rscheffler
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
|
 p.34 #3 · Still no love for the Ricoh GXR? | |
I don't think I will bother with dialing in any correction. I change lenses a lot while I shoot and it would be a pain to have to remember to activate that setting. It's like setting manual lens coding with the M9... I have a tendency to forget that I've set it, then realize about 50 shots later when my 50mm images have been coded as 21mm (with 21mm colour cast and vignetting correction). Does it even affect the GXR's RAW files like lens coding correction does on the digital Ms?
I used the CV12 the same day as the CV15 shot of the scooter above and just like on the M9, it seems to have less corner/edge colour issues. Actually, on the GXR I can't see any colour issues in normal use... On the M9 the CV15 is probably the worst offender, perhaps tied with the ZM21 f/4.5 for edge vignetting and colour shifts, so it's no surprise that it's slightly more noticeable on the GXR.
Here's one with the CV12:
http://ronschefflerfm.s3.amazonaws.com/fmgxr/20120220/20120220_0020.jpg
A bunch with the CV15:
http://ronschefflerfm.s3.amazonaws.com/fmgxr/20120220/20120220_0007.jpg
http://ronschefflerfm.s3.amazonaws.com/fmgxr/20120220/20120220_0009.jpg
http://ronschefflerfm.s3.amazonaws.com/fmgxr/20120220/20120220_0036.jpg
http://ronschefflerfm.s3.amazonaws.com/fmgxr/20120220/20120220_0039.jpg
I really like the 21mm equivalent focal length, and really like the overall image quality of the CV15 on the GXR... but the one thing I would love, is faster than f/4.5.... f/2.8 would be OK, but f/2 would be better... it's one aspect of the Fuji XP1 that is appealing - they apparently plan to release a 14mm, which one rep stated in an online interview will be f/1.4, which I kind of doubt... but still, if it's between f/2-2.8, it would be interesting.
I used the GXR for the first time in what I would consider a 'real' shooting environment, during the Fasching (Carnival) festivities here in Munich. The camera is nearly there for my needs, but the lock-up after each shot to clear the buffer was killing me today. Even though it's only one second or so, there were numerous situations where I would have taken a second picture within a second had the camera allowed me to do so. Instead I set it to continuous advance and would fire off 3-4 frame sequences, but then I would have to wait 6-8 seconds for the buffer and miss a whole bunch of other stuff. Obviously, it was necessary to anticipate and time shots more carefully. Sometimes this worked, other times not, which was understandable with the fluidly changing environment. Again, I loved the size of the camera, but some of the button placement was a bit too tight for easy adjustment while wearing (relatively thin) gloves. I mostly shot with the CV12, and some with the CV15, both at f/8 and used zone focus with the very deep depth of field and just guessed framing. I tried some shallow depth of field shots with the CV50 f/1.5, but it was really tough to nail precise focus when people were moving around. I still think the M's rangefinder patch is better for this, where with some practice I'm able to follow focus people walking towards me at wider apertures. For a general walk-around camera though, the GXR is excellent. For me it just needs more speed - faster buffer, no lock up to clear the buffer, immediate wake, very fast readiness for the next shot, etc. A higher rez sensor would also be nice. (sorry to beat a dead horse with these points - just hoping someone from Ricoh reads this thread and takes note of our suggestions/requests)
I did about 725 images with the GXR over the course of about 7 hours and went through 2.5 batteries, which was better than I expected, considering it was around freezing and I had the camera set to never power off, but sleep was set at one minute. It's about the same as the M9's battery use in similar situations.
|
