My Blog

My thoughts on the Ricoh GXR Mount A12

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 20:44:55 -0800

Focus
The camera has two major contrast-assist modes for focusing, both based on peak contrast. The one I used the most was Mode 1, which displays a white highlight around the edges of the areas in focus. Mode 2 changes the display to an all-gray image that looks like a solarized image, and also displays the in focus elements with a white edge. In Mode 2 the image switches to full color when you half-depress the shutter, but I found it distracting to see the image without color when focusing--even though I found Mode 2 to be a bit more precise.

You can also configure the image to zoom in on a portion of the final image by holding the Menu/OK button for a few seconds. It will display a zoomed image, and you can configure the zoom level. I personally found the zoomed image to be of too low resolution to really help with focusing except with longer focal lengths. Its also a pain to switch to the zoomed mode, and the zoomed portion takes up a significant portion of the final image, interfering with composition. It would be nice if you could program the zoom toggle switch under your thumb or one of the two scroll wheels to perform this function--it would make the function much more accessible and easier to turn on and off. As these buttons/dials are all highly programmable, I found it surprising that I couldn’t program them for this function. This could be addressed in a firmware update.

User Interface
I have always found the user interface on most digital cameras to be far too complicated. This is an area where a company like Apple would come up with something simple and intuitive, but for now we’re stuck with overly complex sets of nested menus. The GXR is no exception. While I love playing around with settings more than the average person, I found the UI to be cluttered and difficult to use. Many settings are buried several layers deep, and sometimes are poorly labeled. The documentation is minimal, so you have to be willing to explore and see what happens. This is particularly true when saving lens profiles. I found it far too easy to save over top of profiles when I didn’t want to, and then when I wanted to erase one, I couldn’t find a way to do so.

The primary positive to the complicated UI is that it contains a huge wealth of customizable parameters. If you have the patience to dig around, you can find a way to change most any setting you would like. This includes a large number of creative settings for jpeg image creation. You can tweak and adjust settings for black and white and sepia-toned images, or create your own custom image adjustment parameters.

Ergonomics/Usability
The camera is nicely made, although a bit bland in appearance. Like all Ricoh cameras it’s very blocky and to my eye, rather homely. Even though its well-made, it has a cheap appearance. That said, it handles very well when shooting, so its a case of function over form.

The MY1-MY3 settings on the dial are very useful for programming the camera for certain functions. I set them all to be used with different lenses, so I could quickly switch a lens and the dial and be assured that the correct lens adjustments and EXIF data would result.

The screen is very nice and sharp, and plenty bright enough for daylight use. When reviewing images, you can quickly cycle through a variety of display modes to show image parameters. The color is quite good, and the screen adjusts to match the image profile you have selected--a unique feature I quite liked. For example, if you set the image output to “Vivid,” the screen shows a remarkably good preview of what the final vivid jpeg will look like.

21mm M-Mount Lenses on the M9

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 21:28:20 -0700

There is an interestingly broad selection of lenses in the 21mm focal length for M-mount cameras. Neither Canon nor Nikon make 21mm primes for their SLR’s, and both only have one similar prime in 20mm. The Leica M user has a broad selection of 21mm lenses in current production: From Leica we have the 21mm f/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH., the 21mm f/2.8 Elmarit-M ASPH. and the 16-18-21mm f/4 Tri-Elmar-M ASPH. (popularly known as the WATE), while Zeiss offers the Zeiss 21mm f/4.5 C Biogon T* ZM and the 21mm f/2.8 Biogon T* ZM; finally Voigtländer has the 21mm f/4P Color Skopar. It’s an embarrassment of riches--and that’s not even counting the older discontinued lenses in the focal length that are still 100% compatible with the M9.

