A Touch of Yellow

S7, f1.7, 1/1600, ISO 50, RAW

Bike

GXR A12-M, f2.8, 1/55, ISO 3200, RAW, 42mm (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm L)

Saw this bike in front of the red tiles while walking home and had to cross the street to get a shot of it, it's always worth to keep you eyes open and look around for photo opportunities as they can be anywhere.

Classic Bike

GXR A12-M, f6.3, 1/30, ISO 519, RAW, 22mm (Voigtlander Heliar f4.5 15mm L)

Velo

GXR S10, f3.5, 1/153, ISO 100, RAW, 50mm

Another stop-over in Zurich on my way back to London thanks to the strike at Frankfurt airport. Zurich is great for a stop-over since it's quick to get into town and back to the airport and security is very efficient.

I already took a picture of this bike last time but was not happy with the result, this time I think it's better.

Red Bike

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

Yesterday, I received my 12mm Heliar L lens but did not have too much time with it so I could only really use it today.

First impressions are very good, it is very nicely built and the quality is very good so far.
I really like the focus stops so you know when you got to infinity, 1m, 0.5m and 0.3m, this is great and I wish more lenses had it. Makes it in use a bit like the adjustable Snap AF on the other Ricoh cameras. Not that you need to worry about focusing much here anyway since at f5.6 and focus to 1m everything will be in focus anyway.
The field of view is great and despite the wide angle it is well corrected and very sharp, it also handles flare very well and has no visible CA or fringing. At f5.6 it is not super fast but you can easily handhold it at 1/30th and even lower without problems so this kind of makes up a bit for the slower aperture.

I can see this becoming my favourite lens in the summer when it's longer light outside. Need to find out if this can replace my CV 15mm, complement it or whether the 15mm is the better choice.

Bike Path

GRD III, f1.9, 1/290, ISO 400, JPG b&w

Lady in Red

GF1, f5.6, 1/320, ISO 200, RAW, 80mm (Voigtländer f1.4 40mm M)

Ok, this picture is not properly in focus but I like it anyway. At first I wanted to post is as I took it in b&w but felt that it works much better with the color.

Chained Bike

GXR, f7.1, 1/233, ISO 200, JPG, 50mm

After the Dutch train company decided that a bit of snow is too much for them to allow for trains to go to Germany, I had to spend most of my day travelling instead of taking pictures with the GXR.
I still had time with the camera though and really love the feel and handling. It's a typical Ricoh in that you want to go out and take pictures with it.
Yes, the AF is sluggish compared with the direct competition of the GF1 and the LCD freeze kills it for any action use, the 50mm lens is also neither wide enough nor long enough and is with f2.5 not even fast enough. But when you adapt to the limitations and give the AF enough time or more important enough contrast (I refuse to use manual focus with any focus by wire system), it works pretty decent for the kind of shots you would use a 50mm macro lens for.
The EVF is simply outstanding and beats the one in the G1 even.

I have to return the camera tomorrow but really liked using it even with all it's flaws. Let's hope Ricoh can iron some of them out in a firmware update.

The picture from today is for Wouter.

Blackheath Bike & Kite Festival 2009

The 2nd Blackheath Bike and Kite Festival was on today. The weather was great so there were a lot of people around. I went out to take some pictures with the Panasonic LC1 and ended up taking more pictures of kites than bikes but it was good fun and the LC1 performed just fine and I was quite glad that it did have a zoom.
You can see the full gallery here.

Downhill

CX1, f5.8, 1/760, ISO 80, JPG, 177mm

Since moving to Canary Wharf I did not take that many pictures during lunch as I did in the City. It is not quite as inspiring a place so far, although I need to try taking some architecture shots. It provides me with the opportunity to spend more time in Greenwich Park however so this is why I have been taking quite a few of my recent pictures there.