Tell me about Ricoh GRD III ...

[Matus]

OK, some of you may have noticed that since some time I am ranting about nice small and capable cameras in this sub-forum including Leica X1, Ricoh GXR, Fuji X100 and some nice P&S like Canon S95 or Olympus XZ-1.

Now - few days ago when I went to local shop for some hands-on with X1 and GXR the shop assistant brought to me by accident also the GRD3 so I played with it a little before moving to the big guys.

I was very impressed by the way the camera felt in hand and how it responded. I know that it is a fixed 28/1.9 and I have stated several times that my preferences for fixed lens are 35mm, but as I have just learned there is a 0.75x convertor that gives you 21 mm field of view - something that does sound interesting to me. Ricoh anyhow never introduced a compact camera with 35 mm fixed lens (film or digital) so it would make little sense to expect that to happen any soon. Even the GXR is missing this focal length.

However as there are no reviews at the big review sites I find it hard to directly compare this camera to S95 or XZ-1.

So - I would like to hear your opinions on the GRDIII and on its image quality. I know it was introduced a little while ago and possibly a new model could come out in the summer (just my own speculation). What should one expect image quality wise when comparing this camera to its more recent peers that actually offer about the same speed at 28 mm setting.

 

[KerryMcClain]

If you haven't seen this review already, it might have some good info for you:

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2011/01/22/the-ricoh-gr-digital-iii-review/

I just took receipt of a GRDIII a couple of days ago. Still figuring out how to run it, but so far I like it alot.

Kerry

 

[BearCatCow]

Absolutely love the GRD3. Fits in a pocket and f1.9 + good high ISO performance means it's very versatile through varying light.

I like that it's fixed at 28mm. And it has very little distortion for a wide lens.

Best manual controls for aperature and shutterspeed you'll find on a compact cam of this size. In full manual mode one dial adjusts aperture and another dial adjusts shutter speed. A press of a 3rd button will cause it to meter for you.

In program auto modes, you can directly change EV with dedicated EV buttons (where zoom buttons typically are on a non-fixed lens camera).

Excellent white balance. Highly configurable. You can have 3 user presets for your favorite color profiles, shooting modes and all that bound to the mode dial on top. I have mine switch between a base ISO, good light mode, a low light mode. Furthermore you can have a bank of various setting and modes with names like "low light" "street" "people" "landscape" "food" etc saved into the camera memory that you can load onto the 3 user preset dial slots quickly.

2 Customizable FN buttons can be set to do whatever you want it to do. I have 1 bound to switch between color/BW, and another between auto/manual focus.

Really good macro mode.

You can get a great OVF for it for shooting in bright light. The 21mm .75x tube is very fun too. 🙂

Oh! and the manual focus mode shows a DOF indicator to help with zone focusing. Very useful!

I really have no complaints about it. If I nitpick... The older GRD's, 1 & 2, have a 40mm adapter that I wish the 3 had. But the bigger lens and aperature probably makes that unpractical in some manner that I don't know about.

So as long as you like the 28mm and 21mm perspective, I highly highly recommend it.

Those are my thoughts on handling. For image quality check out flickr's camera finder and compare~

 

[Archiver]

I love my GRD III, and it is my default small sensor camera.

Apart from the superb ergonomics and build quality, the image quality is top rate for a small sensor camera. With Lightroom 3 I can tweak the DNG's a lot, and there is a surprising amount of hidden detail in shadows and highlights.

I have the 21mm converter and it is a real winner, too. While it does have some chromatic aberration, it is still very sharp, and it's the only way you'd get a 21mm f1.9 lens in almost anything.

If the GRD III had the 40mm converter that the older models had, it could be a complete travel set for the weight conscious photographer.


GRD III - Descending Lanterns by Archiver, on Flickr


GRD III - The Time Traveller by Archiver, on Flickr


GRD III - Nine by Archiver, on Flickr

 

[emasterphoto]

I just took delivery of one a few days ago as well. Everyone above already described it pretty well, so I'll just say great little camera. The image quality is quiite good and the lens is sharp and fast. These were a few from the test shots on the first day:

 

[Matus]

Thank you for your replies (and nice photos!). Sounds like the little Ricoh is indeed worth a look. I am also glad to hear that the wide angle convertor is actually usable - there are rather few sample photos out there (and very few interesting).

As I said - the camera felt very good in hand (simply a smaller brother of GXR). Ability to produce rather nice BW out of camera is also an advantage at time.

So the GRDIII made it onto my short list 🙂 Not too many cameras there right now (X1, GXR, XZ-1, S95)

Still - being such a geek I would like to see a review of GRDIII over at DPreview.

 

[hexiplex]

Do yourself a favour and check out the wonderful thread with photos RFFr's have taken with the GRD series of cameras, really some great stuff in there that shows off just what the camera is capable of.

Personally, I love my GRD III, it was more or less the only camera that I used during last years trip to China and Australia, just for the simple fact that it was so light and so easy to take anywhere. It's a bit sad that the Leicas I brought along didn't see much use because of how easy (and fun) to use and carry the GRD III is. In my opinion, the camera also works in just about any light you'd want to take pictures in, I find the results usable up to ISO 1600 if you're target is B&W, but often you don't have to go that high thanks to the fast lens this little sucker has been blessed with. I also love the fact that the camera is easily expandable to a 21mm lens, I just wish Ricoh would release the 40mm conversion lens for the GRD III just as they did for the GRD II.

