Ricoh GRD III Review – Part 6

In the last part we had a look at the low ISO b&w pictures from the 3 GRDs and as with the low ISO color comparison there was not that much difference between them.

Now it’s time to see how they compare at ISO 400, 800 and 1600. This should be more interesting and also more revealing since it will be more obvious how much luminance noise the cameras have.

Ricoh GRD III Review – Part 5

When the GRD I came out most people only ever used it in b&w mode and still a lot of people are using the GRDs mostly for b&w. Thus it’s important to look at how the different cameras perform in b&w mode.

This part will look at the low ISO b&w mode and compare the cameras at ISO 64/80 and 200.

Ricoh GRD III Review – Part 4

While the low ISO comparisons revealed some interesting things about the GRDs, the image quality differences were only minor between them.
In this part I will look at how the image quality compares at ISO 400, 800 and 1600. This should be more demanding for the cameras and especially the JPG engines which have to deal with more noise. Therefore we should see bigger differences between the cameras.

Ricoh GRD III Review – Part 3

After looking at the features it’s time to see how the image quality compares between the GRDs.
The first test is between the three GRDs at low ISO and color.

Ricoh GRD III Review – Part 2

With the GRD III Ricoh has introduced a lot of new features requested by previous GRD users.
There are to many features to mention all of them but I have created a summary of the most important below.

Ricoh GRD III Review – Part 1

After some delay due to various reasons and some travels in between I have finished my GRD III review.
With the GXR announcement a lot of emphasis is put on the new camera system but the GRD III is still an appealing choice for some and will remain Ricoh’s flagship camera.

My review aims to give an overview of the GRD III and will also compare it with the predecessors and even briefly with the Epson RD1s equiped with the famous GR L-mount lens.

The review will be split in 9 parts and will be partly based on the structure of my book ‘GRD III – A Serious Compact‘.

Part 1 – Introduction, Lens, Build and Controls
Part 2 – Features
Part 3 – Image Comparison GRDs – Part 1 (Color: ISO 64, 100 and 200)
Part 4 – Image Comparison GRDs – Part 2 (Color: ISO 400, 800 and 1600)
Part 5 – Image Comparison GRDs – Part 3 (b&w: ISO 64 and 200)
Part 6 – Image Comparison GRDs – Part 4 (b&w: ISO 400, 800 and 1600)
Part 7 – Image Comparison GRDs & RD1 – Part 1 (Color)
Part 8 – Image Comparison GRDs & RD1 – Part 2 (b&w)
Part 9 – Image Quality, Conclusion and Samples

Read on for the first part of my review…

Ricoh GXR Announced!

There were lots of rumors and speculation regarding the new Ricoh camera. Would it be an interchangeable lens camera, would it have a small sensor or an APS sensor, would Ricoh team up with Pentax and use a variant of their K-mount and even use rebranded Pentax lenses? These and more speculations kept the people in forums busy, it was no secret that Ricoh was working on something big but nobody knew what it was exactly.

Today, Ricoh has finally revealed it and we were all way off, their new “camera” is neither of the above but something completely unique and different.

It is not a camera in the traditional sense, it has no interchangeable lenses and both a small sensor and an APS sensor. What it is, is something new and very exciting. It is called the GXR and is the first ‘Interchangeable Unit Camera System’ as Ricoh calls it. It is a new system not constrained by any of the current limits.

Lets have a closer look at it and see how it compares with traditional cameras and the competition.

GR Digital III – A Serious Compact

In case you have been wondering why my GRD III review has been delayed that much, this is to do with me being quite busy recently but also because I want to make it a very extensive review that should hopefully answer all questions regarding all three GRDs.

Another reason is that I have been working on a project for Ricoh. They have asked me to make a book for the GRD III. This was a great project and I am really happy to have had the opportunity to work on this.
Now that the book is finished and printed, I thought I will upload it so you can have a look and see the book. It looks fantastic in print and it shows why looking at pictures on screen is not the best way to appreciate them.

You can see the full book here.

Ricoh CX2 Announced

If you have been reading my review of the Ricoh CX1, you know that I really liked the camera and found it to be one of the most fun to use cameras I had. It also produced great results and had features aimed at photographers and not purely for marketing.
Today, Ricoh have announced the CX2. Read on to find out what the main differences are and my thoughts on it.

New firmware update for the GRD II

Ricoh has released the last firmware update for the GRD II, it includes some of the new features found in the new GRD III.
The most interesting enhancement is certainly the ability to swap the front wheel and Adj. switch functions in manual mode, the other enhancements are for the playback mode.