Streets of London

The weather has been great and since I had to go to the Mongolian embassy in Kensington, I figured I will take the opportunity to go for a walk around London after and take some pictures.
Well, the walk ended up being from Kensington all the way back to Greenwich via Canary Wharf, so I guess around 10 miles. It was a nice walk though and I took over 300 pictures with the GR, went through 3 batteries and one 4gb SD card.

I took quite a lot of different pictures, from macros, architecture and landscapes/cityscapes but mostly it was street photography and pictures of people out and about enjoying the sun. So here a longer series of my street photographs I took during my walk to also give an indication of how the GR works for something the GR series is mostly associated with.

The GR performed very well in anything I put it through and the only pictures that did not turn out well were due to user error on my part. The GR is a fantastic little camera and one I can fully recommend to anyone looking for a really serious compact or if you just want the best backup camera you can get.
The GXR A12-M will still remain my main camera as nothing can touch some of the lenses I have for it and the character it gives but the GR is great for travelling light and for ultimate IQ it beats the somewhat older 12MP sensor in the GXR.

One Canada Square

GXR A12-M, f8.0, 1/1070, ISO 200, RAW, 18mm (Voigtlander Heliar f5.6 12mm L)

Canary Wharf is pretty boring and artificial, I try to avoid it as much as possible but since I had to go to the bank there I took the opportunity to take some photos.

The good thing about Canary Wharf is that when the weather is nice you get a lot of opportunities to take 'no flash corner' photographs thanks to al the metal and glass buildings around. While this is not necessary a great example you can read more about it here and in issue 9 of the JPG Magazine.
While I took some better pictures showing this effect, I liked this the best out of my pictures from today. The composition could have been better but due to the scratched screen protector on my GXR it is sometimes almost impossible to see the screen, thankfully you don't need to see much or focus at all with a 12mm lens ;).

Anchor

GRD IV, f1.9, 1/20, ISO 3200, RAW 

Took this after having dinner and drinks at the Cutty Sark pub today.

Used the Eye-fi card to get the JPG and DNG files across to the Nexus 4 right after taking the picture and then processed the DNG using Photo Mate. Posted this at home from the Nexus 4 with the Chrome browser.
This whole work flow is great and I start to prefer it to using Windows. First, Photo Mate starts to become my favourite RAW developer and SwiftKey is so much better than even a physical keyboard that I find it difficult to type without it.

The Whaf

GRD, f7.1, 1/800, ISO 400, JPG b&w, 21mm

Took this on my way back from the O2, had the GRD I with the 21mm wideangle adapter along. It's very nice to use and much smaller and lighter than I remembered. The b&w image quality is still impressive from the GRD I and has a character I have not seen in any other camera.

2 @ Canary

GRD IV, f3.5, 1/320, ISO 80, JPG

Took this during a walk at Canary Wharf today. Decided to take the GRD IV along to travel lighter but still have the Surface with me to trial it in the field.

Down the Escalator

GRD IV, f1.9, 1/125, ISO 1600, RAW

Just a quick picture on my way to Canary Wharf, I took the GRD IV with me due to the size and weight but did not take all that many pictures with it.

Reflection and Lines

GXR A12-M, f1.2, 1/23, ISO 3200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)

Took this on my way back home from the cinema, it was handheld at 1/23 so I was not sure I would get it sharp enough but it came out fine.

Ice Scupltures

Went to see the ice sculptures at Canary Wharf today. I decided to travel light and take a smaller lens for the GXR with me, the Jupiter-8 is a very nice lens and by being f2.0 I figured it should be bright enough even when the light starts fading. It performed very well although at times I wished it were a bit wider to capture more in and have less people walk in front of my picture since I had to stay back quite a bit for some pictures.

This is a small series with some of my favourite pictures, the 3rd is probably my favourite and would have been the picture of the day were it not for me deciding to post the series.

Pier

GRD IV, f6.3, 4 sec., ISO 951, RAW

Ramp

GXR A12-M, f4.0, 1/60, ISO 336, RAW, 42mm (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm L)

Challenge Wales

GF1, f2.8, 1/4000, ISO 100, RAW, 100mm (Canon f1.8 50mm FD)

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.

Two

GXR A12-M, f2.8, 1/34, ISO 3200, RAW, 42mm (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm L)

Not very inspired so this is the best I have for today, the result is not as good as I thought it would be and the focus is slightly off but at times this is the best for the day.

Low Tide

GXR A12-M, f8.0, 5 sec., ISO 200, RAW, 18mm (Voigtlander Heliar f5.6 12mm L)

Glow

GXR A12-M, f4.0, 1/3, ISO 400, RAW, 42mm (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm L)

Bridge to the Wharf

GXR A12-M, f5.6, 1/2, ISO 400, RAW, 18mm (Voigtlander Heliar f5.6 12mm L)

The Wharf

X100, f5.6, 1/800, ISO 200, RAW

Watching over the Wharf

iPhone 4, f2.4, ISO 80, JPG, Hipstamatic app

Clouds over the Wharf

RD1, f5.6, 1/111, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtländer Nokton f1.4 35mm)

Blinded by the Sun

GRD, f8.0, 1/800, ISO 400, JPG b&w