Walk the Dog

GRD IV, f1.9, 1/125, ISO 734, RAW

Late Night Coach Journey

GRD IV, f1.9, 1/9, ISO 3200, RAW

A test in a way to see how the high ISO looks and how efficient the IS is.

Theatre Left

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

Watching the Show

GXR S10, f4.4, 1/2, ISO 800, RAW, 72mm

The Flag at the Observatory

GF1, 1/30, ISO 1600, JPG b&w

Today, I just had some fun with my selfmade pinhole lens for the GF1.

Light in the Tunnel

GXR A12 28mm, f2.8, 1/90, ISO 1600, RAW

I really like the colors in this picture and overall the GXR is very good when it comes to rendering colors with a very accurate white balance (as opposed to the never accurate WB on the Panasonic GF1).

Parked Upfront

GRD, f2.4, 1/11, ISO 1600, JPG

Two Trees

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

Powerlines

GF1, f1.7, 1/8, ISO 3200, JPG b&w, 40mm

I wanted to take this picture for a while but thought it would be with the GRD I. Today, I got he chance to take it with the GF1 and it came out as I wanted although at some point I might play around with thw RAW file and add some more noise to it.

Goal

GXR, f2.5, 1/3, ISO 1600, RAW, 50mm

While taking some pictures during a late evening walk, I notced once more that the GXR AF is completely useless in low light. And with this is don't just mean that it is slow and hunts for over 2 seconds but it simply never manages to focus on anything. Anything I tried to focus on even something with enough contrast was too difficult and the camera gave up. This is pretty disapointing since the CX1 shows that Ricoh can produce a camera with fast and accurate AF in low light, unfortunately neither the GRD III nor the GXR come even remotely close. Hopefully Ricoh can improve this with a firmware update.
As it stands now the best thig is to just disregard the AF completely in low light and see the GXR with A12 module as a manual focus only camera.

This picture has been cropped to get the desired composition, I had no tripod so had to use what was available but could not get the framing I wanted.

Dark Pathway

GRD,f2.4, 1/25, ISO 1600, JPG b&w

Took this while out for a walk this evening. It is not easy to take pictures and be overly motivated during the winter months, it gets dark early and the weather is not fantastic either.

Last Train

GRD, f2.4, 1/8, ISO 1600, JPG b&w

Did not take many pictures today.
While this one is not one of my best pictures, I still like the grainy look of it.

Night in Geneva

GRD III, f1.9, 1/30, ISO 800, RAW

Did not take many pictures today, have not been in the mood or too inspired. Geneva is nice and has enough photo opportunities but the weather has been a bit dull and grey so not great for photography.

Drawn to the Light

GRD III, f1.9, 1/50, ISO 800, RAW

It is getting dark very early here in the UK so I thought I make use of the fast GRD III lens and go out shooting. With the limited usable high ISO of the GRD III however it was not easy and I could not always use ISO 400.

The GRD III has a very fast lens and a new sensor with imporved high ISO but it is still not a very good low light camera due to excessive banding issues at anything over ISO 400. The only way to work around this is to take the RAW file and boost the black levels a lot and make sure all shadow areas are black without details. This is pretty much unacceptable for a camera in this price range and it shows hat the 4 year old GRD I still has the best IQ, especially at high ISO.

Kilmainham Gaol

I always liked watching prison movies like 'Shawshank Redemption' or 'Escape from Alcatraz'. Since getting into photography I always enjoyed taking pictures of abandoned buildings so when I got the chance of going to an old prison here in Dublin it was great. unfortunately you have to join a tour if you want to visit Kilmainham Jail so photography is a bit limited. I really enjoyed it though and would like to try and spend more time there on my next trip to Dublin. This is why I decided to put up a series today. To give the pictures I gritty feel, I used b&w and ISO 400 or 1600 for my pictures inside the jail.
I have also updated my gallery if you want to see more pictures from Dublin and the jail.

Bus Stop 'C'

GRD, f2.4, 1/60, ISO 1600, JPG

After work I went to the British Museum to take some high ISO comparison pictures and with this the last batch for my upcoming GX200 review. I used all Ricoh cameras to take pictures at ISO 100, 400 and 1600. So far I did not manage to compare all yet but it should be very interesting.
This is a ISO 1600 picture I took while waiting for the bus. I saw a few Wong Kar Wai movies and liked the way he uses shots through windows with the reflections. This is my try at something similar, kind of inspired by WKW and Christopher Doyle.

Shadow of the Witch

GRD, f2.4, 1/6, ISO 1600, JPG b&w

Sometimes it's not easy to get the picture for the day, not because I am not motivated or inspired but because I have not much time for it. Then again, there is always a little bit of time for photography even if it's just on the way home. For this time of the year when it gets dark early the GRD I is the best camera I can really take along since none of the other cameras I have are good enough at ISO 1600.
I cropped the picture to 1:1, darkened the blacks and sharpened it. This is also one of the few pictures where I used the burning tool in Photoshop.

Night Rider

GRD, f2.4, 1/100, ISO 1600, JPG b&w - Taken on 19/01/2007

When is a compact camera superior to a dSLR? Everytime you need a high DOF in low light, like in this situation. This picture was taken with the GRD at ISO 1600 and EV -1 so effectively at ISO 3200 and using Snap focus. The D70 we had along could not focus, the f3.5 lens was too slow and the DOF too shallow as to be of any use.
This might not be an amazing picture but it shows where a small sensor camera can be much better than a big sensor camera. This is why I hope someone will release a compact camera with a 2/3" sensor and a very fast lens. I don't need or want a full-frame or APS sensor because the DOF is too limited there. It can be nice for portraits but not when you loose all advantage of a fast lens and high ISO.
While everyone is asking for compact cameras with a big sensor, I would like to see compact cameras with improved small sensors. If I could have a 2/3 sensor which can deliver the same image quality as the GRD I in this picture at ISO 6400 and a f1.4 or f1.8 lens it would be the perfect camera for me. Looking back through my pictures I noticed that the image quality of my Ricoh cameras was never really limiting or not good enough to get the shot and have a memorable picture. The only thing I missed me was a higher ISO and faster lens.

Cat's Eyes

GRD II, f2.4, 1/6, ISO 800, RAW

Todays picture fits again the 'non-photography' category. I quite like to sometimes break the rules and deliver a blurry and noisy photo. Afterall, I think technical perfection, although it is what most people strive for, is not important for a good picture. There are too many technically brilliant but boring pictures on the internet.
Not that this is the most exciting picture but sometimes a technically bad photo actually benefits from the noise and blur. I doubt, I would have selected this image if the cat would have been in perfect focus or there would be no noise at all, this picture would lack something in my view.

Curves

GRD, f2.4, 1/8, ISO 1600, JPG b&w

Took this picture in the evening while walking home. I liked the light and shapes of the car. It seemed like it would make a good b&w picture and it did come out very well.