Four photos from Beijing and Melbourne taken with the GRD III.

 

[Matus]

Do yourself a favour and check out the wonderful thread with photos RFFr's have taken with the GRD series of cameras, ....

So I did 🙂 I do not know why I have half-ignored the thread - there is some really nice work (I just can not figure out which part was made by photographer and which by camera 😉 )

When I think of the GRD3 I tend to compare it to GXR with 28 mm A12 module. Apples and oranges - I know. But I am wondering what apart from the size and 21 mm option does the GXR misses. I guess that image processor is similar (or tuned similarly) as the BW I have seen from the GXR looked very good too. Ricoh could indeed introdice 21 mm A12 module, I would get one.

Compared to XZ-1 - well - this is tough. GRD3 is smaller and better build and offers 21 with the additional lens - on the other side the XZ-1 goes up to 112 mm and gives the most detailed RAW files I have ever seen . If there was a 40 mm convertor for GRD3 (my understanding is that it will not come) I would probably go for it. The XZ-1 has two distinct advantages apart from the obvious differences (1) it can be charged directly via USB cable from PC (2) the built-in 3 Stop ND filter.

Tough choices ..

 

[filmfan]

I bought one and shot it for 7 days. I sold it after the week and it has never crossed my mind since.

 

[Matus]

I bought one and shot it for 7 days. I sold it after the week and it has never crossed my mind since.

Finally somebody who did not like it. But could you mention what bugged you about the camera and which camera did you than choose instead? What was the purpose for the camera? Please share.

 

[filmfan]

Finally somebody who did not like it. But could you mention what bugged you about the camera and which camera did you than choose instead? What was the purpose for the camera? Please share.

I did not 'dislike' it in the way you make it sound. That being said, it just did not feel any different to use, or produce images that I could differentiate from my $30 Casio Exilim point and shoot.
I also decided to keep the GR-D original.

 

[nightfly]

Can any of you GRD III fans share your settings.

Just got one and am baffled on how to set it up for quick street shooting. It is so configurable, I can't quite wrap my head around it. Between the 3 custom modes and the configurable buttons and the way buttons do different things according to mode, I'm overwhelmed. Want to run back to my Leica with just aperture and shutter speed.

I'd like something like snap mode but a way to quickly go to autofocus if needed.

RAW but with the option of switching between color and black and white jpegs.

And maybe something to quickly change ISO if needed.

I think if I could duplicate someone's settings I'd then have a baseline to start with.

Thanks.

 

[cidereye]

Can any of you GRD III fans share your settings.

Just got one and am baffled on how to set it up for quick street shooting. It is so configurable, I can't quite wrap my head around it. Between the 3 custom modes and the configurable buttons and the way buttons do different things according to mode, I'm overwhelmed. Want to run back to my Leica with just aperture and shutter speed.

I'd like something like snap mode but a way to quickly go to autofocus if needed.

RAW but with the option of switching between color and black and white jpegs.

And maybe something to quickly change ISO if needed.

I think if I could duplicate someone's settings I'd then have a baseline to start with.

Thanks.

What I do with the GRD II is save snap mode along with AP mode to MY1 setting then you can quickly turn dial into AP or P mode to use AF if/when you wish.

Same with RAW/B&W, just save to MY2/MY3 or whatever.

As regards ISO you can save adjustment to a custom button (Fn) for quick access if you wish. Or even the zoom button I think. 😉

Spend plenty of time playing around and checking the manual and you will figure it in no time. 🙂

 

[v_roma]

I don't have it in front of me so I can't give you the full settings. It would also be a lot of work to type given the huge number of settings that can be customized 🙂 I basically set my GRD III to mimic the zone focusing system of the Olympus XA2, which is my favorite street film camera. As such, all three modes are set to full snap mode and the only difference between the three modes is the focus distance (1 = 1.5m, 2 = 2.5m, 3 = 5m). If you use the DoF calculator, you will see that even at f1.9, the DoF provided by the small sensor and short focal length is very generous so you don't really have to worry about not having enough DoF wide open. This is why I now shoot in shutter priority mode (usually 125+ seconds) with auto iso up to 1600 and the option to go to slower speeds if the camera can't expose properly at 125s/f1.9/iso 1600 (I think this is a new addition of the latest firmware update). I used to shoot Av mode and auto iso but found that the camera always tried to use the min shutter speed of 1/30, which is too slow for me. Since aperture does not really limit DoF much in this camera, I found that Tv mode was the way to go for me.

Also, I have it set up for full snap mode rather than auto-focus with full snap on since I tended to jerk the camera too much in my attempt to bypass the AF to use the snap focus. This is my problem and no fault of the camera, of course. I have one of my Fn buttons set to switch between snap focus and AF so when I do need the latter, it's very easy to switch.

Hope this helps.

Can any of you GRD III fans share your settings.

Just got one and am baffled on how to set it up for quick street shooting. It is so configurable, I can't quite wrap my head around it. Between the 3 custom modes and the configurable buttons and the way buttons do different things according to mode, I'm overwhelmed. Want to run back to my Leica with just aperture and shutter speed.

I'd like something like snap mode but a way to quickly go to autofocus if needed.

RAW but with the option of switching between color and black and white jpegs.

And maybe something to quickly change ISO if needed.

I think if I could duplicate someone's settings I'd then have a baseline to start with.

Thanks.