Shots with the GXR Module + Leica Elmarit-21 ASPH

[malland]

I got the M-Module yesterday and today had some time to shoot a few pictures using the Elmarit-21 ASPH. It was noon and even on an overcast day the light was often very bright here in Bangkok. While last night at the house in dark light I could use the focus assist (Mode 1) and focus easily, I found it difficult to focus in the bright light with this lens — just couldn't see the "peaking". Perhaps in bright light it's better to use Mode 2, or maybe with a longer focal length it's easier. But all this didn't because I would have used zone focusing, as I would with the Leica M6, even if had been easier to focus.

The files from this camera, as Sean Reid writes, are very good. They are very sharp — there is no need to sharpen, which gives a better look, although I don't know whether that's visible in the JPGs on your monitor. I also like the colour a lot: normally, I would have processed these pictures in B&W, but I liked the colour too much to throw it away. You can see a dozen pictures here, but there is nothing great photographically in this series. These are all from RAW files, processed in Aperture.

BTW, I ended up selling my GXR 28mm and 50mm camera modules, as I prefer to use my Leica lenses on the M-Module.




Note: This is the revised version, developed in RPP.






Note: This is the revised version, developed in RPP.



—Mitch/Bangkok
Paris au rythme de Basquiat

[tokyoshooter]

Great photos! I am particularly impressed by the colours in the second shot. The GXR with M-mount is very tempting indeed...

[FalseDigital]

I live in BKK too! What area are you in?

[magicianhisoka]

Thanks for the samples. They are scarce in the early stages of it's release.

[malland]

Originally Posted by tokyoshooter

Great photos! I am particularly impressed by the colours in the second shot. The GXR with M-mount is very tempting indeed...

Thanks. They remind me of Leica M8/M9 files, but the colours are better.

—Mitch/Bangkok
Ricoh GXR M-Module with Leica Elmarit-21 ASPH Lens

[malland]

Originally Posted by FalseDigital

I live in BKK too! What area are you in?

Withayu.

—Mitch/Bangkok
Paris au rythme de Basquiat

[Keith]

Very nice Mitch ... the colours are strong but not over the top!

[helenhill]

Mighty Fine Mitch
Love the second One in particuler as well fori its Color

Alsp, Post some B&W
And Night Shots

Thx... Best- H

[malland]

Thanks, Keith. Yes, not over the top, but I've been known sometimes to create colours that don't exist...

Thanks, Helen. Here are some pictures with the M-Module and the Zeiss Distagon 4/18mm lens. This is a lens that I'm likely to use more than the CV Heliar 15mm — while I like the 21mm FOV a lot, the 15mm lens depth of field and perspective doesn't give me the feel at all of a 21mm lens on full frame. The Zeiss 18mm, on the other hand, I feel substitutes well for a 24mm FOV, which is close enough to the 21mm FOV — know what I mean?

I'm not particulalrluy enamoured of the the two B&W pictures below, and they don't really show what people want to know about the GXR M-Module, sorry. In the first one, I do like the bright light coming in and blowing out the highlights but it would have been better if there were some people in the restaurant. The trouble is I was too busy to have lunch today and went out at 5pm to have a bite, so no people.

Walking back, the people at the table in the second picture said something and, when I answered in Thai, said, "Take our picture" and I said, "Is there any one beautiful here?" — which in Thai does not sound as inane as in English — and the woman in the picture threw up her hand. I guess what the picture shows is that you always have to be ready for street photography — it occurred to me to take her picture an instant too late and she had already lowered her eyes. There is also motion blur — I waved my camera up and framed on the LCD. I pushed "Structure" in Aperture to compensate for the softness of the blur — as I said, not a great picture to make a judgement on the camera. On the other hand, the colour picture may give people more the sense of this lens on the M-Module. You can see five picture with the Zeiss 18mm here.

I don't have time to go out to take some night shots this week, but I may have to go to Shanghai for a couple of days and may be able to do that there.














—Mitch/Bangkok
Paris au rythme de Basquiat

[malland]

Someone asked me why I sold my GXR A12/28 and A12/50 camera units after buying the M-Module. The reason is very simple, the M-Module provides better files in terms of sharpness and color than these camera units. Actually, I should say "much better" sharpness and color, presumably because it has no AA filter and the lenses themselves, like the Elmarit-21 ASPH and the DR Summicron-50, are superb.

While I can get the A12/28 and A/50 RAW files to look good, it requires a lot more effort than with the M-Module; and ultimately the sharpness is never as good, not the colour, really, and the files start looking over-processd or over-sharoened. I would have kept the A12/50 if I needed to do macro, and perhaps both the A12/50 and the A12/28 if I wanted autofocus, but that is not the case.

—Mitch/Bangkok
Ricoh GXR M-Module with Leica Elmarit-21 ASPH Lens

[djonesii]

Mich;

Great photos ....

