I recently bought one and am yet to use it as I'm beginner. I've been watching lots of youtube reviews and tutorials and yours, Lonnie has been the most helpful. Thanks for a great video!
Ricoh GR in my experience as a owner and user is fantastic for producing images, but they definitely hit and miss on durability. Mine has sprung back to life recently after, playing up. Love it. I also shoot regularly with a D850, D700, X100F and a Leica Q, the Ricoh is still a favourite and close to hand always to capture a image. It’s a black and white street monster. Great video, subscribed.
Thanks for the sub! Sometimes I miss my d750 -- Nikon has always made fantastic bodies (and glass). The Leica Q has called my name for years now as well but I try to ignore it lol -- that lens is special. And yes I think I'm going to get back to shooting DNG + JPEG with a high contrast black and white profile applied since Ricoh does such a good job with the black and white options. Thanks again!
Just stumbled onto your video. I just bought a used GR III. Your video was definitely the best of all the reviews I’ve seen. Your delivery and insight gave a very clear overview. It filled in all the blanks that the other videos were missing. Much appreciated…Subscribed.
Great video! I just purchased a Ricoh Griii so I can document my family. I wasn't sure if 28mm would be too distorted but your photo samples helped alot. There's not much info on the camera when it comes to family documentary
Great review with an actual normal person understanding. Lol most of the reviews I see on the camera mainly based on the people that are really into that “world”.
Great review man! Love how knowledgeable and straightforward you are with your comments and advice. Love my GR3 and fully agree with everything you've said about its strengths and weaknesses. Keep up the great work!
My back dial also had issue likes yours. I brought back to Ricoh and asked they to fix it. It turned out it was dust inside the wheel. After they cleaned it, everything works just fine.
Yeah I suspect it's fairly easy for dust to find it's way inside the camera. I hope they can figure out how to weather seal the next version! Thank you!
Dope little review my dude. I have the GR3 and no issues to date. The build quality does bother me and I find myself trying to baby it cause of all the things you hear other people experience. Sensor dust is my biggest fear with this thing. I also think that a major reason for all of these issue is lack of quality checks as these roll off the manufacturing line. I also have the Fujifilm x100v and love love love that thing. I think the x100v and GR3 is a nice combo
Thank you! I really hope they can figure out a way to weather seal the next GR. If they can do that, add a seamless tilting screen like the x100v, address build quality concerns, and update the sensor and AF. I think it would take it to the next level. It's so close to being the perfect pocket camera for me. Thanks again for commenting!
Lonnie... hey - hope this helps: REAR SCROLL WHEEL... to fix the rear scroll wheel you gotta use 1 or 2 quick sprays of plastic safe electrical contact cleaner (CRC brand is cheap and good) ... compressed air (or just rotating it forever like ppl suggest) will do nothing but blow or move dust and gunk around. There is dust/dirt/debris mixed with finger oils in there. This is what e-contact cleaner is FOR. Same things happens to game-controller thumb-sticks and mouse scroll wheels. Any place grubby hands & finger rub a control surface again and again over time. It's weird that I keep seeing this listed at an issue by so many GR owners. It takes 30 seconds of and another 30-60 seconds of letting it dry. Sorted.
I love my little GRIII, was briefly tempted by the GRIIIX but the 40mm alone wasn't enough to justify the cost. I will likely stick with the ricoh as my main grab and go camera for the foreseeable future, unless Ricoh release the GRIV with something special about it (faster aperture, tilt screen, and the ability to set front or rear curtain when using external flash are my wishlist features)
Tilt screen is towards the top of my list -- right behind fixing build quality issues. Add weather sealing and upgraded AF and I think I'd be happy with the next iteration.
You know that any Ricoh GR or GRD is a great camera to have in your pocket for the moment. They are all GOOD , even the old ones . It's a pocket camera . Pull , power up , frame , shoot . Job done ! The new Ricoh's are just faster at their job . Tilt screen , really ? By the time you adjust it , the moment is passed .
