best Ricoh for Macro - quick&dirty test ;)

[odklizec]

I was interested to see which of the current Ricoh cameras is most suitable for Macro work. So I did this quick and dirty test I selected the best results from several trials. With CX2 and S10 I tried Macro at 50mm and longest zoom, which is 300mm for CX2 and 72mm for S10. As you can see in below 100% crops, CX2 at 300mm is not very usable. But CX2 at 50mm is surprisingly good!

Here are some observations:
- CX2 and later (including GXR P10) is equipped with excellent Focus bracketing feature. Very useful for Macro work!
- A12 is really not easy to focus and keep in focus, especially handheld.
- A12 have a great advantage of clean high ISO.
- GRDIII is traditionally good in Macro. It works very good despite the different focal length.
- S10 provides greatest magnification from all tested cameras, but the pixel level quality is not that great.


Full resolution JPEGs + RAWs (when applicable) can be downloaded here:
http://www.kudrys.com/files/macro_test.zip

 

[thelps]

I think the A12 is the winner here IQ wise, but considering the price point the CX1 is hard beat for macro.

 

[tolomea]

I think the A12 is the winner here IQ wise

I'm not convinced. Since the effective magnification is the point here, I think to judge fairly you really need to enlarge them all up to the size of the largest (so the S10@72mm) and then compare them.

Also I would really like to see the CX zoom macro mode, but I guess it's too late to add one to the set.

P.S. Thanks so much for putting this together, I can do the comparisons and draw my own conclusions, but I just don't have access to all the cameras.

 

[NKO]

Thanks for sharing the testing result Pavel.. Just out of interest... what is it that you were taking pictures of.....?????

 

[odklizec]

Also I would really like to see the CX zoom macro mode, but I guess it's too late to add one to the set.

P.S. Thanks so much for putting this together, I can do the comparisons and draw my own conclusions, but I just don't have access to all the cameras.

You are welcome Tolomea. I gave it a second try today and took few more samples. I hope to publish the crops later this week.

All I can tell you so far is that the CX2 Zoom Macro scene mode is nowhere as good and effective as using the camera in normal zoom mode set to 50mm. Also, in this second try, CX2 beats GXR A12 in magnification. But A12 still have an advantage of better image quality. I guess that upscaled A12 photo will easily match the CX2 magnification, without significant loose of image quality (especially if done from RAW). And one more observation, today's set of GRDIII photos shows much higher magnification and better image quality. Oh and did I mention that taking Macro with CX2 is a piece of cake, due its Focus Bracketing feature? I had much better success ratio with CX2 than with any other camera. Just because of Focus bracketing.