photographer
Ricoh GRIII Review
(Full disclosure: Ricoh kindly lent me the GRIII for a two-month period. I was not asked to write a review. These are my genuine thoughts.)
I’d never shot with one before but I was no stranger to the GRIII - you can’t be a street photographer in Tokyo and not notice all the GRs everywhere. (Several of my friends own one, too.) Nonetheless, it was a massive departure for me as someone that's been shooting manual focus lenses on full-frame digital bodies for several years.
It's light. Tiny, too. Pocketable. Years ago I used to keep up with camera reviews and the writers seemed very generous with the label "pocketable". There was a habit of touting bricks (or thereabouts) as being pocketable. The term fits the GRIII however, which sat comfortably in my jacket pocket when I wasn't shooting. And you know what they say: the best camera is the one you have with you...
I threw on an old thumb grip from another camera I used to own to improve my hold, but given it's size and weight, I don't think it was really necessary.
I opted for the 28mm over the newer 40mm GRIIIX, but feel I would've enjoyed that too. As it happens, 28 and 40 are my two most-used focal lengths.
The lens and sensor combo is capable of producing very sharp images. The 24mp sensor provides more than enough resolution (if you don't crop into your images) and it being APS-C lends itself to large depth of field street compositions better than full-frame does.
When I first got it, one of the first things I noticed was the internal storage enabling you to take up to 40 raw images without an SD card. I couldn’t believe it. For a first impression, that was a pretty good one. I have no idea if internal memory has become a common feature nowadays, but even if you've never been victim to sudden memory card corruption or been that guy/girl that left the house without an SD card in your camera, the safety of having that backup is reassuring and a more than welcome addition.
When I was due to receive the GR, I told some fellow photographer friends and one messaged me saying "it's like a cheat code" and there was truth to that. The GRIII reduces the practical barrier of entry to street photography dramatically. Key being that it reduces the need to really commit yourself to shots; there's no need to adopt a stance and raise it to your eye. Its lightness and monitor-only finder encourages you to make full use of the articulation of your arm. So, suddenly, the device I'm using to copy and paste reality into jpegs (well, raws) is extended away from my eye and my body like a foreign appendage on a mutual mission. It's an entirely different way of shooting and encourages an "erratic tourist" fluidity of movement through the environment.
Yes, I could ignore the EVF on my main cameras and turn on their LCDs, but they still wouldn’t be as unobtrusively small, light and subsequently inviting to the hand. And my interest in the GR wasn’t born from a desire to replicate my normal workflow in a different form factor. We can grow enamored with cameras, but they are all tools of a craft, each with their own roles they can play and the GRIII is no different. The GRIII is a compact camera made for the snapshot -- a role it excels at.
And if you want to take things slow and make more calm and considered captures, then that can be done too, of course.
It is an understated, minimal camera and this extends to features in the menus where you can do things such as turn off the power indicator light. The leaf shutter makes it quiet to operate with a shutter sound not far off from the tick of an analog clock. The camera powers up fast, despite having to extend its lens out and is very responsive. The hybrid autofocus system performed well except in very low-light situations.
The battery life left me wanting, but this is always a problem for me, no matter the camera. With the Ricoh’s body being so small, I’m not sure how much more efficient they could make it run. Ricoh were actually kind enough to send me an extra battery, which I made good use of. I should also note that not everyone is as demanding of their cameras as myself, so your mileage may vary. I would basically just leave it turned on with no breaks as I wandered the streets. If I ever find myself in possession of one again, I might try attaching an external OVF and turning off the monitor, but that would be for more than just hopes of prolonging the battery life.
My copy was a well-weathered review unit with an over-sensitive directional pad and there was a bug I encountered a couple of times where it would freeze up, but this was easily fixed by a quick off/on. My biggest issue with the GR actually turned out to be user error, caused by the GR’s impressive macro mode…which I accidentally and unknowingly turned on a few times, resulting in the lens going on leisurely and never-ending hunts for close-proximity subjects that didn’t exist. (I didn't check, but maybe you can disassociate the function from the button.) Even without the mode turned on, it achieved focus on objects much closer than I expected, to the point that it sometimes focused on an object I was trying to use as out-of-focus foreground.
One of the features that always appealed to me is the snapshot mode, which is zone focusing but with a single preset focal distance. It's activated by quickly and fully depressing the shutter button and works exactly as advertised. A feature I forgot it had -- for an embarrassing amount of time -- is the touchscreen. I’d never used one on a camera beyond my cellphone before. It worked as you’d hope it would and I wish I had made use of it more, especially given the aforementioned close-focus mishaps.
What I’d really like to see in future iterations is weather-sealing, something I’m sorely missing in my current setups. Even without it, the GRIII is a camera I could very much see having as part of my kit and someday might.
If you're looking to get into street photography, the GRIII could be a good place to start. It's popular for a reason. The III's 28mm is a classic focal length for street and the IIIX's 40mm is a great option too.
Even if you already have a main camera, the GRIII or 40mm IIIx could also make for an excellent second or third. Whatever role it may fill for you, this little black box punches above its weight and, quite quickly, you may find it’s the camera you always have with you.
Many thanks to the Ricoh GR division’s Iwasaki-san, Ichikawa-san and all the other GR staff I've had the pleasure to meet.