You don’t need to adjust it if it’s already tilted for waist level shooting as you walk around. Also, there are plenty of times when you have time to frame shots and want to get an angle that is difficult to see the back lcd from - particularly low from the ground shooting slightly up. The camera is usable for more things than street or fast action…
Thank you Lonnie for the great and honest review. I am between GRIII and X100V, so this was very helpful. Also, as a new subsciber I will check your other videos. Keep up good work!
@@Lonnie.G I haven't recently either. In warmer climate I believe some people had issues with photos too from what I remember. B&H is out of stock for a long time now.
Nicely done.....a thorough explanation as you walked all thru it. I love the GR111....am tempted to also get the Gr111x and might since I like the option then of a 40 or 28. But will see...
@@jd5787 Stuck a piece of glass onto the front. and always keep it insiide a microfibre bag. I also clean it every couple weeks to reduce dirty build up.
Nice work again. If it had a f2.0 lens it'd already have one. So for now it's still Fuji 18/2 on the X-E2 for compacts, but it's interesting to see that companies are looking into the 28mm cameras and lenses, like the Q and Fuji's 18/1.4, which became far too big for my taste.
Yes the 18/2 really is something special still. I think if this couldn’t fit into any pocket I own it would lose its appeal for me. That’s truly what makes this unique for me. Going out without being a bag or strap but not having to carry a camera in hand is nice when photography isn’t my main focus. And yeah the Q is kind of huge though that 1.7 lens is nice!
I wonder if 2022 will be the year we see a Ricoh GR IV as it's been about three years since the GRIII was released. I'm guessing the answer to this is 'no' given the GRIIIx has only just come out and is very much a CC of the GRIII but with a different focal length. Having said that, it'd suck to pick up a GRIII only to see a new and improved version come out later in the year. This is the way it goes with cameras.
Though it's already a wonderful camera, if the Ricoh had a tilt screen, it would be damn near perfect. The quality of this camera over what you get out of any phone has no comparison. The Ricoh image quality is wonderful. The only camera I've considered to replace it is a cheaper RX100 V, because the newer RX100's have the zoom lense which is slower. Andrew over at Andrew & Danae did a good comparison of compact cameras that included the ricoh.
I've been recovering from a long term illness. Over 3 yrs so far. Long to get back into photography. Still quite weak, so can't cope with anything heavy equipment wise. Hence, I've been looking at the GRiii & the X. But the issues mentioned, focus & sensor, build quality, durability and dust are enough to frighten me off. Such a shame. I won't until Ricoh will.
Yeah I often wish I would have picked up a GR II just because of the scroll wheel, better buttons, and the flash. But it seems electronics cleaner has fixed my scroll wheel issue for now
I “fixed” the rear dial issue by rotating in one way continuously for about 2 minutes straight and then again the other way. The longer you do it the better in my experience. Give it a go.
Yeah I’ve done that a bunch of times. Eventually it always comes back for me personally. The longer I rotate it, the longer it lasts I’ve found. But it’s always come back for me a week or two later
@@Lonnie.G Great video. Regarding that rear dial, if dial preference is not an issue, you can also use the front dial (top of grip) in that example you gave when adjusting the ISO. My rear dial also has issues, but I just use the front dial for that ISO adjustment now.
Thanks for the review. Sounds like there is some serious issues with that back dial. And the low light focus hunting. I’ll wait and see what the GRiv has to offer. Wouldn’t mind having something small for certain occasions. Like today, I was taking pics of the grandkids playing with my xpro2 and thought how nice it would have been with a GR. I don’t know if I can spend a 1000 on something that will break.
Thanks for watching. Some will say the issues I stated are overblown but I think they are real unless you plan to absolutely baby the camera. As much as I love this camera I wouldn’t blame anyone for being put off by some of the issues. Luckily the electronics contact cleaner I sprayed in the dial fixed the jumpy issue but the middle button falling off is still super annoying.
@@Lonnie.G yeah, that kinda stuff shouldn’t happen to cameras at that price point. Either quality control is down or they overcharge for what you get. So annoying. Thanks for replying.
same issue despite having it sent in twice for serving. Build quality defiantly not up to par with the previous one which I still use and own. My only grip about the camera which is obviously a manufacturing defect. I wish Ricoh would issue a recall or out of warrant repair/replacement. Other than that its still a very favorite camera of mines and it goes everywhere with me.