Do you happen to have any thoughts on one of the zoom modules.

I gave my P&S to the inlaws, and I'm seeing an opening here .....

Dave

[dallard]

Now I can't wait for mine to show up today. Did you adjust the color at all or just process the RAW as is?

[Rob-F]

OT: Why does one of the buildings in the distance, in the color street photo, appear to be falling over? It must actually be leaning! Earthquake?

[malland]

Originally Posted by djonesii

...Do you happen to have any thoughts on one of the zoom modules...

Thanks, Dave. If you mean the P10 and and S10 zoom camera units for the GXR, I have no experience with them. But if I wanted that, you can get the same quality in a much smaller P&S camera, like the Panonic version of the Leica DL-5, of which I used a predecessor, the DL-3, for a while.

—Mitch/Bangkok

[malland]

Originally Posted by dallard

Now I can't wait for mine to show up today. Did you adjust the color at all or just process the RAW as is?

Actually, the only adjustments are in increase in contrast and or a darkening of the image, which increase the saturation of the colours. In the colour picture with the car in it in post #9, there is just a moderate increase in contrast. Also, some of the picture also have a moderate WB adjustment to neutralize the colors. It's amazing how little adjustments the color RAW files from the M-Module often require. If these files were from the GXR A12/28 and A12/50 camera units, I would have had to do much heavier adjustments to ge the look that I wanted.

—Mitch/Bangkok
Ricoh GXR M-Module with Leica Elmarit-21 ASPH Lens

[malland]

Originally Posted by Rob-F

OT: Why does one of the buildings in the distance, in the color street photo, appear to be falling over? It must actually be leaning! Earthquake?

Rob, you've gotta ask the architect why he designed a reclining side to that building.

—Mitch/Bangkok
Beijing Rhythms

[rondo]

These are just great, Mitch...I can see why you gave up on the a12 units. I have never seen anything from you or anyone else with a12 units, matching the quality of these files. These are web size small shares, but you can still tell that this is one fine module. Do you miss AF?

[malland]

rondo, no I don't miss autofocus at all. In any case, for street photography I prefer zone focusing, which is a delight when you have a real (not "focus by wire") focus ring on the lens, as is having an aperture ring. Actually, with the A12 camera units I used zone focusing as well, by using AF to focus on a certain plane of focus and then switching to MF to fix the focus on the plane.

On the M-M-Module, it takes some practice to learn to use the focus assist system, and I haven't mastered it yet — I've had two short occasions to shoot with the camera, as I'm rather swamped now. So far, I have found that Mode 2 works better than Mode 1 in bright light. But I still have found it difficult to the focus assist on very wide angle lenses like the Zeiss 4/18 and the CV Heliar 15 because of the huge DOF — but the latter makes precise focus less important in any case. However, it's still early days for me on this.

I really love this camera and prefer it to what I was getting with the M8 and M9, although a lot of people will disagree with that — though they can't diagree with what I prefer for myself.

Where I find a huge difference with how I shoot with the GRD3 and the A12 units is in exposure. I don't have time to go in the detail, but briefly: witht the M8/M9 I measured and set exposure the same way as I did with the M6, using a zone-type system by measuring for zone V. With the GRD3 and the GXR A12 units, I used spot manual exposure and measured for what look right on the excellent LCD on these cameras. With the M-Manual I can't do that because it doesn't adjust the LCD image with exposure as the GRX3 and the A12s do. Instead, I'm "expsoing to the right" using the histogram, and that leads to what looks like in the raw developer as overexposure that you bring back down with the exposure slider in the raw developer. The results are better.

It's interesting to download the free raw developer called RPP — perhaps it's a Mac-only programme — and look at your RAW files in it. It will show files that have not been properly "exposed the right" as a being under-exposed. It is true that digital requires a different type of exposure than film, whether negative or transparency. Doing what I did before, as I said, leads to underexposure most of the tike — although sometimes one is lucky — and having to lighten shadow areas, which is problematic in digital.

—Mitch/Bangkok
Paris au rythme de Basquiat

[rondo]

Thank you Mitch for the thorough description. Very useful information, as usual...I am really fascinated with the quality of the m mount shots I have seen so far. What I also think, as silly as it may be, as I have no proof yet, the m module will have a unique signature, just like the grd had, when introduced for the first time. I never cared much about the quality of the apsc units, they looked very plastic like and without character to me, turns out it is lack of the aa filter or whatever else they tweaked, that makes such a huge difference. I wish ricoh did the same with grd4, the least they could do, when reintroducing a camera with a two year old sensor.
I think the m module will be an excellent street camera, especially when used with zone focusing, just as you described above...considering the wonderful ui, it can really be used in the spirit of grd, maybe?
After seeing these samples, I am much less excited about the nex 7. Even with all the nice extra dials, I have a strong gut feeling that it will not be a matching photographer's tool. Also I am not "jaw dropping" over nex files, unlike the majority. They are needlessly huge, and also very artificial looking...to me of course.

