Chinatown II, Bangkok

R0002201RICOH GR (18.3mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO500)

Same day, same place but a different camera. This time it’s the Ricoh GR using it’s famous Snap focus function ( for the three shot’s in the middle of this post ).

Those images were taken before I took out my trusty Fuji XP1. The reason why I took out the Fuji is simple. The XF14mm. Maybe one of the best lenses I ever had no matter the system. And the 21mm equ. suits street shooting in Asia much better than 28mm. I need to get the add-on wide lens for the Ricoh!

R0002184RICOH GR (18.3mm, f/4.5, 1/320 sec, ISO3200)
R0002154RICOH GR (18.3mm, f/5, 1/500 sec, ISO800)
R0002176RICOH GR (18.3mm, f/5, 1/500 sec, ISO400)

Otherwise the snap focus feature is a great help in street shooting. The fastest autofocus is slower than a pre focused camera. As simply as simple as that. The Ricoh GR is no king when it comes to AF especially in lower light and it is really poor in low light.

It’s obvious that Ricoh doesn’t have the know how of some of it’s competitors but they were able to find a good solution to make the GR one of the quickest cameras when it comes to street shooting. Very smart! I think I figured out the best setting for snap focus: f4.5 and 2.5 meters puts everything from about 1.5 meters to infinity in focus while f4.5 is still good enough to allow lower ISO settings at 1/500s in good light. When you go beyond f8 you gain depth of field but the ISO setting to keep the fast shutter speed can get very high.

R0002203RICOH GR (18.3mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO100)