Focus on Imaging 2009

This year the 'Focus on Imaging' exhibition celebrated it's 20th year. It was not quite as glamorous though since there was little new to see from the manufacturers. It was a good opportunity to get some hands-on with some cameras but overall there was nothing very exciting.

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Triangle

R10, f4.8, 1/470, ISO 80, JPG 1:1

Today Ricoh has announced the new Ricoh CX1 camera. This is a new camera series that seems to follow the R10 and is aimed at consumers. It has some interesting specs with a 9.29MP 1/2.3″ CMOS sensor and a new high resolution LCD screen offering 920,000 pixels at VGA resolution (!!), 4 fps continuous shooting and in-camera HDR.
I was disapointed to see that there are no manual modes or RAW though. It looks very interesting though and will be worth a look. Need to ask Ricoh if I can get a review model.
I did not have time to take pictures but looking through Rui's photos on Flickr and with the CX1 looking like a R10 successor I ´went along and took a few abstract pictures with the R10. This is the one I like best because it's simple, although it is not really as good as Rui's work.

Ricoh R10 Testbericht - Teil 2

In Teil 1 des Ricoh R10 Tests habe ich mir die Verarbeitung und die Bedienung der Kamera angeschaut. Aber wie sieht es mit der Benutzung im Alltag aus? Glücklicherweise folgt die R10 die Tradition von Ricoh, Kameras herzustellen die man mit Freude nutzt. Dies ist für mich die wichtigste Eigenschaft an einer Kamera und wichtiger als irgendwelche mehr oder minder sinnlose Funktionen, denn letztendlich sind Funktionen nicht wichtig um gute oder interessante Fotos zu machen. Die Kamera sollte aber dennoch eine gute Bildqualität bieten und auch schnell genug sein um keine Gelegenheit zu verpassen.
Wie schneidet die R10 in dieser Hinsicht aus?

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Ricoh R10 Testbericht - Teil 1

Wer nach einer Kompaktkamera sucht hat es nicht leicht, es gibt mehr Auswahl als man möchte und es ist leicht den Überblick zu verlieren unter den ganzen Modellen der verschiedenen Hersteller. Die meissten Modelle unterscheiden sich nur in den verfügbaren Farbvariationen oder den verfügbaren Szenen die mehr oder minder nützlich ausfallen. Unter all diesen Kameras finden sich nur wenige wirklich interessante und aussergewöhnliche Modelle, eines davon is die Ricoh R10.

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Window

R10, f4.1, 1/570, ISO 80, JPG

After the yesterday's assignment it was time to take it easy and relax a bit today. I went for a walk around Blackheath since it was nice and sunny to take some pictures. I decided to take the R10 with me since it is small and different than the cameras I used yesterday. This picture shows the pretty good dynamic range the R10 has and that there is no fringing visible.

Ricoh R10 Review - Part 2

In Part 1 of the R10 review I looked at the build and controls but how is it to actually use the camera. Due to the excellent controls and great build it follows Ricoh's tradition of cameras one enjoys using. This for me is the most important thing and way more important than silly features and even more so than image quality since none of these are responsible for taking good or interesting pictures. Still, the image quality needs to be acceptable and the camera needs to be responsive enough to take the picture when you want it.
Read on to find out how the R10 fares in this respect.

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Ricoh R10 Review - Part 1

If you are looking to buy a compact point and shoot camera you probably have more choice than you would like and can easily be overwhelmed with all the models by the different manufacturers. Most of these camera models differ only in the colors available or will mostly offer you more or less completely obscure scene modes. In the midst of all these cameras you will find only a few really interesting and unique cameras and one of them is the Ricoh R10.
It is a small point and shoot camera with a very versatile 7.1x 28-200mm zoom lens, great build quality and very good controls. Be warned though that it is not a simple point and shoot where you just press the button and get great pictures. Ricoh has this to say about the R10: "A camera to realize the photographer's intent." So while the R10 might have an 'Easy' mode on the dial, to get the most out of it you need to have a basic understanding of how a camera works or at least be prepared to make some adjustments. If you do however take the time to learn how to make some basic adjustments, it will reward you and your pictures will look much better. I had the camera for a while now and really enjoy using it, it has some limitations but which camera doesn't.

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Ricoh R10 Review

If you've been reading my blog for a while you know that I really enjoyed using the Ricoh R10 and think it's a very nice camera. It is in my opinion the best R series camera so far and one of the best built cameras from Ricoh.
It follows Ricoh's tradition of cameras you enjoy using. This for me is the most important thing and way more important than silly features and even than image quality since none of these take good or interesting pictures. Read my full review of it here.

Time

R10, f5.2, 1/25, ISO 400, JPG, 200mm

This is the last post and picture for the year.

Happy New Year to all and thank you for following my blog!!
Have a great time and all the best for the new year. Enjoy the celebrations and keep taking pictures.

Flying By

R10, f8.1, 1/1250, ISO 100, JPG

Been out today during lunch to take more pictures with the R10. It was a cold but sunny day so great for taking pictures. After all the recent color pictures I decided to use a b&w picture for today.

