The Power of GR Lens

In the final verdict of the GXR P10 field report, we talked a bit about the well thought-out design and operation of the GXR body (which had been previously detailed here).  And we urged Ricoh to expedite the expansion of modules fitted with an APS-C sensor.  There is one point which should be stressed too: the GR lens for such modules will be a big draw to potential customers.

Why?  I just dug out the shots taken with the A12 50mm module featuring the GR Lens.  The images show that the GR lens was able to render the scenes with right colours, comfortable tones, good details and sharpness.  The transition between the highlight areas and the shadowy ones is very smooth.  As an aside, and a bit different from the big-site review, the field test found that the flash and metering of the GXR A12 50mm were able to do a pretty good job.  Sometimes it did fail but that was not at an disproportionate high frequency than any other digital cameras in its class.

An example is the following shot in which the subject was at an arm's length away from the camera.  The fill-in flash was fired.

At this close distance and with the reflective white walls, the subject is a bit overly illuminated.  But is it bad?  Try out your camera on hand and you can probably get a result not as good.  And, look, this is what I want to show you:

The focus, once it is grabbed (mark that the A12 is not fast in focusing in low night situations), is pretty accurate.  And the image is very sharp.  Now, having used the Sony a55 for a few days, I can say that the the focusing of a55 is fast but not impressively accurate at 100% magnification.  The proportion of getting a sharp image like this is yet to be tested.

So, we are looking forward to the coming of the A12 28mm module, hoping that it will have a more decent focusing speed.  It is believed that the new module will be available in November.