Ricoh GXR: A12 Converter Experiments (2)

Archive

This page presents further results of some experiments that I did with the S10 converters (TC-1, DW-6) on the A12 camera units. This time, I changed the aperture to obtain a more differentiated picture.

Notes: See page A12 Converter Experiments for the preceding tests. See also Pavel Kudrys' A12-28 converter experiments: GXR A12-28mm + extension lenses (DW6, GW2, GT1, TC1)

Introduction

On this page, I continue my converter tests for the A12 camera units by changing the aperture to get o more differentiated picture. As the TC-1 converters shows strong vignetting, I test only the DW-6 converter with the A12-28 unit.

A12-28 with DW-6

I selected the following aperture values in this test: f/2.5, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, and f/22.

Test Samples

Click the images for original samples. Originals are reduced to 50% in order to save server space.

A12-28 + DW-6, 22.1 mm, f/2.5

A12-28 + DW-6, 22.1 mm, f/4

A12-28 + DW-6, 22.1 mm, f/5.6

A12-28 + DW-6, 22.1 mm, f/8

A12-28 + DW-6, 22.1 mm, f/11

A12-28 + DW-6, 22.1 mm, f/16

A12-28 + DW-6, 22.1 mm, f/22

A12-50 with DW-6

Again, I selected the following aperture values in this test: f/2.5, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, and f/22.

Test Samples

Click the images for original samples. Originals are reduced to 50% in order to save server space.

A12-50 + DW-6, 39.5 mm, f/2.5

A12-50 + DW-6, 39.5 mm, f/4

A12-50 + DW-6, 39.5 mm, f/5.6

A12-50 + DW-6, 39.5 mm, f/8

A12-50 + DW-6, 39.5 mm, f/11

A12-50 + DW-6, 39.5 mm, f/16

A12-50 + DW-6, 39.5 mm, f/22

A12-50 with TC-1

Thus time , I selected the following aperture values in this test: f/2.5, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, and f/16. At f/22 I got too long exposure times and thus fuzzy photos (hand-held...).

Test Samples

Click the images for original samples. Originals are reduced to 50% in order to save server space.

A12-50 + TC-1, 94 mm, f/2.5

A12-50 + TC-1, 94 mm, f/4

A12-50 + TC-1, 94 mm, f/5.6

A12-50 + TC-1, 94 mm, f/8

A12-50 + TC-1, 94 mm, f/11

A12-50 + TC-1, 94 mm, f/16

Conclusions

A12-28

Wide: The DW-6 might be usable and provide a useful extension at the wide angle range for the A12-28 camera unit, but overall sharpness and, much more so, corner sharpness is not satisfactory at wide open. Sharpness improves with smaller apertures and might be acceptable from f/8 on...

A12-50

Wide: The DW-6 might provide a useful extension for the A12-50 camera unit, delivering a heavy-weight 40 mm non-pancake lens combination. Sharpness is not satisfactory at all at wide open, but improves with smaller apertures. It might be acceptable from f/8 on, but seems to be worse than for the A12-28/DW-6 combination.

Tele: The TC-1 delivers a nice "smearing effect" with the A12-50 camera unit at wide open (f/2.5), which goes away with smaller apertures. Central sharpness is OK from f/5.6 on, corner sharpness improves for f/8 or f/11.

Vignetting is already visible at f/2.5, but does not disturb too much because of the fuzziness. It becomes more pronounced with smaller apertures.

All in all, the TC-1 is regrettably not the "portrait" option that many are looking for...

Forum Discussions

I will post my results in the dpreview Ricoh forum.

In addition, Pavel Kudrys did some A12-28 converter experiments and documented them on his Ricohforum Website: GXR A12-28mm + extension lenses (DW6, GW2, GT1, TC1).