Ricoh just announced the GRIII at Photokina, 2018. I decided to look back at the GR and write a review.
A flawed but Enjoyable Camera
The Ricoh GR is a compact digital camera. It is based on the famous and highly sought after Ricoh GR1 film cameras, which many consider to be the best point and shoot 35mm camera in existence. Although I have never handled one (I would love to own one but prices are crazy high and there is a reliability issue with them), having owned the digital version, I can see why it is such a revered camera.
The Ricoh GR digital camera that I am reviewing is the version with the APS-C sensor. Ricoh did release other GR digital cameras with smaller sensors and different focal lengths. There is also a Ricoh GRII that came out after my version but for all intent and purposes, they are the same camera (I believe the GRII has wifi and bluetooth but still has the dust problem, more on that later). The camera has a 16mp sensor, which is showing it’s age now but for what it is, it ain’t that bad when used in the right circumstances. The camera comes with a fixed focal length lens of 18.3mm which is equivalent to 28mm in full-frame/35mm lingo. It’s aperture opens up to f2.8 and close all the way down to f16. In that regard, it keeps the feel to the original film camera.
Shooting with this camera is a joy. It feels good in the hands, the size is perfect, and the controls are great for a small camera. It does take a little bit of use to get the controls down but you can say that for any camera. For it’s size, it’s control layout is pretty good.
The focal length is not for everyone. 28mm is wide and I wish there were other variations of this camera with different focal lengths. A 35mm or 45/50mm would be sweet! 28mm however gets you a wide enough view that you can pretty much capture the whole scene. I find it harder to compose when you are shooting wide. But that can also be a good thing, it will make you slow down and really have you think about what’s in your frame.
One thing that I did not expect from this camera is it’s ability to shoot macro. There is a button in the back that put the lens into macro mode and it surprisingly does it really well. It just gives this camera another dimension that I was not expecting from it.
Image quality for what this camera is pretty good. ISO performance is okay, if I am shooting beyond 1600 ISO, I am not expecting great IQ. Raw files are good enough to manipulate and there is enough dynamic range for you to play around with the files. When I shoot with this camera, I shoot both raw and jpeg simultaneously. The jpegs are definitely usable and I like how the black and whites look. The camera is almost 5 years old now but I still find the images comparable with similar cameras in the same price point today.
Focusing is not great on this camera. If it’s bright out, it gets the focus right but it’s not the fastest. In low-light conditions, it will hunt and you will struggle. There is a light assist which definitely helps but you will be blasting a green flight from your camera. If you are looking to not draw attention to yourself, turn this off.
As much I love this cameras, it does have one major flaw. Dust does get into the camera and will get on your sensor. This is totally inexcusable. It is so frustrating having the see the same dust on the sensor for years now. I have heard the GRII has better sealing but I have also heard it still has this issue. When I got the camera, the sensor was clean. But after a few weeks of using and it being in my pocket, it eventually got dust. It has gotten to a point where I almost don’t like shooting with it. You should definitely put this into consideration if you are thinking about buying this camera.
I started looking back at the photos I have taken over the years with the Ricoh GR for this review. I don’t think I really produced anything spectacular with it. I like shooting landscape and street/urban-scape and I typically shoot 120 film for that. But this is the camera I carry when I don’t want to bring a big camera with me. I am glad I did, I had fun with it, I still do, and the experience with shooting with the GR is more enjoyable than a cellphone. To anyone thinking about buying this camera, I say do it. It will probably be very cheap when the GRIII comes out. Just make sure there is no dust on the sensor.