Quality control is probably the only thing holding me back from pulling the trigger on this camera. Despite all of its amazing benefits, I find it difficult to accept that Ricoh is shipping a product that has such issues with the back dial. I've also read online from other users that dust and the ring around the lens are also problematic - not for all users, but for many.
I love the GR concept. I even owned the GR2. My main issue and the reason to get rid of it was the 18mm 2.8 lens was so limiting when it came to subject separation. I felt I was getting similar results with my iPhone 11 Pro at the time. (As long as II didn’t pixel peep).
Yeah I agree for certain types of shots it can kind of give a phone vibe. I really want to try the GR IIIx . Having that and this in each pocket could be really interesting to me !
@@Lonnie.G great video man! Question for you… if you were to take a trip out of the country and just wanted to capture moments would the GR be your camera or choice? If it is would you grab the 28mm or the 40mm being that our phones are 28mm?
That’s always a tough question. It certainly personal but I believe I could use just this camera. A lot of these pictures were from a trip to Philadelphia with my family and I brought the GR along with the X pro 3 and 23 and 35 f2 lenses. Sometimes when we left the hotel I’d bring a bookbag with the xpro 3 but other times just the GR in my pocket. Honestly I could have just taken the GR. It’s surprising how you can make things work when you don’t have any other choice. Of course this suits my style of photography but it may not work depending on the type of shots you want. I’m not the type to bring zooms or telephoto lenses on trips and I also want to travel light and enjoy myself. 28 vs 40 is tough. I’d lean towards 28 to cover situations where you can’t back up but want more in the frame - if I had to choose one.
I've been shooting with the GR III for a little more than a year now. I can really recommend it. Looking back, I really liked the images I got with it. Some of them I wouldn't have made with my main camera. I just wouldn't have it on me. I made a video with one year of images with the GR III. Check it some images on my channel if you're interested.
What a great gift! I think I might actually prefer the GR 2 if I tried it. Better colors it seems and I prefer the button layout on the back. Built in flash is nice if you don’t want to bring one and need it.
The camera and images are truly great. I wish though that Ricoh can make a factory reset option. There is no way to factory reset it if I wnat to sell it. This needs a Firmware Update.
personally...no I don't. Actually I think it's kind of dying. For the broader market the smartphone is really eating up this space. There used to be far more compact cameras that were good. Now there's only a few still in production, sadly. I just don't think there's enough of a demand or money to be made for more companies to jump into the space with a product good enough for "prosumer" photographers.
Nice! You can definitely manual focus but you have to use the on body dials to do so (no focusing ring on the lens). I haven't really tried it so I can't comment on it really but it definitely doesn't seem enjoyable.
still learning the settings. With snap focus do you have too keep changing it in the menu or is there a way that you can set it for any meter etc.. 2m 2.5m 5m in stead of doing it manually
There's a shortcut to change it without going into the menu. you hold down the up button on the dpad and then use the top scroll wheel to cycle through the distances. It's displayed in the top right of the Ui when taking pics.
It’s frustrating to see all these reviews talk endlessly about the bad video but none, absolutely none of you guys gave us a video to see how bad you claim it is.
Sorry, not for me. As I never read manuals, I was fed up getting along with my X Pro 3. But by the way. I am about to produce a Camera Bag System for Street Shooters, wich is not available in the market actually. Would you like to review it and be my partner ? No finance necessary from your side.
Liked the Ricoh GR III, it is really excellent camera. But wanted to try different focal lengths, so switched to a6000 - and I can't complain! It is still really compact, especially if you put kit lens (which zooms!!!). And video is very clean and usable (didn't expect). Yeah, I guess Ricoh has an edge in terms of IBIS and low light (maybe). But then again, my battery life w/ a6000 is way longer. And it also has an EVF, and a WAY better grip (IMO). To be honest, I use it daily with Samyang 45 1.8 FE (it fits in my jacket pocket lol...). Oh, it also has a built-in flash! And it costs half the price of the Ricoh (with the lens)
The Z50 will have better AF and video, but it’s not anywhere near as pocketable as the GR III. If you do not need the pocket-ability and do not care much for the snap focus feature, I’d advise you go for the Nikon.
