GXR A12 + extension lenses (DW6, GW2, GT1, TC1, TCON14/14B)

[odklizec]

Hi folks.

When I got GXR, I immediately thought if it would be possible to use existing Ricoh wide/tele extension lenses also with A12? Wouldn't it be nice to make the A12 lens a bit wider or longer? At least temporarily, until there will be some more APSC lensors available?

Because A12 is equipped with 40.5mm filter thread, there is required step up ring to 43mm for DW6, GW2 or TC1 and step-down ring 40.5 to 37mm for GW1 and GT1. Two weeks ago I ordered 40.5 - 43mm step-up ring and today it arrived! I previously bought 43 to 37mm step-down ring for GRDIII so I decided to stack both new step-up and older step-down ring to be able to use GT1 (instead of purchasing another step-down ring). Stacking two adapter rings is usually not very recommended, because it may easily produce vignetting. But as you will see later, there is no such problem with GT1. There is another problem with GT1, but I personally like this problem And no, I'm not speaking about the ugly orange flare problem known form GRDII, which is miraculously "fixed" with A12 lens system.

Here are the focal lengths we will get combining A12 50mm + existing wide/tele extension lenses:

A12 + GW2 (0.75x) = 37.5mm
A12 + DW6 (0.79x) = 39.5mm
A12 + GT1 (1.43x) = 71.5mm
A12 + TC1 (1.88)  = 94mm

UPDATED 8.6.2010:
Test of new lens Olympus TCON14 posted here:
viewtopic.php?p=21963#p21963

UPDATED 17.6.2010:
Test of new lens Olympus TCON14B posted here:
viewtopic.php?p=22265#p22265

Some more A12+GT1 examples:
viewtopic.php?f=60&t=4663

Now let's see, how these lenses look attached on A12:





As you can see, the already big A12 is now huge, especially with TC1 and GT1. It looks best with DW6. I think the extension lenses will probably never become standard equipment of typical GXR user. But isn't it nice to have this option?

Now let's look at the differences in angle of view:
You can examine the full resolution files >here<.






As you can see, GT1 is blurry like a hell and TC1 produces visible vignetting even in 4:3 mode. Corner blurriness and pronounced chromatic aberration (although not visible in these small examples) is visible also in GW2 and DW6 shots. I would say that DW6 looks best in terms of size, sharpness and general usability.

GT1 may look horrible and useless on the first and even second look. But after taking some more photos, I was quite surprised how useful this kind of blurriness is! It's completely like lensbaby but with extreme quality lens. It's great to use everywhere you want to achieve very smooth focus. Here are some quick examples of what it can do...

 

[dgilmour]

Re: GXR A12 + extension lenses (DW6, GW2, GT1, TC1)

Nice soft focus effect.

 

[nzoliver]

Re: GXR A12 + extension lenses (DW6, GW2, GT1, TC1)

Hi,
Yes very nice. Almost 'Hamilton' type softness. :geek:

 

[odklizec]

Re: GXR A12 + extension lenses (DW6, GW2, GT1, TC1)

In case you are interested, I uploaded full resolution files of all above test shots here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/odklizec/s ... 536565420/

 

[odklizec]

Re: GXR A12 + extension lenses (DW6, GW2, GT1, TC1)

Three more samples taken with A12+GT1 and processed with Bibble 5 trial. Too bad my trial is now over. I still prefer Silkypix for Ricoh RAW files, but there is something about Bibble film-like simulation plugin

 

[Detail Man]

Re: GXR A12 + extension lenses (DW6, GW2, GT1, TC1)

Pavel,

I am not (usually) not a big fan of black and white photography (except in certain portraits). These pictures of your dear Lucia are very beautiful! ...

 

[odklizec]

Re: GXR A12 + extension lenses (DW6, GW2, GT1, TC1)

Guys, thanks to kind forum donations made by the many of you, I just bought two 1.45x tele conversion lenses, originally made for Olympus compact cameras and E10/20. I'm planning to give them a try with A12 and GRDIII and hope to find them useful

The first one is smaller (TCON-14) the other is rather big and heavy (TCON-14B). Both these lenses are known as very good performers and used with many non-Olympus cameras. I hope that at least one of them will be useful with A12 and if we are lucky, maybe also with GRDIII (as a GT-1 replacement)? The rear lens element of both lenses seems to be big enough to cover the entire A12/GRDIII lens circle, even with some step-down rings required for GRDIII and A12 filter thread.