But how do you chose one for your use? There’s a wide range of prices, from the eye-watering $6,495 for the 21mm Summilux, to the bargain-priced Voigtländer at $419. Obviously, if you need speed, the Summilux is the only choice--in fact, it’s the only f/1.4 21mm lens, period. But at f/2.8 and f/4, you have several choices, and the price range is still pretty broad--the Elmarit-M ASPH sells for $4,395, and the Zeiss f/2.8 Biogon lists at $1,340 (Interestingly enough, while checking prices just now I see that B&H lists the Elmarit-M ASPH. as “Discontinued” and Adorama doesn’t have it on their site--but Leica still lists it, and some resellers still have it in stock). Similar choices exist at f/4.

I decided to compare a few of these lenses that I have on hand. While I would have liked to include the Zeiss lenses, I didn’t have easy access to any copies for inclusion in this testing. I have briefly shot with the both of them, and I can say that the 21/2.8 is excellent, and can be used with ease on the M9, whereas the 21/4.5 suffers from some very strong red edge effects. Perhaps I can get copies of these lenses in the future and update this review. Following is the comparison shot I was able to do, using the Voigtländer 21mm, the Leica Elmarit-M ASPH. and the WATE. As with all of these comparison images, click on the image to go the Flickr page that with the “Large” image, and then select the link for “Original” size to see the 100% pixel-level comparisons:

UPDATE: Ultra-fast 50mm lenses on the Leica M9

Sat, 5 Feb 2011 15:24:05 -0800

Update
Last September, I wrote up a review of the current crop of production M-Mount Ultra-Fast 50MM lenses on the M9. However, there was one small flaw in the review: The comparison image was actually shot on an M8.2. This means that extreme corner performance in a full-frame camera was not adequately tested. I also got a lot of requests to include a copy of the previous-generation Leica f/1 Noctilux. So, to rectify the problem, and to meet the requests, I reached out again to Stephen Gandy of Cameraquest who loaned me another copy of the Voigtländer 50mm f/1.1 Nokton. He was also kind enough to loan me his personal copy of the previous-generation Leica 50mm f/1 Noctilux (pre-ASPH).

With both of these lenses in hand, I repeated the comparison image, using my brick wall/foliage combination. I want to repeat what I have said in my other reviews: This is not meant to be scientific test. It is a controlled test, as each lens is shot under the exact same conditions, on the exact same camera, at the exact same settings. A few things to know: The old Noctilux was not coded, so I manually set the code in the M9. Having tested it before, I know the same code always works best for the Nokton, so it was used there as well. The Noctilux had the M9 set to automatically recognize its 6-bit code. So, without further ado, let’s get to the image. As always, click on it and you’ll go to the large-sized image on Flickr; you can then choose to see the full-sized image which will give you 100% pixel-level comparisons. To see the full-sized image, click on the link labeled “Original” in the upper right.

Ultra-fast 50mm lenses on the Leica M9

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 10:07:06 -0700

Introduction: The Need for Speed
Ultra-fast lenses for 35mm format cameras have been around for over 50 years. Initially they were designed to allow photographers to shoot in low light conditions with the slower ISO speed films common at that time. Low-light shooting is still a primary use of ultra-fast lenses even in this age of unbelievably high ISO values and digital cameras, but over time photographers also fell in love with the unique looks that these lenses can provide. Some of these lenses, like the Canon 50mm f/0.95 from 1960? provide a very soft and dreamy look wide open. Others, like the Leica 50mm f/1 Noctilux provide a sharper plane of focus, but still have a soft glow that is appreciated for the character it can impart to images. Wide open, all of the fast normal lenses (50mm or so) can create a subject isolation that gives all of these lenses a unique perspective. This article will cover two very recently released fast 50mm lenses, both designed for the Leica M mount: The Voigtländer 50mm f/1.1 Nokton and the Leica 50mm f/0.95 Noctilux, both released in 2008.

