Review- Ricoh GR Digital III
Review-Ricoh GR Digital III
August 2009, Carl Garrard (Updated 9-30- New Firmware V1.21 Available!, 7-26-2010 Reliability Report)
| Is the Ricoh GR Digital III the best digital Ricoh Camera to date? This question almost immediatley popped into my mind while I handled the pre-production copy of the GR III, and the same question was repeated after using the final production version of this camera for this review. If you think the GR Digital III looks simliar to the camera it replaces, it does. From the front image of the GR Digital III it is hard to distinguish it from the GR Digital II it replaces, less one very important detail on the front of the lens housing- the 1:1.9 designation. |  |
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GR Digital III- Introduction and Brief History
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If you haven't yet been introduced to the Ricoh GR III (or any of its predecessors), it might behoove you to pull up a chair, sit down with a cup of coffee (or tea) and read my bit about this fantastic camera's design and heritage. The Ricoh GR series is a design that harkens back to the old days where simplicity, elegance, and functionality were more of a priority in camera design. All GR's have since been crafted with these design objectives in mind and more. The first camera produced by Ricoh badged with the "GR" designation originally appeared in 1996, with the introduction of the original GR1 film camera. When the digital age began, buyers were standing in line for a digital version of the GR, way before Ricoh announced it had actually built one. |
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To Ricoh, fully featured didn't mean the GR camera design had to be large and/or necessarily compromised, at least thats what the designers at Ricoh have always believed. Instead, Ricoh designed the GR series to be much smaller than normal cameras yet still completely functional and feature packed - often much more so than the competition. Since its beginnings, GR's have stacked up an impressive list of prestigious awards worldwide, and for some very good reasons. Ricoh cameras have earned a near cult of loyal followers that respect the 'no compromise in design' philosophy that really makes these cameras stand out from the crowd.
From the massively popular Ricoh Flex III (released in 1950) to all subsequent models, Ricoh has established itself as a viable and leading camera manufacturer. Ricoh has made many different models of cameras, even SLRs at one point in time, that have have always earned the respect and admiration of their owners, and the industry as a whole. The difference has always been, at least with the GR series, that most Ricoh models have accomplished nearly all of what SLRs and other advanced cameras could do, yet in a much smaller and lighter package.
Size does matter. A smaller camera enables photographers to bring them along nearly everywhere because bulk and weight aren't a concern, especially when you can slide one in your pocket like the GR. Yet Ricoh's compromise of photographic features and quality has always been reduced to the absolute bare minimum, and often even surpassing competition. This same philosophy has helped bring appeal to the GR series unlike any other camera, and to this day still continues to polarize a legion of loyal fans and new fans alike.
| In 2005, Ricoh introduced the GR series with a digital image sensor, aptly named the Ricoh GR Digital which is the official successor to the GR1 (and GR1s) film camera, which was to not have an official replacement. You can see the similarities and design traits carried over from the original GR1 film camera (to the right). An almost instant sensation, the original GR Digital was lavished with award after after award among the photo community during its lifespan and continues to this day to be a highly popular and sought after digital camera. Continuing in tradition, the original GR Digital was equipped with a 28mm fixed focal high quality Ricoh lens, including a rather bright max f/2.4 aperture. It added a hot shoe and many new design features that cemented a new path towards the digital future. |  |
The New Ricoh GR Digital III, A New Era
On July 27th, 2009, the GR Digital III was officially announced, and with it a new flash and wide angle 21mm equivalent lens. As you can see, the GRD III isn't just a compact camera, it is a fully featured compact camera system. Although the announcement wasn't long ago, it seems the rather lack luster photography news this year (no doubt due to the shaky economic times) might have given the new GR III a real spotlight platform in which to shine for its debut. It has been well received so far overall, but in my mind it certainly deserves much more praise and press than it has garnered thus far. This review reveals why I think so.
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One of the biggest to date.
Congrats Carl, one of the biggest and definitely most thorough reviews to date. Your time and effort has truly paid off.
Thanks Carl, a great review
and no noise reduction used, I find that so hard to believe (but I do). Now can you really totally shut off NR? I know on the E-P1 it is not possible to shut it off completely and I was under the impression that on previous Ricoh professional cameras that you could not. The images are all stunning, the camera looks wonderful. Thanks for taking the time and writing such a thorough review.
Joel
Bravo!
Well done, interesting, and a balanced review...
And hey; you aren't a bad photographer in your spare time ;)
H
Thanks you guys
I appreciate it, glad you liked the review. It was a fun one.
:)
Ricoh GR Digital 3 lens
Thanks for your review Carl
After using a GRD2 for almost two years and sending it several times to the repair facility (CRIS Cam in the US), I really hope that for this new model Ricoh engineers redesigned the lens so dust stops getting inside it so easily. According to many users this is a very common problem in Ricohs cameras and also very expensive to fix ($260 for cleaning-replace lens in CRIS Cam)
My pleasure
I understand what you mean. I've seen accounts of Ricohs in the past having this issue. Having discussed this issue personally with Ricoh, I know that they are not only aware of it but have been taking steps to prevent this on all Ricoh cameras. They have been doing so for over a year now to my knowledge.