I hope that the smaller lens will be delivered sometimes early next week and the larger one by the end of week. I will then inform you if they are any good or if you should forget about them Keep you fingers crossed!

 

[Muddy]

Re: GXR A12 + extension lenses (DW6, GW2, GT1, TC1)

Congratulation, hope to get your test result from your new lens soon.

 

[odklizec]

Re: GXR A12 + extension lenses (DW6, GW2, GT1, TC1)

Of course, I will inform you ASAP I read a lot about various tele-extension lenses and these Olympuses look like an ideal compromise between the performance, price and availability. Both can be still bought on ebay in relative good quantity and reasonable price. There are at least two more better performing lenses, but it's either very hard to find them and they are quite expensive. Let's hope at least one of the Olympuses will be useful with Ricoh

 

[Marana]

Re: GXR A12 + extension lenses (DW6, GW2, GT1, TC1)

Yes, I agree with Detail Man. The photo R0011030_sm.jpg is just about the cutest baby photo I've ever seen in my life,

 

[odklizec]

Re: GXR A12 + extension lenses (DW6, GW2, GT1, TC1)

Thanks Sandy! And thanks also to you Jeremy! Where are my manners?

BTW Sandy, I noticed you experienced some login problems? I got three ricohforum activation emails returned from the pacifier.com. The reason of undelivered emails was "unknown user"? So I activated your account manually. Are you sure the email associated with your account at ricohforum is valid?

 

[Marana]

Re: GXR A12 + extension lenses (DW6, GW2, GT1, TC1)

Oh, I've recently changed email addresses, and was trying to change it here at the forum to the new email address. For some reason, it wasn't letting me. Thanks for activating me manually!

 

[odklizec]

Re: GXR A12 + extension lenses (DW6, GW2, GT1, TC1)

Good news and bad news folks! I just received first of the bought lenses - TCON-14 (smaller one).

The good news is that it can be used with A12 extending its focal length to 72.5mm. The bad news is that it's useless with GRDIII. It's simply not big enough (front lens is not curved enough) to cover the entire frame without hard vignetting. Let's hope TCON-14B will work better? But I guess this will be at a cost of size and weight (maybe too much for GRDIII)?

As for the TCON-14 and A12, all you need is 40.5-43mm step-up ring or even better, 40.5-46mm ring. At the moment, I have to use two rings, 40.5-43 and 43-46mm, which is not really ideal. This combination adds touch of corner vignetting and softness to the output images. I'm pretty sure replacing two rings with just one 40.5-46mm ring will help a lot and eliminate the vignetting and maybe even corner softness?

The center of the image is very sharp. There is visible softness and chromatic aberration on the extreme corners, which I think is unimportant for the purpose of this lens combo. Definitely not softness. Chromatic aberration can always be fixed in editor. I still think that the major reason of both problems (CRA and corner softness) is the usage of two step rings.

The TCON-14 is made of plastic and looks and feels somewhat cheap (mainly if compared with luxury Ricoh converters). It comes with 43-46 ring (rear thread of TCON-14 is 46mm). It has also a very clever "quick release" system for mounting/unmounting the lens to/from the adapter tube or other lens with appropriate (46mm) thread. It makes it really easy to attach/detach without too much screwing.

I will take some photos of it later today and also photos taken with it to show you its performance (despite the two rings handicap).

 

[odklizec]

Re: GXR A12 + extension lenses (DW6, GW2, GT1, TC1, TCON14)

Here is how the TCON14 looks attached on A12:


And as promised, here are some quick shots taken with A12+TCON-14.
The full size version of the above shot can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/odklizec/4 ... 3/sizes/o/

As you can see, there is some corner vignetting and softness visible even in 4:3 mode. But in my opinion, it's caused by two stacked step-up rings instead of just one. In any case, it's not a problem most of the time.

