First outing with R4...my, my, my! ( Largish 5 pics)

Hi folks,

The R4 has arrived and the weather couldn't have been any better! These are the pics from the local park avenue.

Following the tips from you folks, I set the ISo at 64, vivid, exposure bias -0.3. PP is limited to resizing and sharpening. Vivid mode rocks! I am very happy with the results! Thanks for all your suggestions.

There is softness at the corner, especially at lower left corner. I don't know whether this is 'normal' for this camera - after all the zoom range is phenominal for a tiny cam - or there is some defect in the optics. It does not seem to spoil the shots, thankfully!

The full gallery is here http://www.pbase.com/baskar_b/tennyson_rd_park







Composition could have been better in this one!





--
Baskar
http://www.pbase.com/baskar_b

You have excellent surroundings for photo taking, and already have some good shots. The R4 always surprises, for me at least.

Brian

Congrats!

I'm glad to see you are happy with the R4 - judging by your pics you have good reason to be, they are very nice!

Corner softnes is not uncommon in 28 mm pocket cams, it's more of a rule than an exception, and to find a cam wich is clearly better than the R4 wouldn't be easy, imho. The corner softness in your pics is comparabel to my own, my lower left corner is also the softest - yours may be a tiny bit softer. I have seen better and worse R4 pics (regarding corner softness) - I think it's fair to say that the lens quality is generally on a high level, but with variations... Although I could have nagged for a stricter quality control from Ricohs side, I find it much more fun to enjoy the camera, accept its "personality" and shoot!

Best regards,

Asbjørn
http://www.bytephoto.com/photopost/showgallery.php?ppuser=8797&perpage=24

Really nice pics, vivid colour really makes the most of autumn colours.

As for the soft corner, when I went out taking my first pics with my R4, I had one pic in particular which had a softness top right.

I was also concerned that I may have a faulty camera, but I haven't noticed this happen on subsequent pics. So my theory is that very occasionally the complex lens folding mechanism doesn't quite align precisely, giving a soft corner.

But as I said, this was practically a one off problem, and I more often astounded at the quality of images from the R4.

A

Great start to a great camera. I am looking forward to seeing more. Where were these taken. It is very pretty. I especially liked the last one of the leaves against the blue sky.
thanks for sharing, glad you're liking your new camera.
LG

brianj said:

You have excellent surroundings for photo taking, and already have
some good shots. The R4 always surprises, for me at least.

Click to expand...

Thank you Brian, I am pleasantly surprised too, even though I was expecting to see good IQ from the R4. When it actually delivered, it felt good!

--
Baskar
http://www.pbase.com/baskar_b

a_aa said:

I'm glad to see you are happy with the R4 - judging by your pics
you have good reason to be, they are very nice!

Click to expand...

Thanks for your kind comments! Its reassuring to know that corner softness is not unusual and quite understadable too, as you say considering the x7.1 zoom range. I agree with you, it was fun to use the camera and the corner softness or the noises it makes do not seem to reduce the quality or the fun!

--
Baskar
http://www.pbase.com/baskar_b

Andrew Higgins said:

Really nice pics, vivid colour really makes the most of autumn
colours.

Click to expand...

Thanks, the vivid mode reproduced the colour of the leaves and grass fairly accurately but the tree trunks have gone pinkish brown. It is not overtly disfiguring IMHO.

As far corner softness, I do get it in more than one pic but it doesn't worry me too much as my intention was to use the R4 for those impromptu shots and the overall image quality is outstanding for that purpose!

Thanks for your input, much appreciated!

--
Baskar
http://www.pbase.com/baskar_b

lettingg0 said:

Great start to a great camera. I am looking forward to seeing
more. Where were these taken. It is very pretty. I especially
liked the last one of the leaves against the blue sky.
thanks for sharing, glad you're liking your new camera.
LG

Click to expand...

These shots are of a public park in my home town of King's Lynn in East Anglia, UK. The leaves came out particularly well and the colour reproduction is accurate. I am also pleased to note there is hardly any noise in the blue sky!

I never would have believed Ricoh can do this!

--
Baskar
http://www.pbase.com/baskar_b