Mitch, could you recommend a lens that would give me 35 mm field of view on gxr-m? Which 24 mm would be best, in your mind?

[zauhar]

Mitch, I love those photos as well.

I saw assurances somewhere that older M lenses (like the 21mm /f4 SA) are compatible with that module - do you think that is true?

Also, I didn't see in the discussion anything about the external VF - do you have that, or are you using the LCD screen only?

This is one digital I at least want to have a look at.

Randy

[malland]

Originally Posted by rondo

Thank you Mitch for the thorough description. Very useful information, as usual...I am really fascinated with the quality of the m mount shots I have seen so far. What I also think, as silly as it may be, as I have no proof yet, the m module will have a unique signature, just like the grd had, when introduced for the first time. I never cared much about the quality of the apsc units, they looked very plastic like and without character to me, turns out it is lack of the aa filter or whatever else they tweaked, that makes such a huge difference. I wish ricoh did the same with grd4, the least they could do, when reintroducing a camera with a two year old sensor.
I think the m module will be an excellent street camera, especially when used with zone focusing, just as you described above...considering the wonderful ui, it can really be used in the spirit of grd, maybe?
After seeing these samples, I am much less excited about the nex 7. Even with all the nice extra dials, I have a strong gut feeling that it will not be a matching photographer's tool. Also I am not "jaw dropping" over nex files, unlike the majority. They are needlessly huge, and also very artificial looking...to me of course.

Mitch, could you recommend a lens that would give me 35 mm field of view on gxr-m? Which 24 mm would be best, in your mind?

Taking your last question first, I don't have any experience with 24mm lenses but Sean Reid has a comparison of the Zeiss 25/2.8 Biagon and the Leica 21/2.4 Elmarit, in which he occludes that he can recommend the Zeiss lens without reservation, noting that it's about US$1,300 cheaper than the Leica lens (in 2006). Incidentally, almost every time I see mention of Sean Reid's reviews I see boring diatribes by people who don't want pay to subscribe to a review site. All I can say is that the US#30-odd subscription fee is well worth the well-written and well-test evaluations available and well worth the in the light of the price of the equipment that you are considering. Of course, you can also consider a 21mm lens, which gives a 32.5mm FOV. Although I only know the Leica 21/2.8 Elmarits (ASPH and non-ASPH), I know that the Zeiss 21/2.8 Biogon is excellent, and the much cheaper CV 21/4 Skopar is also good, despite some softness in the corners.

I agree with you about the M-Module: it seems to be transparent to the characteristic and has its own character as well. I like it a lot better than the M8, which I never took to, and as well as M9, but that may be considered sacrilege in some cercles. On the LUF some on asked (rhetorically) what the point of the M-Module was when you could buy a used M8. I responded the as follows:

Lot's of reasons, starting, for me, with the fact that I never took to the M8.2 when I had it:

1. Many people don't like buying used cameras, particularly digital ones;
2. Better files and better high-ISO on M-Module;
3. Better colour and better white balance on M-Module;
4. No need for lens coding on wide-angle lenses;
5. No need for UV/IR filters;
6. Much better LCD and there's Live View on the M-Module;
7. M-Module handles well and doesn't need Thumbs Up or grip;
8. Digtital controls, menus, and configurability better than on M8;
9. Can use DR Summicron on M-Module;
10. Can use the same zone focusing on both cameras;
11. Greater dynamic range on M-Module; and
12. In case of problems, don't have to deal with dismal Solms Service.

Yes, if the GRD4 would have some of the M-Module DNA it would be wonderful — the Ricoh press release refers to improved image quality from "refinements to the optical filter", but I've no idea what that means and have not seen anything more about this. Perhaps it's interesting to look at the following B&W shot from the GRD3 compared to one I've taken above because they have a similar visual concept, in order to identify the differences. I'd be interested in your articulation of these, which may be better than mine, but what I like is the great superiority what's happening in the mid-tones in the M-Module picture. Consider also that the GRD3 picture involved much more extensive processing.