The Speed King: Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH
The Leica Noctilux-M 50mm f/0.95 ASPH was announced in 2008 but didn’t ship in any appreciable quantities until mid-2009. It represents the pinnacle of Leica’s lens-making expertise, and at $10,450 it also commands a breathtaking price. With eight elements in five groups, and exotic glasses designed by Leica just for this lens, this is a complicated lens; with the large size of the elements required for this lens its also quite large and heavy, weighing in at approximately 700g. The lens includes a pair of aspherical elements to deliver the highest level of sharpness, and uses a floating element to eliminate focus shift. The fit and finish of the lens are superb, as with all Leica lenses. The aperture click stops are very firm, and include half stops. Because of the extremely razor-thin DOF of this lens when wide open, Leica has designed it with an long focus throw.

Optically the lens is superb: wide open the performance is better than many other lenses when they are stopped down. It is extremely sharp at the plane of focus with excellent contrast. Stopped down to f/1.4, it easily matches the performance of the legendary Leica Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH. The bokeh is very smooth and the plane of focus rolls off very quickly into the bokeh, providing a very well-defined plane of focus. While the lens does not exhibit any chromatic aberration at the plane of focus, like nearly every fast lens, it does exhibit longitudinal chromatic aberration (LoCA). The LoCA will show up as reddish-magenta fringes on bright objects in front of the plan of focus and bluish-cyan fringes behind the plane of focus; because they are out of the plane of focus, they are quite diffuse and are rarely objectionable.

A year with digital rangefinders

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 13:00:31 -0700

Introduction: The Quest
Those of you who know me know that I travel quite a bit for work. I really enjoy the travel and also enjoy photography; mixing the two has always been both a pleasure and a challenge. I love to shoot fast lenses to use DOF for isolation effects; this ruled out the use of compact P&S cameras. With their small sensors and lenses that are rarely faster than f/2.8, they just weren’t suitable. Add in the fact that I also love night photography--so I wanted a large sensor with high image quality--and my options seemed to be limited to DSLR’s. The challenge was that I wanted a portable kit for travel. I tried building a “compact” DLSR kit using a Canon Rebel XTi and some small primes, but it was still fairly large. I then tried using a micro-4/3 camera (the Olympus E-P1) but the limited choice of fast lenses and the still-too-small sensor made them less than desirable.

This led me to try manual-focus M-mount lenses on the Olympus EP-1; at least I could get fast lenses even if they were manual-focus only. While I liked the results, the crop factor was a challenge, and manual focus on the E-P1 was less than ideal. One day I realized that maybe I should just try using the M-mount lenses on the camera they were designed for: a Leica M. Specifically, a digital M, as I am just not interested in film anymore. Been there, done that, and it was a pain.

After some intensive research, I decided to give the Leica M8.2 a try and located a mint-condition used camera here in LA (it was the singer Seal’s camera). That was late July 2009, and I immediately fell in love. I began to explore the huge selection of M-mount lenses from Voigtländer and Leica, and just six weeks after I got the M8.2, the M9 was announced. I managed to buy the very first M9 put up for sale on eBay in the first week of November 2009 (getting a good price before the eBay prices for M9‘s skyrocketed). The love affair deepened--I had found what I had been looking for--the ultimate compact travel camera kit: a compact camera with superb image quality, a large sensor, and superb fast lenses.

What do I have in my bag?
So, after a little more than a year with digital M’s and after trying out lots of lenses, what do I have in my bag today? While I have owned and enjoyed nearly all of the Cosina-Voigtländer lenses, I currently only have two: The delightful and unique 12mm f/5.6 Ultra Wide Heliar, and the unique 40mm f/1.4 Nokton. I am awaiting delivery of the new 75mm f/1.8 Heliar in the next month or so. My Leica lenses include the Wide-Angle Tri-Elmar-M, the 21mm f/2.8 Elmarit-M ASPH, the 24mm f/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH, the 28-25-50mm Tri-Elmar-M, the 35mm f/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH, the 50mm f/0.95 Noctilux-M ASPH, the 50mm f/1.4 Summilux ASPH, the 75mm f/1.4 Summilux-M, the 75mm f/2 APO-Summicron-M ASPH, the 90mm f/2 APO-Summicron-M ASPH and the 135mm f/3.4 APO-Telyt-M ASPH.

