Ricoh GR III: First impression

Through Clubsnap, I managed to finally get a hold of this recently announced Ricoh GR III. Here are some of the shots of my first outing with this compact camera:

Standard color mode:

HDR mode:

BW mode:

For the monotone modes alone, there are four preset settings users can choose from, i.e. BW (standard monotone), Soft BW, Hard Monotone, High Contrast BW.

Like all other shots, this indoor shot was taken handheld without a tripod.

ISO: 100 1/15 F2.8

... and for the night shots:

ISO: 800 1/30 F2.8

ISO: 640 1/30 F2.8

ISO 3200, 1/30, F2.8

Macro mode:

ISO 200, 1/60 F2.8

ISO 200 1/160 F2.8

ISO 400, 1/50 F2.8

ISO 100 1/30 F2.8

For specs, please visit http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/products/gr-3/spec/index.html

 

[rty]

ISO 800 1/50 F2.8

Update Mar 4, 2019:

After using GR III for three consecutive days, here are the few points that I would like to share:

Image Control

The preset image control settings of GR III are: Standard, Vivid, BW (4 presets), HDR, Retro, Bleach Bypass, and Positive film. Each of this setting can be tweaked by users to suit their individual tastes, such as on saturation, hue, high/low key adjustment, contrast, highlight, shadow, sharpness, toning, shading, clarity, and grain effect.

Additionally, for those who don’t want to mess around with the default settings, there are two custom settings users can play with. Below are shots using my own custom settings of BW HDR:

Battery Life:

Battery life of GR III has a CIPA rating of 200 shots only. Existing owners of the previous model, Ricoh GR II (which CIPA rating is 320 shots) might want to take note before ordering. Personally I don't find this short battery life a deal breaker though since I can take consolation from the fact that GR III uses USB-C, which means I can use any powerbank for charging.

Touch Screen

The touch screen feature can be enabled or disabled, and has several options:
1. Set AF point
2. Set AF point and focus
3. Set AF point, focus, and shoot

I tried option 3 since I thought it is the most effecient way to take snapshots but unfortunately I ended up having some out-of-focus shots. Apparently using option 3 allows the camera to shoot even though the focus lock state has not been attained. This particular case happened mostly in low light condition and macro mode. Perhaps this is a firmware issue which Ricoh will fix in the next firmware upgrade.

Connectivity

GR III supposedly can connect to mobile phones via Wifi or Bluetooth (for image viewing and transfer), but unfortunately, I am unable to test it since I cannot get it to work with my Huawei P20 for both wifi and Bluetooth. I have tried using Ricoh ImageSync app downloaded from Google Playstore but no luck. At the time of this writing, GR III is not even listed in the app menu option. I did see it works somehow on someone Apple iPhone though. I am sure this can be fixed by Ricoh in the next firmware release.

 

[zaren]

Looks good.

 

[keithwee]

Nice to see some samples, maybe can share more on the performance of the GR III with its hybrid focusing system?

 

[Kiddream]

How come the photos look out of focus?

 

[rty]

Nice to see some samples, maybe can share more on the performance of the GR III with its hybrid focusing system?

The GR III hybrid AF system doesn't disappoint but to be honest, it doesn't wow me either. I feel the performance is just about the same as my old Sony RX-100 Mark I.

 

[keithwee]

The GR III hybrid AF system doesn't disappoint but to be honest, it doesn't wow me either. I feel the performance is just about the same as my old Sony RX-100 Mark I.

Thanks for sharing. The GR III is one camera I have been looking forward to but haven't been able to try. Hope the B&W is still as spectacular.

 

[oldchaptoday]

having used gr since film days, the standout point is its size ... IQ from any camera largely is up to the shooter .... portability means more practice

 

[vengels]

Review in German. From 8m05s onwards, review of the AF. It seems AF in low light doesn't look too good. But this is not the final firmware.