Colorado Landscapes

Colorado and the Pikes Peak area in particular are great for taking landscape pictures, this is why I have another series with landscapes. All pictures except the 2nd are taken with the Nokton.

Arrived in Colorado Springs

I arrived in Denver and went to see a friend in Colorado Springs, we went for a quick drive around and saw the Garden of Gods.
This series is just some quick impressions, all pictures except the first are taken with the Panasonic 7-14mm.

Views of the Hudson

The weather was great for most of the day, it was very warm and sunny so I decided to walk along the Hudson riverside and then cross over Brooklyn Bridge to Brooklyn's Dumbo area and take pictures there.
I have used the Nokton, Panasonic 7-14mm and the Cabon FD lenses today.

People in New York

New York is a lot about the people living there, this is why I decided on this series for today.
All pictures have been taken with the Nokton lens.

Back to the Big City

GF1, f0.95, 1/400, ISO 320, JPG, 50mm (Voigtländer Nokton f0.95 25mm)

Not my best picture but after flying for 10h this is the best I got for today.
But I am glad to be back to New York even if it's only for a few days till I head on to Colorado Springs.

In the Shade

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

Let it Fly

iPhone4, f2.4, ISO 80, Hipstamatic app

Focused

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

Reflections

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

I really like reflections in photography, you can do a lot with them an create some surreal pictures.

London Marathon 2011

Today's series is presented slightly different and my attempt to find a better way to display a series of pictures. Initially I wanted to cut the series down to 10 or 5 pictures but I find that this always takes up too much space on the front page of my blog so I decided to try the flickr slideshow viewer and see how it works.
So let me know what you think of this.

This year for the London Marathon I decided to leave the trusty LC1 at home and take with me the GF1 with the 20mm pancake for it's fast AF and my 50mm Canon FD lens for the longer reach and easier MF operation. After starting to use the pancake lens with AF, I quickly gave up and switched to the Canon MF lens since it was a lot faster to use and it delivered better image quality with more character. I tried the pancake lens later on and even tried to use it in MF-mode but without a distace scale it was pretty useless. In the end I did not really like most of the pictures from it so ended up deleting most of the pictures while keeping almost all from the 50mm FD lens.

After today's experience I am more tempted than ever to sell this lens as well as the Olympus m4/3 kit-lens I have since they don't have any character and I just don't like the pictures from either. I will have to do a proper comparison to see the difference clearer.

Ricoh GXR Review - A12 28mm

There are currently four modules available for the GXR System with the A12 28mm f2.5 being the latest module. This part of my ongoing GXR review focuses only on this module so if you want to know more about the GXR system, the controls and the build quality read the first part of my review here.

Now lets see how the A12 28mm f2.5 module works as a photographic tool.

Looking Back Over His Shoulder

GRD, f6.3, 1/500, ISO 400, JPG b&w

Light

iPhone 4, f2.4, Hipstamatic app

Reading

GRD III, f2.5, 1/270, ISO 400, JPG high contrast b&w

White Flowers

GF1, f2.8, 1/160, ISO 200, JPG b&w, 100mm (Canon f1.8 50mm FD)

White Crane

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

Black and WIGHT

On my 2nd day on te Isle of Wight I took a walk along the coastal path, it was a great day and I took lots of pictures. Initially I wanted to post a series of more varied pictures but settled on a series with people and in black and white instead.

Traveling for a weekend with the GXR and the two A12 modules showed me exactly the benefits of the GXR system since it's so easy to swap modules and I never have to worry about dust or sand.

WIGHTing

GXR A12 50mm, f11, 1/217, ISO 200, RAW

The first but also my favorite picture from the first day of my Isle of Wight trip.

An Englishman in London

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

The Gap in 1969

GF1, f5.6, 1/500, ISO 100, RAW, 50mm (Voigtländer Nokton f0.95 25mm)

5 with the Nokton

Ok, there is no particular reason for me posting a series today, I just felt like it and wanted to have more pictures taken with the Nokton online. All aside from the 4th are taken at f0.95.

Overgrown

GF1, f1.4, 1/200, ISO 100, RAW, 50mm (Voigtländer Nokton f0.95 25mm)

In Between the Trees

GF1, f8, 1/200, ISO 100, RAW, 100mm (Canon f1.8 50mm FD)

Under the Tree

GXR S10, f4.4, 1/189, ISO 100, RAW, 72mm

10

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

Running Across

GXR A12 50mm, f4.5, 1/540, ISO 200, RAW

Miniature Squirrel

GXR A12 28mm, f4.0, 1/660, ISO 200, JPG miniaturize

As you can see I am having some fun with the new scene modes on the GXR. Now if only Ricoh would allow shooting RAW together with the processed JPG it would be great.

Purple Flowers

GXR A12 28mm, f2.8, 1/270, ISO 400, JPG miniaturize mode

When it comes to supporting their cameras with firmware updates no one is better than Ricoh. Not only do they fix bugs but they also add a lot of new features, something other companies release a completely new product for to rip off loyal customers (Canon with the G7/G9 comes here to mind or Sigma with the neverending release of "new" DP1/DP2 cameras). So what Ricoh is doing is not really common practice so they deserve to be applauded for taking care of their loyal customers instead of forcing them to buy a new camera just to get an extra feature added.

On Monday they released a new firmware update for all GXR modules and for the GRD III, adding some fun scene modes, even more customization options and a AF tracking mode. I have been trying the new firmware update and even decided to postpone my A12 28mm review to have some more time to try out the new features added and see if and how they improve on the camera.

So far the new scene modes are a fun addtion and I appreciate them although they are more for the P10 module than any of the A12 modules. The AF tracking feature on the A12 28mm module does not seem to be all that usefull or even work properly but I will try it some more to get more time with it. More in the full review.

Industry at Dusk

GXR P10, f4.6, 1/14, ISO 800, JPG b&w, 200mm

Old and Young

iPhone 4, f2.4, Hipstamatic app

Conversing over a Pint

GXR A12 50mm, f4.0, 1/410, ISO 200, RAW

As nice as the A12 50mm module is now with the new firmware updates, it simply can't focus properly in backlit situations. I took 15 pictures of this scene and only had a few properly in focus although the camera always showed a green focus confirmation. This is a problem with both A12 modules and it happens most of the time if the scene is backlit or if the contrast range is too high.