Some more examples, most of them with my usual model All out of camera JPEG.











The A12 AF works OK with TCON14 (unlike with GT1 or TC1). Thanks to small depth of field is necessary to be careful about correct focus. But once focused correctly, it can give you some pretty usable results. Of course, you need a model who is willing to stay still for a moment or two I think it's most useful extension lens for portraits. I guess the upcoming TCON-14B will be even better, but it will be big and heavy addition to A12.

 

[Muddy]

Re: GXR A12 + extension lenses (DW6, GW2, GT1, TC1, TCON14)

Lovely shots of Lucia, she's really growing up and getting more professional now . Thanks for all the info.

 

[odklizec]

I finally got the Olympus TCON14B (1.45x) I won two weeks ago on ebay. I hoped it would be even more useful than TCON14 and that it would be usable also with GRDIII as a replacement tele lens for GT-1. I knew it's big lens, but only now I see how gigantic it is! Even if it would usable with GRDIII, nobody sane would probably use it because it's much bigger and heavier then GRDIII. It's actually heavier than GXR+A12! It's so big and heavy that it's weird to use also with GXR. In fact, I think it could be dangerous to use with A12. I mean dangerous for A12 focus mechanism. TCON14B is just too heavy to be mounted on the A12 lens and moved by A12 focus motor. A12 can still autofocus and manual focus is not a problem either. But I guess the A12 focus mechanism could wear off very quickly.

I mounted it on A12 using two stacked step-up rings (40.5-52mm and 52-62mm). TCON14B produces some vignetting visible in 3:2 mode, but it's gone in 4:3. Extreme corners are slightly soft even in 4:3 mode. But much better than corners produced by TCON14. As in case of TCON14, I'm using two stacked rings, which I think is the cause of vignetting and maybe also soft corners. Unfortunately, as far as I know, there is no 40.5-62mm step-up ring available.

Here you can see how gigantic is the TCON14B mounted on A12. Weight of GXR+A12 is around 440g, weight of TCON14B alone is 460g



Here are some shots taken with TCON14B...

 

[odklizec]

Yesterday, I received the 40.5 to 46 step-up ring so I could dump the "two-rings" solution (used with TCON14) with just one ring. As I expected, it dramatically improved the vignetting and corner sharpness. There is still some vignetting visible in 3:2 mode, but it's nearly gone in 4:3 and the corners are visibly sharper too.
Full size photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/odklizec/4 ... otostream/
Full size photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/odklizec/4 ... otostream/

Now this makes the TCON14 usable with A12. It's smaller and lighter tele extension solution than TCON14B. 14B appears to deliver somewhat better image quality. But the size and weight of TCON14 is simply much more usable.

 

[CHICHORNIO]

Pavel,
If I undestood well your post, If I buy the GXR+A12 50mm system, I will be able to use my GT-1 from my GRD2? (to have an almost 92mm tele lens). That will be a good option for portrait!
And what about my GW-1 (0.75x factor)? Can I use it attached to the A12 50 mm module so I can go down to I think 35mm? I´m very lazy in this kind of things... please help!

 

[odklizec]

Yes, you can use GT-1 with A12 50mm. But you need to get the 40.5 to 37mm step down ring to be able to do that. BTW, mounting GT-1 in front of A12 50mm will give you 71.5mm not 92mm! And I'm afraid, there are some downsides (depends on what you want to achieve).

The main problem is the image softness of this Frankenstein lens combo. It's so soft that it makes the AF completely unusable! And because it's so soft, it's definitely not usable in all situations. On the other hand, it's great for creative photography. It gives the images a lensbaby-like look. Just check some samples here (scroll down to GT1 samples):
viewtopic.php?f=60&t=4164
or here:
viewtopic.php?p=19294#p19294
and here:
viewtopic.php?f=60&t=4663

As for using GW-1, I don't have this lens, so I can't tell you for sure its worth of something or not. But considering its smaller rear lens element (if compared with GW-2) and knowing that GW-2 mounted on A12 50mm produces very soft corners, I would not expect anything good from GW-1.