Ricoh GR: Close Range Shooting for Travel Needs?
Chris J writes:
I am looking at the Ricoh GR primarily for portability, color accuracy, ease of use and most importantly macro capability. Your review is quite extensive but I do not see any macro shots of complex/detail heavy colorful objects.
The Ricoh GR looks like it will work macro from 4 inches; my typical will be 8 to 12 inches depending on single stone or suite. I’ll use a tiny table top tripod and the self-timer max DOF. The versatility of the GR is a bonus. With the lens hood and the optical viewer it looks like a real camera (ego) I appreciate anything you can do.
DIGLLOYD: In my review of the Ricoh GR (a unusually well designed camera), I had not evaluated its close-range performance very much. I also was curious about the maximum reproduction ratio.
Note: optical viewfinder is useless for close range, but the rear LCD viewed with a good focusing loupe work well.
I started with a planar (flat) target at the closest focusing range the camera can achieve in order to get a “read” on what one might expect. A planar target is the most challenging because of field curvature and camera/subject alignment. The camera itself has some usability limitations for focusing, which I comment on.