It’s a broad selection of lenses, designed to cover all of the common focal lengths, and generally with the fastest prime lens available. The two exceptions are the 21mm, where I passed on the larger, heavier and more expensive Summilux, and the 28mm length, which I found I never used as it was too close to the 24mm, so I sold the 28mm Summicron. I have redundancy at 50mm and 75mm, where the Noctilux and Summilux are special use lenses. The Noctilux is used for extreme low-light photography, or where I want strong subject isolation in a “normal” perspective. The 75mm Summilux is a superb portrait lens; the “Mandler glow” has a very pleasing effect in portraits, as demonstrated by my daughter:

VOIGTLANDER ULTRA-WIDES ON THE LEICA DIGITAL M CAMERAS

Sat, 31 Jul 2010 19:27:40 -0700

Introduction: The Problem
While Leica produces a wide selection of wonderful lenses, Leica does not provide a wonderful selection of wide lenses. In fact, there are only two current lenses from Leica wider than 21mm: The 16-18-21mm f/4 Tri-Elmar-M and the 18mm f/3.8 Super-Elmar-M. If you want to go wider, you have to look to either Zeiss or Cosina-Voigtländer.

Because the Leica digital M’s apply corrections to image files based on the lens attached, non-Leica lenses can present some problems with color shifts (specifically a cyan shift shift in the corners, and on the M9 a shift where the left side of the image moves towards red, while the right shifts towards cyan). This problem is especially prominent on wide lenses, and can render the images unusable in many conditions. So what is a Leica digital M shooter to do for ultra-wide angle shooting? Don’t fear, there is a solution at hand.

The Solution: CornerFix
The problems with wide angle lenses and Leica cameras started with the M8, where the corners would drift towards cyan with wide lenses. Fortunately, Sandy McGuffog put together a fabulous software utility to deal with the problem--CornerFix (there are both Windows and Mac OS X versions). Within just a few weeks of the release of the Leica M9, Sandy had released a new version of his utility that corrected the red edge problems of the M9. Unfortunately, using CornerFix is a bit challenging--the documentation is sparse, and the program is not intuitive enough for most people to figure out on their own (although to be fair, if you take the time to read the accompanying documentation, it is very helpful). This article will describe how to use CornerFix properly with the Leica digital M’s and the Voigtländer 12mm and 15mm wide-angle lenses.

The most important aspect of using CornerFix is getting a good profile of your lens-camera combination. CornerFix is so accurate that while a generic lens profile can work, the best results will come from a profile of your specific equipment. While a variety of approaches will work, the most important thing to keep in mind when generating your profile is that you want the lighting to be a even as possible. While this sounds easy, its much harder than you think. My preferred method is to use a large piece of white poster board. This is readily available at most craft and hobby shops, and is very cheap. I set the poster board outside in a location with shaded diffuse light; in my case the shaded side of my house in the early afternoon has a very diffuse lighting that works perfectly.
 It’s important to expose correctly so that you don’t have a noisy image to use for your profile. Given that the meter will tend to underexpose pure white, I shoot my profiles at +2EV. Set the camera lens at f/8 and set the focus at infinity (although the focus doesn’t really matter). Hold the camera close enough to the poster board to ensure that the entire image is pure white, but not so close as to cause any shading or shadows.

A good profile image will look something like this, taken with the Voigtländer 12mm f/5.6 Aspherical Ultra-Wide Heliar:

Back in NYC After Nearly 25 Years

Wed, 2 Jul 2008 22:15:27 -0700

This past Sunday I flew to New York City for two days of meetings with a major client. Oddly enough, with all of my travels for work in the last five years, I have not been to NYC since I was in junior high school. If I recall correctly, the last time I was in NYC was 1984 or 1985, on a school trip. The thing I recall most vividly about that trip was going up in the World Trade Center and the amazing views of the city. I also remember getting kicked out of Trump Tower by security for playing tag on the escalators, but that’s another story.

