GR User Forum

The spot for all Ricoh GR camera users

Register for free, meet other Ricoh GR users, share your images, help others, have fun!

Tell your friends about us!

CX1 - exploring new features (source: Ricoh GR Blog - JP)

As you may or may not know, Ricoh GR Blog published some details about new CX1 features. Even though the article is in Japanese, I think it would be nice to look closer on these disclosed details. Of course a real camera sample would be better, but we will have to wait few more days ;)

CX1 mode dial got two new icons/positions, which makes the dial completely full. These two new positions are for Dynamic Range and Continuous mode.
modeD.jpg


Once switched to Dynamic Range Double Shot Mode, camera is ready to take two consecutive images in fast succession and with different exposure. The DR mode is indicated on the screen...
t_dmf090224-002.jpg

The images are then merged together. In a theory, we should get nice image with details both in highlights and shadows. There is also an option to control the amount of "Dynamic Range" from "Very Weak" to "Strong", where the later one means stronger dynamic range effect.

One might ask "so why not to use "Strong" all the time to get the best dynamic range?". Well, I believe that this level of DR basically means wider or narrower exposure gap between the individual DR shots. In other words, the amount of over and under exposure set to both photos. And the common knowledge is that too under exposed photos usually mean more visible noise in shadows. But it's just my guess! We will have to wait for a real samples.

Along with DR photo it is possible to take another non-DR photo and compare it with DR one. In this mode, the camera screen is split in two halves. The left side displays the DR photo along with its histogram, the right side shows non-DR photo and histogram...
t_dmf090225-010.jpg


As you can see on the above screen shot, there is clearly visible difference between the DR and non-DR photo. I'm pretty curious about real usage of [DR] mode.

Another new position on the dial is used by Continuous mode. CX1 provides 5 high speed continuous modes.
t_dmf090225-003.jpg

In standard continuous mode, it is possible to take up to 60 photos at 4fps speed. Then the speed of standard continuous mode drops to 3fps. Of course, both 4 and 3fps speeds are highly dependent on used SD card. You should be fine with any good SDHC Class 6 card.

Next CX1 continuous mode is M-Cont Plus. In this mode, CX1 allows to record consecutive photos of the previous 1 second (at 30fps speed - M-Cont Plus - High) or 2 seconds (at 15fps speed - M-Cont Plus - Low) taken before releasing the shutter. The photos are recorded in single MP file. MP file is a special file format for recording a set of still images. The image size of photos recorded in this mode is set to 2MP (N1728).

And finally, there is an ultra high speed continuous mode called Speed Cont. In this mode you can take 120 consecutive shots in 1 second (120fps) or 120 shots in 2 seconds (60fps). As in previous mode, the photos are recorded in one MP file. The image size is fixed to N640.

Although the photos taken in M-Cont Plus and Speed Cont mode are recorded in one MP file, you can export your chosen file or files to individual JPEG anytime later (via playback menu). Just select the particular images...
t_dmf090225-0081.jpg

and export it...
t_dmf090225-0082.jpg


Last new feature described in GR Blog article is Multi-Target AF.
When you half-press the shutter, the camera automatically locks multiple focus points. When you fully press the shutter, the camera takes 7 consecutive pictures with different focus positions. These 7 consecutive photos are recorded as an MP file.
t_dmf090225-007.jpg


This function is especially useful for telephoto shooting and macro mode, when it's particularly hard to focus. Just allow the camera to take 7 photos with shifted focus and pick the one you like best later.
t_dmf090225-0079.jpg


Some more details about CX1 are promised to be delivered later.
 
Its good that the DR is easily and quickly accessible rather than buried in some menu. Good work Ricoh! :)
 
Back
Top