Waiting in Zurich

GXR A12-M, f5.6, 1/189, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)


Another stopover in Zurich but this time only one picture rather than a series. I like Zurich and how quick it is to get from the airport to the city and back so you can afford to go into town even for a short stopover without having to worry about being late for your flight.

Waiting

GXR A12-M, f4.0, 1/2, ISO 400, RAW, 42mm (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm L)

Today, I met fellow bloggers and photographers Iesha and Tom for a mini Ricoh meetup. It is always great to meet other photographers and especially Ricoh users since it quickly becomes clear why we are all using Ricoh cameras, no other camera offers the same handling and image quality in a compact package.

Men at Work

GXR A12-M, f5.6, 1/310, ISO 200, RAW, 42mm, (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm L)

Glow

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

Royal Greenwich

The snow came overnight and after all the fuss at airports and the weather warnings around the country it was disappointing to see only 2-3 cm of snow which had mostly melted away by the afternoon. The British always like to make a big fuss about any weather changes and Heathrow showed again why it rightly is the world's worst airport and run by incompetent fools. Good thing I did not need to travel in this 'severe' weather ;).

Despite the snow, Greenwich held it's celebrations for becoming a Royal borough. I had hoped for more things and events but there was only a parade, some music and fireworks. It was ok but not too spectacular.

I went out and took my GXR A12-M and the Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm lens with me to capture some scenes. I initially planned to have only pictures in square format but some did not work well in square so it ended up being a mix.

Cigarette Break

GXR A12-M, f5.6, 1/310, ISO 200, RAW, 42mm (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm L)

Steel and Concrete

GXR A12-M, f8.0, 1/203, ISO 200, RAW, 18mm (Voigtlander Heliar f5.6 12mm L)

Ricoh Lens A16 24-85mm f3.5-5.5 GXR Zoom Module Announced

After many delays Ricoh has now officially announced the GXR A16 24-85mm zoom module for the GXR, as reported earlier it has a f3.5-5.5 aperture and a new 16 MP sensor. The lens is as reported not a GR lens but the quality should nonetheless be much higher than your typical software corrected lens from the other manufacturers.
While the zoom range is great, the slow aperture is a bit of a let-down and not what most have expected from Ricoh. At least you get something better than normal kit lenses, both in zoom range and also quality but on the downside you get a sensor stuck to it as well.

The most notable new features are the ability to continue shooting while holding the shutter button pressed, this will use the same settings as before, and a new self closing and opening lens cap. Other notable features include a improved leveller, RAW only shooting capability (something I have never seen the reason for but people apparently want) and the ability to enter copyright information in the EXIF data. All other features are the same ones you can find in the other GXR modules so you will get a lot of customization and features aimed at photographers.

One feature which is still neglected and is typical for Ricoh is the video mode which is still only available in 720p and without any meaningful compression or options.

While this module will appeal to some people who want a APS zoom for their GXR camera, I think it is too big and the lens is too slow for any low light shooting, especially when combined with the maximum ISO of 3200. There also is no manual zoom or focus ring on the lens so it means using the zoom buttons on the body for this.

Below is the full press release and the full specs.

UPDATE: I just received an update on this and by the looks of it the sensor will not have an AA filter so it should provide excellent detail.

Steel and Glass Canyon

GXR A12-M, f5.6, 1/68, ISO 200, RAW, 18mm (Voigtlander Heliar f5.6 12mm L)

Bridge to the Wharf

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

More of the O2

GXR A12-M, f5.6, 1/2, ISO 200, RAW, 18mm (Voigtlander Heliar f5.6 12mm L)

Westminster Pier

GXR A12-M, f8.0, 1/2500, ISO 200, RAW, 42mm (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm L)

Kent Walk

Went for a walk around Kent today from Edenbridge to Sevenoaks with a Meetup group, it was a very nice day out and I got the chance to use my two new lenses. I used only the Voigtlander 12mm and the Leica 90mm lenses but had to cut down the pictures to 5 so aside from one picture the rest are all taken with the 90mm.

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.

I.M.S. Agent

GXR A12-M, f2.0, 1/440, ISO 200, RAW, 75mm (Jupiter-8 f2.0 50mm L)

50 Degrees

GXR A12-M, f2.0, 1/48, ISO 3200, RAW, 75mm (Jupiter-8 f2.0 50mm L)

Taxi

GXR A12-M, f2.8, 1/48, ISO 3200, RAW, 42mm (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm L)

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

GXR A12-M, f2.8, 1/125, ISO 1671, RAW, 42mm (Ricoh GR f2.8 28mm L)

Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!

Hope you all had fun celebrating the Chinese New Year today.

The Light at the Entrance

GXR A12-M, f4.0, 1/73, ISO 3200, RAW, 135mm (Leica Elmar f4.0 90mm L)

Flat Tire

GXR A12-M, f2.0, 1/133, ISO 200, RAW, 53mm (Voigtlander Nokton f1.2 35mm)