I agree with the other commenter. Not much worth making a comparison over. If you want pocketability -- it's no contest. If that doesn't matter to you and you desire the flexibility of interchangeable lenses, or ability to shoot good video, then go with the Nikon.
Do you have any experience with 1 inch sensor cameras? I'm trying to decide between Ricoh, Sony Rx100VA, and Panasonic LX10. Both have 1 inch sensors. The Sony has aperture of 1.8 max and Panasonic has a aperture of 1.4 max. Do you think there will be a huge leap in quality with Ricoh?
I don’t have any experience with one inch sensor but from what I’ve seen the difference it’s noticeable. Particularly as you raise the ISO. The other cameras would of course be more flexible given the zoom lenses if you need that. You’ll have to commit to the one focal length on the Ricoh so I would first determine what your intention is with regards to focal length. Are you happy working within the limitation of a prime lens or do you need a zoom for some reason?
@@Lonnie.G I dony need zoom. I was thinking about the tradeoff between a faster aperture and sensor size. I ended up setting with Fuji X-E3 and 18mm f2 pancake lens
If you don’t need the zoom then it’s not worth the compromise of a smaller sensor. I think you made a great choice going with the apsc sensor with good image quality and color, as well as a nice compact and bright lens. That’s my favorite Fuji lens still. Well done
You obviously do not know much about the GR2 ... the GR2 has several other features that the GR3 gave up on . Not to mention the better built of the GR2
Only other things I can think of that I didn’t mention are some more button differences on the back and removal of TAv mode on the dial. Hopefully your complaining about something more significant than that
@@Lonnie.G The GRII is better choice than the Gr3 if : You want a built in flash You prefer the dead to the cheap rear wheel of the GR3 You like more controls on the camera and do not like to rely on touchscreen interface (the GR3 has done away with several dials and custom function dials compared to the two previous GR) you understand the usefulness of a direct back focus button (the GR3 does not have it anymore) you like to have the option of using the 4.3 ratio you want MUCH better battery life than the Gr3 . The GR2 has slightly better battery life than the Gr1 and MUCH LONGER battery life than the GR3 you like having a direct exposure correction button (and for manual mode user the convenience of this plus/minus button cannot be underestimated) you already have battery , chargers and /or the 21mm lens converter for the GR1 and do not want to have to buy AGAIN ALL those since they are not compatible with the Gr3 you do not like the cheap rear dial of the GR3 compared to the quad pad of the Gr1 and GR2 You want to save some money and I might be missing a few ...some people also have said that the Gr3 has stronger vignetting than the Gr2 at full aperture but since I don t have a GR3 , I can't asset that for sure
@@Lonnie.G You cannot get it both ways . some buttons may be of different interests to different people but the number of dials and buttons lost change significantly the way the GR can be used . At the end of the day , it depends on how much one like to use touchscreen instead of dials to set essential shot parameters . read the non exhaustive list I sent you
I’ve never looked side by side but I believe you. In the past I’ve been surprised at how close phones are coming at least when compared on online platforms like instagram so that’s where I wonder if it’s as noticeable
@@Lonnie.Gthe largest sensor in a phone is in the new Sony Xperia Pro-i, which isn't even out yet. It'll have a 1" sensor that it's not even fully utilizing. Though cameras on phones are getting better, they've got at least few more years before they can come close to good point and shoots like the Ricoh. Would love for phones to catch up one day. But until then, the Ricoh stays in my pocket.
@@coryirvin6651 I watched a review of that phone today. That is so weird that it has that big sensor with a lens that can’t even cover it. I would actually respect it if they just made a hug camera bump on the back (even though it’s not for me). I don’t know if you remember some of the Nokia phones from back in the day that had monster camera bumps and amazing images quality for the time