I am sure that nearly everyone in the United States--and in many other parts of the world--can remember exactly what they were doing when they first heard about the attacks of September 11, 2001. I was driving to work when the first plane hit. Initially it was portrayed as an accident, but I recall my first thought being that it seemed awfully unlikely, so I immediately turned on the TV when I got to my office, and spent the entire day glued to the TV, watching history in real time. I remember feeling an empty knot in the pit of my stomach that whole day.

Monday evening, I was at an event in the executive boardroom at the top of One Wall Street. It has a spectacular view of the city, and while I was looking out I immediately noticed Ground Zero. I was overcome with the same feeling I had on September 11--a knot in my stomach--only this time I realized it was a feeling of loss. Loss of an amazing part of the NYC skyline, loss of thousands of lives, and loss of a certain sense of life we were able to enjoy here in the United States for a long time. We had come to feel somewhat invulnerable, even though we weren’t. This made us seem vulnerable. We are vulnerable.

Oslo, Norway

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 13:59:54 -0700

Well, this weekend I notched another Nordic country on my list. This was my first visit to Norway. I have a client meeting on Monday, so I came to Oslo on Friday night, rather than spend the weekend in my rented flat in London. The weather was predicted to be miserable--cold and rainy--but I got lucky and the rain broke Friday evening, and it stayed clear on Saturday. Sunday was not as lucky, with rain all day, but Saturday was glorious. I did manage to get in some decent photography of the city on Saturday, and my photos can be seen on my Flickr account.

Oslo is a very nice city, but surprisingly small. Norway itself is a small country, with a population of only 4.7 million people; nearly one million of those live in the greater Oslo area, with about 570,000 officially living in Oslo. It has lots of green space, and lots of water as it is located on a fjord (I had to find a way to slip that word in there). While a lot of history survives, it also has a lot of more modern buildings mixed in. So far my favorite Scandinavian city is Stockholm, as the old city is quite separated from the new--and I am a big fan of history.

Speaking of history, I was able to walk around the University campus a bit in Oslo. This is where Kristian Birkeland, a remarkable Norwegian scientist, taught and conducted much of his research. I first learned of Birkeland in the outstanding book by Lucy Jago, “The Northern Lights: The True Story of the Man Who Unlocked the Secrets of the Aurora Borealis.” My wife bought me the book for Christmas 2001, and it helped spark a love of aurora that I still pursue. If you are looking for an excellent science biography that will teach you quite a few things about the history and politics of science, I highly recommend this book. It is one of the best I have read in a long time. Birkeland’s likeness can be found on the Norwegian 200 Kroner note, which is beautifully made.

Oslo was also home to Edvard Munch, famous for his painting “The Sream.” There are actually two copies of this painting, one in the Munch Museum and one in the National Gallery. Ironically, both have been stolen and recovered, roughly one decade apart. I went to the National Gallery today--a great pastime on a rainy day--and saw The Scream. I am not a huge art fan; I like art, but I don’t go out of my way to see every art gallery at hand. However, it is a unique experience to see a famous painting in person. The Scream is much more roughly and quickly rendered than you might imagine from the images you see in print or online. It has a disturbing quality to it, which is partly what makes it so well-known, but the effect is amplified in person.

My other big outing today was to the Vigeland Sculpture Park. This is where the famous sculpture by Gustav Vigeland, “The Monolith,” can be found. Its huge, and has a very distinctive style. I recall first seeing pictures of this as a young boy. One of the interesting advantages of traveling Europe for work is getting to see so many things I have only ever seen in print or online. Unfortunately, the rain and gray skies made for less than ideal photography of The Monolith, but it was an impressive site nonetheless.

Tomorrow I have to get some work done, and then I return to London--and back to the states later this week. This was a great trip to Europe, and I tied up a lot of loose ends for work--and also got to visit two new countries. Not a bad month, but I am eager to be back home with Carolyn and Maren.

