Ricoh GR Digital III review

Can this third gen be a must for the pros?

The first two things that come to your attention when setting your eyes on Ricoh’s GRD III are its pedestrian looks measured up against its lavish price tag. These two key factors are enough to put some buyers off, so what makes this camera worth the money? Ricoh are not interested selling the product on gimmicks and looks, it sells itself on quality usability and performance.

Three generations in, the camera body is almost so refined it is hard to fault. A magnesium body is used to offer both durability and heat resistance whilst shooting in harsh conditions. Retro appeal of the 35mm models is apparent with simple looks and a classic camera handgrip.

Hidden within the body the flash can be released activating it within the menus. Having such an accessible yet independent flash is a real advantage when it comes to setting up shots. If the three metre range or intensity of the flash is not enough then an additional hot-shoe flash can be mounted on top of the body. 1st and 2nd curtain settings combined with 12 flash levels allow more variation of light in shots. Once the flash is activated all the settings are easily accessible.  

Think of the buttons on the camera as a blank canvas and you begin to realise how much control you have. With 3 custom setups offered, you are given almost unlimited customisation minimising your finger movement around the camera during shooting.

One key improvement in this version is the larger 3.0” LCD screen. It offers sRGB colour reproduction of 100% which is important with no optical viewfinder present. One drawback is that glare can make the screen hard to see in strong light, but viewing and zooming into images is made especially easy with the ADJ lever. Tilting the camera will rotate images in playback to the orientation you are holding it at. This has been cleverly tied in with a shot levelling system.

To improve composition of shots the electronic level feature is available whilst shooting. A great feature when you have no level objects in your composition to use as a reference. It is a well-placed addition that doesn’t distract the eye from framing the shot.

The fixed lens may put buyers off, offering no optical zoom means you need to move a lot to compensate. Digital zoom of up to 4x is offered but a lot of the time not worth using, especially once you have come accustomed to the original quality.

The new lens setup improves images in excessively low or high lighting conditions, and lower ISO ratings and high shutter speed settings allow for much more experimentation. Image quality is impressively sharp up to ISO800 and even above the noise isn’t excessive. Being given the option to shoot RAW images is a high point especially with the widely supported DNG format on offer.  

Multiple focus options are easily accessible and responsive even in lower lighting conditions. Improved metering is superb throughout the shooting options. The range this camera offers in comparison to the mark II is admirable especially with the size of sensor on offer.   

Manual focusing can be achieved in one touch with the focus slider. This will give you an accurate scale of focus for reference. Macro can be accessed in one touch and used in the same way. Close range shooting is impressive with a 1cm focus distance as a part of the lens grouping is fixed for macro shooting, thus correcting the field curvature and offering a much cleaner shot. Shadowing can be a little difficult to escape at times but all is forgiven when seeing the clarity of shot.  

The one and only drawback of the lens is its outer build quality. On various occasions the lens cover did not come together and would cause jamming. For the money this should not be the case as professional photographers demand not only quality but also reliability from their equipment.  

A 21mm conversion lens and hot flash are available as extras but this would push the camera further into low end DSLR territory, of which the versatility isn’t quite as impressive. The next logical step up would be a Four Thirds or SLR body once you have outgrown this model.

Aimed at the professional on the move this compact is the pinnacle in its class. Despite being a quality camera the money still has to be taken in to consideration and is a hindrance of this particular model.