Manila | Ricoh GRD3 | 21mm Wide-Converter | ISO 400 | f/1.9 | 1/25 sec





Bangkok | GXR M-Module | Zeiss 18/4 Distagon | ISO 2500 | f/4.0 | 1/125 sec




To tell you the truth, originally I had little interest in the M-Module, thinking, "why should I get a 1.5x crop unit for my Leica lenses; but eventually, encouraged, or driven, by the enthusiasm of Danish photographer Thorkil's writings on the LUF I tried the M-Module at the office of the Thai importer for Ricoh Camera and took the following picture of the receptionist. Taken in terrible light, a mixture of fluorescent and tungsten, misfocused slightly — it made me decide to buy the M-Module:



Bangkok | GXR M-Module | Leica SR Summicron-50 | ISO 1250 | f/2.0 | 1/125 sec | 80% Crop



Incidentally, I started shooting the M-Module using the EVF because I was trying to practive focusing using the Focus Assist function and the only picture that I shot framing on the LCD is the the blurred one above of the young woman raising her arm. But for street photography I still prefer, as I've written many times, to establish roughly the edges of the frame on the LCD, but to look directly at the subject when pressing the shutter — this leads, for me, to a much more fluid shooting style than using a viewfinder. It is this shooting method that transformed my street photography when I first shot with the GRD five years ago, when I switched from the M6. It is what I feel makes cameras like the GRD3 and the GXR M-Moudule better for street photography than Leica Ms. I feel that people that insist on using the viewfinder because that is what that have always done are missing something, by carrying from what they did in film photography to digital. That is not to say that using a viewfinder has no place with digital, just that for very fluid street photography the "LCD/Look at the Subject" method has an advantage.

On the NEX-7, I'm still very interested in it: the EVF should be spectacular and the three assignable control wheels should also be good. The question is how the Sony micro-lens setup deals with wide-angle M-lenses and what sort of look the sensor with a "light AA filter" producer — too soon to tell, as the camera is not out yet.

It's funny, when the Fuji X100 came out it took ages before there were any pcictures available on the web from which one could get a sense of its image quality. It was as if the whole initial batch had fallen into the hands of the most inexperience or least knowledgeable photographers: no indication whether the pictures posted were JPGs or processed RAW files and innumerable shots of flower macros and cat portraits. Happily, it's going much faster with the M-Module in terms of getting pictures on the web that reveal the cameras characteristics.

—Mitch/Bangkok
Paris au rythme de Basquiat

[malland]

Originally Posted by zauhar

Mitch, I love those photos as well.

I saw assurances somewhere that older M lenses (like the 21mm /f4 SA) are compatible with that module - do you think that is true?

Also, I didn't see in the discussion anything about the external VF - do you have that, or are you using the LCD screen only?

This is one digital I at least want to have a look at.

Randy

Thanks, Randy. Indeed, the M-Module can be used with the Super Angulon-21, as shown in this article.

No I don't use an external viewfinder, but prefer to frame with the LCD; please see what I wrote on this in my posting just above this one.

—Mitch/Bangkok
Ricoh GXR M-Module with Leica Elmarit-21 ASPH Lens

[KEH]

Thanks Mitch, great shots and insight as always. Here is a shot from yesterday with the M module and Leica 35/2 Asph:



Lovely colour rendering, as you say. This is straight out of Lightroom, with only a crop added. I would ordinarily do something with the distracting green shirt in the background, but it is worth just seeing the shot 'straight.'

Cheers,
Kirk

[malland]

Kirk, the colour rendering is indeed very impressive, as is the resolution. A really nice feeling of light and coloiur in your picture. And the M-Module lets the characteristics of the lens come through, which is vey important when you're using a lens as good lens as the Summicron-35 ASPH.

Let me ask you something that I've written about that no one has reacted to. Basiscally, the only reason that I would want a full-frame camera is that I want a 21mm lens to have the 21mm feeling. What I mean is that I don't mind the 1.5x crop giving a 35mm lens a 52.5mm FOV with the perspective of a 35mm lens and I don't mind a 16mm having a 24mm FOV with a 16mm perspective; but one of my favorite lenses in the Elmarit-21 ASPH and I find that I don't find that a 15mm lens is a that good a substitute because because, while you end up with a FOV close to 21nnm but have a 15mm perspective that is somewhat far from what you get with a 21mm lens with a full-franme sensor. I thought that with the M-Module I would use the CV Heliar 15mm a lot, but now think that I'll be using the Zeiss 16/4 a lot more because I find the 16mm perspective in a 24mm FOV more appealing. Do you know what I mean and what are your thoughts?

—Mitch/Bangkok
Paris au rythme de Basquiat

[rondo]

Mitch, I couldn't agree with you more. The "full frame" requests are completely meaningless, especially when a format is supported with a wide range of lenses. As you rightly point out, this is only an issue when you find yourself with a bunch of lenses that don't work as their intended field of view. The interesting thing about 1.5x crop factor is that, one can still get very close to the intended fov, because, the conventional stepping of prime lenses will more or less coincide with 1.5x, only leaving the very wide end out of the range. If you follow the 21-28-40 or 24-35-50, with crop factor they would be 31-42-60 vs 36-52-75...so you end up getting two of three at the intended focal lengths.
M43 users with 2x crop factor are less lucky, in that aspect...
I have no manual lenses, and therefore i can pick the focal lengthe that will serve me best without any trouble...