December Sun

R10, f5.1, 1/800, ISO 100, JPG

Took this picture on my way to work this morning while walking across London Bridge. This is a picture where the R10 was best due to the extra zoom. I cropped it to the 16:9 format since it reminds me a bit of a scene from a Michael Bay movie.
Changed the levels in Photo Shop and used the highlight recovery tool but did not change much else. Turning sharpening down to -1, contrast to +2 and color depth to +1 gives great results with the R10 as long as you don't underexpose much. RAW would be great to have or the option to turn the noise reduction completely off.

Richmond Park Standoff

R10, f4.5, 1/200, ISO 80, JPG, 200mm

A very nice and cold day so perfect for another walk in Richmond park. Today, I had the R10 with me and it allowed for better pictures of the deer. I am still quite pleased with the R10 and think it performs excellent if you watch your exposure and use the right settings. If Ricoh could add RAW via firmware it would be the perfect companion to a GRD or GX. My full review will be up in the next days.

Neighbourhood Watch

R10, f4.9, 1/90, ISO 200, JPG

Quick update today as I haven't been taking that many pictures. I see E.T. every day on my way home and always thought to take a picture but never got round to do it. Today I had the R10 with me and decided to take the picture and see how it comes out. It is not as I hoped for but at least now it's done and I can walk past without thinking how it would look in a picture.

Sleeping

R10, f4.8, 1/4, ISO 400, JPG, 200mm

Quick update today with another soft and out of focus R10 picture. It's nothing wrong with the camera and it can deliver sharp and in focus pictures but my choice of using it, this in case you wonder.

Face

R10, f4.8, 1/97, ISO 80, JPG, 200mm

Last day in HK, flight back is tomorrow morning so a quick update today to bring my blog up to date again.
Went to Lantau Island again but did not climb the peak this time, just visited the big Buddha and monastery. They had a festival so it was very nice to take pictures. Used the R10 and GX200 only. Both did a good job but the display freeze and shutter lag on the R10 makes it almost impossible to use for fast changing shots.
The picture is from one of the statues there, I wanted something different for today. This is unprocessed straight out of the camera and looks exactly as I wanted it to, including the blur and softness.

Rowing in Guangzhou

R10, f5.2, 1/125, ISO 80, JPG, 200mm

After the factory tour yesterday I decided to spend the day in Guangzhou. It is a crazy place and people are everywhere. This gave me the opportunity to take some of my best street shots. I know that this is a different picture and more a canal shot ;). The reason I chose this is because it is a stark contrast to the rest of my pictures as it's more calm and has warmer colors but also because it is a picture taken with the R10. You can find all other pictures as usual in the Dropbox gallery.
The R10 is very nice and capable but just does not work as well for me. The massive zoom is too much and the lens not fast enough. It is however very versatile and well built so I like using it.

School's Out

R10, f4.2, 1/150, ISO 80, JPG

Not much time for photography today and I also had to finish my report about the Ricoh meetup yesterday. So only a quick picture to showcase a bit the dynamic range of the R10. I am really impressed with it and after seeing the brown/bronze R10 yesterday I want one just because it looks so cool. Wish Ricoh would release a firmware to include RAW and manual controls, the joystick on the R10 is wastly superior to the fiddly one found on the LX3 so it could work very well.

Little Poledancer

R10, f5.2, 1/25, ISO 800, JPG, 200mm

Took this while having coffee at Canary Wharf. The 200mm zoom of the R10 allowed me to take it without having to crop it massively. I did nothice one thing, the lens is too slow at 200mm and it takes me to long to adapt to this massive zoom so I always get lost and have to find where I am to compose my shot. I would say everything over 90mm is a bit of overkill for me and I am also too detached from the scene to take any really good pictures of people. I really need to try some wildlife photography with the R10 and I also have a particular project in mind but need to find the time for it.

London skEYE

R10, f7.1, 1 sec., ISO 80, JPG

Been to the Landscape Photographer of the Year 2008 exhibition as recommended by Yesbuts. There are some really cool photos there with great colorful and very detailed landscapes. Still, for me the best photos are a few grainy b&w and sepia pictures. Having been a bit inspired I went out and tried some cityscape pictures with the R10. This while different is my favorite although not as detailed as I would have liked.

St. Paul's

R10, f5.6, 1/760, ISO 80, JPG

There are some days when I'm very inspired and take lots of pictures and like quite a few of them. Then there are days when I am not very inspired or don't have time to take pictures. While I had enough time today and went for a walk to take pictures with both the R10 and GX200, I did not take many pictures and most are pretty bad or at best average.
Take this picture for example, it has very nice colors but is aside from that more a typical tourist snapshot so not very arty or interesting as such. Then again, I took it with the R10 and it is nice to use it sometimes in pure point and shoot mode and be like a tourist. The geek in me is now more interested to see how the picture came out, it is the best case scenario for the R10 or any camera. It is taken in bright light, at base ISO with a fast shutter speed so it should show what the R10 can do best. I based the image parameters on Pavel's recommended settings for the R8/10 (Contrast +2, Sharpening -1 and Color Depth +1). I think the result is very good and as usual the colors came out very well. This is one of the reasons I prefer Ricoh cameras over any Nikon, Fuji, Canon and the likes, the colors are just more natural and not over the top saturated.