The Top of London

Thu, 5 Jun 2008 14:24:57 -0700

Today looked to be a fabulous day in London; sunny skies and lovely temperatures. Back in February, my London staff and I had discussed going up to the top of Tower 42 where there is a champagne bar called Vertigo 42; however, we decided to wait until summer so we could enjoy the daytime view. With today’s weather, I decided it would be a perfect day, so after work we headed off for a few hours of enjoying the view and the champagne. Apart from pure fun, we were also celebrating the recent release of a version of our software that has been quite successful.

The view is remarkable; you can see all of London stretching out below you. Personally, however, I enjoyed being able to see the top of the Gherkin. Londoners call the Swiss Re Tower the Gherkin due to its distinctive shape. There are other, less family-friendly names for it as well...but let’s just call it the Gherkin.

Anyway, the space at the top is remarkably small, and quite tight, as there is less than perhaps ten feet between the interior wall and the glass curtain. The shape is basically a corridor that goes around about half of the exterior of one portion of the tower. Its a great location to sit with a group of friends, as its quiet and intimate, but you have to get reservations in advance, due to the limited space. If you are in London, and have time, I highly recommend it. Next up, a visit at night time for the view of London at night. Should be spectacular.

It’s Been an Interesting Six Months

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 16:19:58 -0700

Well, life changes fast. About ten days after I penned my last blog entry, the head of European operations for the product I am working on announced that she was leaving the firm we both work at. In order to ensure a smooth transition, I took off on less than a week’s notice for Europe, and have spent most of the last five months here.

My home base has been London, where we have our primary European office. I have kept a flat over near St. Paul’s Cathedral, and have gotten very familiar with the City of London proper. If I ever had to live in a big city (and not in the suburbs), London would be my first choice. It’s a wonderfully diverse city with fabulous history. I hope to bring Carolyn back here with me later this summer when I return for some more client meetings.

My travels have taken me all over Europe; for example, this past weekend was spent in Copenhagen, Denmark. Copenhagen is a very nice city, but doesn’t have quite the same historical feeling as some European cities, although I really enjoyed visiting it nonetheless. I have been to Zurich several times, and while in Switzerland I visited Lausanne, Lucern, Lenzburg and Basel. The cities in Switzerland are incredibly clean and filled with wonderful historical buildings. It’s quite easy to travel around Switzerland as the train service is exceptional, although its not cheap. Stockholm is a beautiful city; if you can visit only one city in Scandinavia, I would highly recommend it. The old city of Stockholm is unique and has to be seen to be fully appreciated. Athens is disappointingly dirty, although the amount of ancient history there is amazing--even if you know about it, somehow it still has the power to fill you with wonder about the history of mankind. Milan is chaotic and also dirty, but the food is excellent. Dublin has good food, but is a very drab industrial city. Next up is Oslo. Overall, its very interesting how much diversity in cultures you can encounter with just a short plane trip in Europe; I have particularly enjoyed getting to learn about each culture I have visited, and have enjoyed sampling the local cuisine. Our clients have been excellent hosts, and have all take the time to help me learn more about their city and country.

Fortunately, I have now located someone to run our European operations, so my time here will start to wind down to a more manageable load. It has been tough to be away from my family and my team in Santa Monica for so long (although I did come back to California for three visits). Carolyn and Maren have been real troopers, and we have been able to use modern technology--iChat on the Macs--to keep in touch with videoconferencing.

On the home front, I was able to be home for Maren’s second California piano recital. As always, she did very well and didn’t make one mistake. She is terribly cute in her fancy dress and shoes, and is very serious while she curtseys and then plays. Carolyn has had some very interesting changes in her job as well, and while its been stressful, she has also gotten a nice promotion, and with some other changes can now enjoy her job even more.

When I was back in Santa Monica in late April and early May, I finally got to get my dream car--a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S. More on that later, but it sure does make the drive down the canyon much more fun.

That’s about it for now...I am going to try and keep the blog a bit more up to date. I wanted to update it while I was traveling in Europe, but I had a problem with iWeb and had to recreate the entire site (hence the counters are all off).