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RD1, f11.0, 1/2000, ISO 200, RAW, 42mm (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm L)

Looking at Change

RD1, f5.6, 1/1553, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtländer Nokton f1.4 35mm)

Greenwich Maritime University

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

Ranger's House

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

If you are wondering where yesterday's post is, a friend has my SD card with the pictures so I can't post it till tomorrow.

Old Street Station

GRD, f3.2, 1/160, ISO 400, JPG b&w

Checking the Tire

GRD, f5.6, 1/640, ISO 200, JPG b&w

An Englishman in London

GF1, f0.95, 1/4000, ISO 100, JPG b&w, 50mm (Voigtländer Nokton f0.95 25mm)

10

GXR A12 28mm, f2.8, 1/217, ISO 400, JPG high contrast b&w

Girl in Window

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

This is as much a lucky shot as it's a picture where everything just came together nicely to give me exactly what I wanted.
I saw the girl in the window and took a picture while walking past but I took the first one straight on with my own reflection in there and at the wrong moment, once I reliazed this I turned back to take another picture and everything was just perfect. It was the decisive moment because I had the girl's attention and even the reflections in the window were perfect.

Follow the Path

GXR A12, f11, 1/203, ISO 200, RAW 1:1, 28mm

A Good Book and a Pint

GF1, f0.95, 1/80, ISO 640, JPG b&w, 50mm (Voigtländer Nokton f0.95 25mm)

I only had the Nokton for a week and did not even have that much time to go out and take pictures with it but I can't see myself going back to the 20mm Panasonic lens after using it.
The character of the Nokton is just so much better than the 20mm lens that it makes a huge difference for me. I guess it shows where optical quality comes in to play instead of just fixing stuff in software. The pictures are just not the same, no mater how much Panasonic and Olymous try to fix in software, it's not the sharpness nor the technical quality, it's the character that suffers and pictures look technically perfect but flat and boring with software corrected lenses.

Seeing Double

GF1, f0.95, 1/160, ISO 640, JPG b&w, 50mm (Voigtländer Nokton f0.95 25mm)

The Nokton is a fantastic lens and gives a very film-like quality to pictures, especially if you set the camera to b&w. I just love the character of this lens and aside from my Leica f2.8 28mm R mount lens this is my favorite lens for the GF1 and shows that opptical quality beats software corrections anytime.
But not just the quality is fantastic also the bright aperture allows for very fast shutter speeds at low ISO even in very dark conditions.

The only problem is at times to nail the focus and although I did not do it in this picture I still like it best from today.

Drumming

GF1, f0.95, 1/80, ISO 800, JPG b&w, 50mm (Voigtländer Nokton f0.95 25mm)

Happy New Year to everyone!

As a nice new year's present I decided to get myself the Voigtländer Nokton f0.95 lens for m4/3, I found it for a very good price on Amazon.fr and could not resist. Amazon is excellent and very fast with the shipping so it meant I already got my lens last night but it was to late for some serious shooting.

Although it was busy in he office I did go out at lunch for some shooting and when I met with friends in the evening it was a perfect opportunity to really test the lens.
It is fantastic and allows for very fast shutter speeds at low ISO, something not possible with the other lenses but at the same time it has a much better quality and look.
While I like that it focuses very close and is almost usable as a macro lens (this is the lens Ricoh should have put on the 50mm A12 module), I am not at all happy with the little distance you can move the focus ring to go from 2m to infinity since it does not allow to be fast or precise and it does not have enough DOF that you don't have to care about accurate focus after 2m. Other than that it's a fantastic lens and feels really good although it is heavy.

So far I would say this is the best quality lens for m4/3, does not need software corrections, is built out of metal and has a proper MF ring around the lens.

Last Walk Through

GXR A12, f2.5, 1/400, ISO 3200, JPG b&w, 50mm

After 9 days in Morocco it's time to head back to the UK and while I will miss some aspects of Morocco it did not grow on me as much as other countries have done so I don't feel like I am missing much. Marrakech is certainly an interesting city but I did not really warm up to the people and found quite a lot not to be honest, the mopeds driving through the Medina were also driving me crazy after the first day where I found this quite interesting.
So to sum it up, it was a great holiday full of photo opportunities and I am happy I could see Marrakech and especially Essaouria but I am in no rush to come back.

The Eye

GXR A12, f 2.5, 1/80, ISO 3200, JPG b&w, 50mm

Today was not such a good day photographically speaking, only got a few good pictures. It also looks like I have a theme going with my daily posts, one high ISO b&w picture followed by a color picture. It is not planned bu just happened that way.

More pictures as usual in my Dropbox gallery here.

Old and Wrinkly

GXR A12, f2.5, 1/80, ISO 3200, JPG b&w, 50mm

I really like this picture although I did not focus on the hand as planned.

Walking around the Medina in Marrakech is on the one hand very exciting and full of picture opportunities but on the other hand gets very frustrating thanks to the mopeds racing in between people and I will go crazy if one more person tries to tell me the way to the square for a tip. But this is allpart of the experiance and fun of exploring this area.

Due to a technical problem with my Windows XP drivers I could not post or update my Dropbox gallery the last two days but this is fixed now and everything is up to date.

Wind and Rain

GRD, f3.5, 1/79, ISO 400, JPG b&w

Two Trees

GRD, f2.4, 1/4, ISO 1600, JPG b&w

Too Much

GXR A12, f5.0, 1/233, ISO 200, RAW, 50mm

Arena Events

GF1, f1.7, 1/40, ISO 800, JPG b&w, 40mm