Know that I will continue to report any long term issues here on this review and update it accordingly, along with all of the firmware updates that are inevitably coming from Ricoh for its users (they are really good about that, aren't they?).
Thank you for your comment!
Carl
Nice review, but I'd love some actual measurements on DR
What you say, on the basis of "eyeballing" it, implies that the GRD III gets 11 stops of DR in RAW. That seems somewhat implausible. Some actual measurements would be nice.
Fair enough point
But I don't do that. DXO DPR places like that, they do that stuff. :) Just being honest. Since as you say I don't have any lab tests to back up my "eyeballed evaluation" take my comments in stride please. I just figured people would automatically, like any review.
For this review, I am only comparing printed/viewable output to DSLRs that get typically 11.5-12 1/4 stops of dynamic range, such as the A900/700 etc.
If my estimates are way off, I can eat crow. I doubt they are though.
Thanks for your comments.
Carl
I'm somewhat puzzled & still skeptical
Thanks for the reply, but I'm still skeptical & somewhat puzzled by what you say. DPR, which as you point out does measure, shows at best 10 stops for an A900 (I'd include the link, but your website won't let me post it) & from what I've seen and read, 9-10 is typical for today's DSLRs. The 11.5-12 range is more characteristic of film. That's why I find it very hard to believe that a small-sensor P&S like the Ricoch can produce 11. I suspect it's probably closer to 9.
DXO, Imaging Resource
Both had the A900 at 12 stops of range in raw, If I recall correctly.
Remember that Ricoh introduced the Pixel Output Algorithm technology into the Jpegs, they claim it adds 1 stop of dynamic range to the Jpegs, and I believe that based on what I see.
The Canon G10 has 10+ stops of DR on raws on DXO, check out the results. This sensor is less dense than the G10 plus it is a brand new higher sensitivity type, based on the output of Jpegs I conclude it has more DR than the G10 visibly, on prints and on screen. DXO is my main source for comparison for guesstimation, I hope that helps un-puzzle you a bit.
But I don't want to get into a war of numbers. Thats not what I do, you can take or leave what my estimations on this subject thats up to you. Thats why I stated what I did in the review.
Carl
thanks
thanks for the review.
just ordered mine today and cant wait to start using it!
You are welcome Jens, glad to do it!
Let us know what you think of it if you are able too ok?
Carl
first impressions
hi!
i just got my grd 3 yesterday and so didnt have the chance to fully explore it yet.
however after stepping through the menues and customizing some stuff i am left with one question.
in low light situations the camera seems to focus more on a low iso than a quick shutter time.
i shot several shots with 1/30 on iso 120 or so.
is there any way to change this? i mean theoretically 1/30 should be fine with a length of 24mm (35 mm equiv) when not moving.
when moving and using quicksnap it seems a bit low for me as objects easily blur.
what are my alternatives? auto high iso? if i use this which iso do i go for maximum?
if i go lets say for iso 400 all pictures will have some noise and what happens if the shot would need iso 800 instead?
or should i better shoot on shutter priority and dont worry about the arperture because its depth of field is even at 1.9 quite deep if the object is more than 1 meter away.
apart from this. i really like the camera. image quality seems to be good even if still far away from dslr. havent seen the raw's yet and can't comment on pictures without denoise but the jpg's on the screen look fine in terms of noise and pictures seem definitely useable.
my lens makes some very sick noises when moving in but works fine (hope it will stay like this).
the metal blades which "protect" the lens don't seem to be strong and putting the camera in the pocket as it is is probably not the best idea.
does anyone know if there are cases available where the camera fits in which are more like the pvc cases you can get for iphones or ipods which are like a second skin?
customization and picture options in general are amazing and even having a dslr and having read some books about photography I have to look several things up in the manual. as i shoot in raw half of them are useless for me but i am sure that lots of people will appreciate the possibillities.
as this is my first grd i am realy impressed by the quicksnap option. i set it to 2 m and took some shots of random people on my way home. imagequality is great (sunlight) and the shutterlag seems to be minimal.
thank god it is friday and i have a whole weekend to get into it.
"Currently the industries
"Currently the industries largest aperture on a compact @ f/1.9"
Doesn't Samsung EX-1/TL-500 feature f/1.8 lens?
"Currently"
...means at the time of writing the article. I thought that would be evident :).
The GRD III was the industries largest aperture compact (current compact that is) till the Samsung came along. Olympus had a camera with an f/1.8 max aperture at one point too- over 6 years ago. So its nothing new.
But do they do it like
But do they do it like Ricoh, do they have the feel, the materials, the UI, the lens that ricoh makes themselves?