Sunday 26 October 2008

Candlelight

GX100, f4.4, 1/2, ISO 400, 72mm

This is a heavy crop from a picture I took today in a pub with the GX100. The rest of the picture just did not work but I love the light and expression.

The GX100 is a great camera but the very slow lens at 50mm and 72mm is a big problem and why I prefer the GRDs with 40mm adapter. This is also one of the reasons people are interested in the Panasonic LX3. The lens might have massive barrel distortion and fringing problems but these are fixed by the software before you see them and the lens is still very bright. Why I just can't live with the handling of the LX3, I hope Ricoh can improve the GX series to include a fast f2 or f2.4 lens going from 21mm-90mm without making the camera bigger. A lot of people want bigger sensors in cameras but for me the most important aspect is a fast lens. This would actually benefit my photography more than any big sensor since I don't care about noise-free images, tiny details or shallow DOF (unless I'm using macro mode).

5 comments:

  1. Great capture - I agree with you, the light and expression makes the picture.

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  2. Thanks for your comment yesbuts!

    If you compare this picture with the one I took recently with the RD1 you will see the difference in the way a small sensor and big sensor 'draw' a similar scene. None is better or worse, just different.

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  3. I agree, a bigger sensor would be nice but a fast f2 would pretty much keep me quiet. :)

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  4. I agree that a fast lens is probably the most important thing for low light photography. For me personally the 50mm and up have never been an issue since I don't use those focal lengths on my GX200. Just mostly 28 and 35mm, and sometimes 24mm.

    I don't care about noise too (although I don't like blotchy noise, because it limits the post processing). But I would love to have the possibility for shallow DOF for creative purposes.

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  5. I think the fast lens is more than anything else what really has people interested in the LX3. This should be the first thing on the list for Ricoh to improve.

    Wouter, I think for me the reason I mostly user 50mm and above with the GX cameras is that for anything else I could use my GRD so I like the change of perspective.
    I like shallow DOF but find most of the time it limits me more than anything else, especially if it makes the fast apretures unusable for street photography. It's good to have the choice but for a low light camera I would want a very fast lens and a small sensor (the GRD I with a f1 lens would be perfect for me).

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