Confessions of a Ricoh addict

[Tom Caldwell]

Over the first phase of "trick and treat" to multiple lenses.

I have spent a day with the Jupiter-8 50mm f2.0 then the Leica Summarit 50mm f2.0 then the Voigtlander 15mm f4.5. Today it is the turn of the Jupiter-9 85mm f2.0.

So far to my tired old eyes I have been amazed at just how well the J-8 has performed. Not only is it very sharp, but the sharpness runs right through to the distance and stands magnification very well. In comparison the LS-50 is also pretty good but possibly just a fraction harder to get to perfect focus. It would take a discerning eye indeed to pick them apart. But I will have a closer look when I get time.

The V-15 is also working well but possibly not as sharp at infinity, and of course i have not tried more than a couple of test shots with the J-9 yet but these are encouraging.

Meanwhile tested briefly over a number of lenses the camera is working very well and is addictive. I am managing quite well on lcd alone with the smaller lenses and the light situation has not been outside very bright light so it was quite do-able.

The fact that several lenses have worked very well and i have yet to use any special lens adjustments bodes well for Ricoh's successful design.

Less friendly right at the moment is the two stage screen enlarge process. Attaching the straight enlarge full screen to Fn1 or Fn2 is recommended - much more intuitive and easier to use. If you press the adj lever during this process or go directly to the screen enlarge via the focus point adjustment routine then good luck. The firmware there is unfinished business being a cut down subset of the rather useful version available for the full lens modules. Most of that process was made redundant by the M mount modules manual lens heritage. There is only one path through to moving the focus point (quite valuable in itself) but many menu paths to being left dangling with the initial screen enlargement. The only way out of this is apparently to press-hold OK for the full screen enlarge (from part screen), then press-hold OK to get back to the normal screen. Or switch the camera off and on. None of it intuitive and symptomatic of a bit of unfinished firmware. Making the internal stubs work with a lens module and modifiable to work smoothly for the m mount modules is probably devilish hard.

I have prepared my own little flow chart diagram for the way it appears to work and another which seemingly would be a nicer way. Will post them up just as soon as I can.

Meanwhile I expect we will see a firmware upgrade in due course to make this rough edge smoother.

Tom

 

[Tom Caldwell]

I am trying to upload the pdf files showing the current flow of actions on entering the target focus movement screen when using a GXR-M and a suggested improvement.

At present the "push-hold ok" function will start the part enlarge screen, follwed by pressing the adj lever it will then cross to the target focus movement screen similarly to directly entering it from the adj lever menu. Once inside this is looks as if it is just the lens-module version gutted of the redundant parts. As such it has a number of obsolete actions. furthermore it seems to have no means of exit other than to keep pressing "press-hold ok".

Tom

 

[Tom Caldwell]

This is a suggested modified flow chart which might be simpler and to the point.

Obviously there are big differences between making suggestions and making it work. It is sufficient that the present setup is not terribly smooth and accommodating.

Tom

 

[Tom Caldwell]

The more I play with the GXR-M the more I realise just how huge the window of lens opportunity is.

My very latest love is a quite old Rikenon 55mm f1.4 in M42 mount. I don't now how old it is but it is beautifully made, very smooth in operation and this one I have just bought is quite unmarked. It has a very distinct bokeh and I think it is going to make a perfect portrait lens at 82.5mm equivalent and f1.4. And all this talk - love at first sight - and I have yet to try it out in daylight.

Tom

 

[peated]

The more I play with the GXR-M the more I realise just how huge the window of lens opportunity is.

My very latest love is a quite old Rikenon 55mm f1.4 in M42 mount. I don't now how old it is but it is beautifully made, very smooth in operation and this one I have just bought is quite unmarked. It has a very distinct bokeh and I think it is going to make a perfect portrait lens at 82.5mm equivalent and f1.4. And all this talk - love at first sight - and I have yet to try it out in daylight.

Tom

Tom, how is the Rikenon performing out in the daylight? I've seen a few of these for sale at good prices, but none in M42 mount yet (I'm watching).

Following this thread (and others here) has pushed me over the edge: I ordered my GXR-M earlier in the week and picked up a couple Russian lenses to start with. Now to patiently wait...

I also found this post today, which might be of interest here (even though taken with a Leica M9, it gives good comparison of various lenses): http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/rangefin ... ng-m9.html

 

[Tom Caldwell]

A couple of images taken indoors yesterday with the GXR-M & Rikenon 55mm f1.4




The lens in question attached to the GXR-M using an RJ M42-LM adapter


Image courtesy of a Samsung NX10 Polish FD-NX adapter and Canon FD 24mm f2.0

This seems a pretty slippy little lens in it's own right, harder to find and more expensive.

Tom

 

[peated]

Thanks - the images sure do seem sharp. The lens appears a bit bulkier on the GXR than I had imagined - guess I hadn't accounted for the adapter too. I'll keep watching for a "deal" on one of these.

 

[Tom Caldwell]

Thanks - the images sure do seem sharp. The lens appears a bit bulkier on the GXR than I had imagined - guess I hadn't accounted for the adapter too. I'll keep watching for a "deal" on one of these.

Made for rangefinder lenses sure are smaller not only do they not have the extra slr flange back distance to cope with but the geometry of the image circle (I expect but do not know for sure) means a larger diameter as well.

This is where a PK mount adapter might fall down. Those little modern PK electronic lenses might look "sweet and purty" by themselves but factor in a PK mount adapter flange back distance and a lot of the sweetness disappears.

Despite all this I find lenses of the size of the Rikenon 55mm f1.4 handle quite well on the GXR-M and are wel balanced. But it is not going to fit in the pocket of a tight set of jeans or even into a loose jacket one.

Just think of the EVIL type cameras as "smaller dslrs" rather than large carry-about compacts. The Ricoh idea of compact folding modules with small sensors tuned to zoom range was half way out of the window with the A-12 50mm f2.5 Macro module. Putting a legacy manual slr lens of any description on board pushes the combined camera out of the compact shirt pocket into just small-dslr carry bag.

Tom

Given that I can put a professional level kit together with multiple lenses into a small gladstone type bag now is compared to two arm loaded trips to the car with my dslr kit. Might not be tiny but it is certainly smaller.

 

[Tom Caldwell]

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Pavel I am getting the above message on my screen and also cannot "see" the image insertion dialogue because it is partially hidden by the "disable BBC Code" etc messages below it.

Was working - now is not.

Oh! and somehow and working blindly I seem to have managed to upload the image.

For everyone else - this is the comparative size of LTM/LM lenses of similar capability with a manual slr lens.

This was actually taken before my M mount module with it's adapters and shows the lenses on NX mounts but the size comparison remains valid.

Tom

 

[peated]

think of the EVIL type cameras as "smaller dslrs" rather than large carry-about compacts.

Exactly. The GXR even with a few modules & lenses still packs into a small bag and is much easier on the shoulder then my DSLR kit. For the times when even the GXR is 'too big' I still have my trusty GX200 anyway.

And thanks for the picture showing the Jupiter 8 vs. the Canon 50mm. Reading weight/size specs can only tells half the story - seeing is much better.