Big sensor compact cameras are a special breed. In most cases, they are riddled with compromises which the end user ends up hating, or embracing. It is a love-hate relationship. I dipped my toes into this world at a time when the Apple iPhones and Google Pixels were making big waves in the area of photography.
With the ordering back-log from B&H Photo cleared, I purchased this camera based on the GR-love expressed by Kevin Rosinbum, a/k/a Flickr’s Chickentender, a/k/a Eyewanders Photo. Kevin is a marvelous and inspirational photographer. These are my initial impressions from the first weeks with the new Ricoh GR III. The sample The images were treated with minor adjustments in Lightroom.
I bring my motorbike to a halt by a crooked road sign where the rest of the group are waiting. A Moroccan man leans against a pillar with a bag at his feet – the symmetry appeals – I take my Ricoh GR from my jacket pocket – click. As I glance at the image on the back of the camera, the group takes off down the road. I hastily pocket the camera and follow.
Following on from Hamish’s thoughts shooting his recently discovered Ricoh GR Digital, I asked him if I could share my story of shooting one from new in 2007. When I got this little camera new, in a so-called “Creative Set” with the wide angle adapter and add on viewfinder, it felt like a compromise from the start – I didn’t really want yet another compact camera with a wide-angle lens, I was much more interested in an entry level DSLR such as the Nikon D50 with a nifty-fifty.
The Ricoh GR Digital is by all accounts an elderly digital camera. Released in 2005, it’s been superseded 5 times. This possibly begs the question as to why I’ve just spent £100 on one…?
I’d been looking around for a small compact digital camera for a while when I had an email from Roey Marquis II. Once in a while he emails me links to posts on his excellent blog that he thinks I might find interesting – you can find it on his website here: mingart.de. On this occasion my eye was caught by a blog post about the Ricoh GR Digital – mostly as it contained some lovely black & white images.
