Has anyone tested this out the 47mm crop mode their updated GR? What is the resulting image size?
Sorry if this is a daft question but... when you use either crop mode, is it jpeg only? If shooting raw + jpg do you get the cropped jpeg and full-sized RAW?
I made this chart up this morning. I was trying to figure out what DOF advantage the 47mm crop had to my Nikon V1 w/ it's 18.5mm lens. Turns out, they're nearly identical in sensor size, and therefore produce very similar results (re: DOF) at f/2.8.
I think the sensor size of the GR still is APS-C with 47mm crop. So the DoF you'll get is narrower at f/2.8 with GR than with Nikon 1 V1 which has a 1" sensor.
The only way the sensor size could remain constant would be wth an optical zoom. The crop mode is doing a sensor crop, thus yielding a FOV approximation for the given crop value. And since the DNGs get written without the surrounding sensor data, these modes act as a true "smaller sensor". Less megapixels, tighter crop. The lens DOF will remain constant at 18.3mm f/2.8 regardless of the crop.
Of course, you can do crop in post process. But many people prefer to see the "cropped" view. It's the same why Ricoh enabled users to shot in 4:3 or 1:1. People simply prefer to compose the photo in a cropped mode view.
There's advantages to both methods, but I like the concept of being locked in to the crop. Digital makes it so easy to fix things, but sometimes it's nice to work within a set of constraints. Shoot JPEG, Crop, and lock ISO+WB and you're basically emulating film shooting.