If you look at my pictures from the last days you will almost always see f2.5 as the aperture chosen although I have been shooting in P mode.
As for shooting in P mode, I am not a manual snob so don't need to set everything manually to feel good about stuff. I rather prefer to use P mode with the GRDs since it makes it easier for street photography and usually the GRDs choose the aperture I would also choose but not the GRD IV. Need to look into this some more.
Interesting possible error in the programmin set up. Maybe one of those things fixed in a firmware update?
ReplyDeleteI have not used P mode on the GRDiii as much as A & S modes. But I may give it a try though. I am also not much of an M user; just can't trust my judgement on those important photo moments.
Thanks for your comment Bill!
ReplyDeleteI need to do more testing with the GRD IV, f2.5 is not a huge issue considering the small sensor but it's interesting nonetheless.
That is strange that the GRD4 uses f/2.5 so much. I remember using a Lumix GF2 and it did the same thing, and just increased the shutter speed as it got brighter rather than also narrowing the aperture. I use a GRD4 and it mainly uses f/4.5 and f/5.6 when shooting outdoors in P mode.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Adrian!
ReplyDeleteI do wonder why it does this but it could be something with the metering and firmware. Maybe I should try updating the firmware to see if it changes the behaviour.
It's definitely worth updating the firmware, and only takes a couple of minutes to download the file and copy it to a freshly formatted card.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the same issue is encountered in "Auto" mode?
Auto Mode an P mode on the GRD4 seem quite similar, with only the "shift" settings not available, whereas on some cameras "auto" mode seems to affect other things, like only allowing jpeg shooting etc.
Thanks for your comment Adrian!
ReplyDeleteI will update the firmware and see if it changes the behavior.
Ricoh's green Auto mode is exactly the same as P mode with just the ability to shift removed so pretty pointless in other words. I have so far not noticed any difference in the parameters the camera chooses but will also keep an eye on this.