For February, I’ve chosen a camera that’s quite possibly my favourite I’ve ever used, but one that’s spent a disproportionately little amount of time in my hands making pictures.
The Ricoh GR Digital III.
I don’t plan to delve into the history of the, some would say legendary, Ricoh GR series, as Ricoh tell the story of the GR on their own website and Wikipedia has plenty of further info.
The short version is the original 35mm film GR, the GR1, arrived in 1996, the first GR Digital was released in 2005, and my GR Digital III is the third digital version, from 2009.
The latest incarnation of the digital series, the GR III, came out in 2019.
Back to my GR Digital III (often abbreviated to GRD III, but crucially not GR III, the latest model, which doesn’t have “Digital” in its name), and the essentials are a 10MP 1/1.7″ CCD sensor and a fixed 28mm f/1.9 lens, a stunning combination.
Even better is the handling of the GRD III, which hasn’t changed much since the original GR1 in 1996, and fits my hand better than any other compact I’ve used.
Also as good is the user interface, which offers great depth, but is customisable to make it very simple and intuitive, once you commit a little time to learning its ways.
You won’t instantly pick up the GRD III and master every aspect, but give it a chance and it will become as easy and instinctive as any point and shoot – but deliver even better photographs.
Previously with the GRD III I had mostly used it on its b/w setting, where there is further scope for adjusting contrast and sharpness, but I still found I was post processing to give more drama and contrast.
In the spirit of one of my experiments this year – trying to achieve photographs I love with zero processing – this month I’ve decided to try using the GRD III on its High Contrast B&W scene mode.
Here again there’s extra user control, with the option to set contrast to MAX, -1 or -2 and vignetting to Off, Weak or Strong.
I’m going with -1 and Weak respectively, as MAX and Strong is just a bit too extreme and Moriyama, even for my tastes.
Because this is strictly a “Scene mode” (another is Cross Processed Colour) you can’t control the aperture or shutter speed, like in Aperture (Av) or Shutter Priority modes. It’s shooting in Program mode, essentially.
But in practice, because the GRD III loves shooting wide open, it replicates how I would shoot with it on Av mode anyway, ie at maximum aperture.
The ISO can be set at one specific value between ISO64 and 1600, completely Auto, or Auto-Hi.
The latter option means you can choose the maximum ISO the camera will use, plus the shutter speed at which the camera shifts down to the next fastest ISO.
I’ve gone with ISO400 and 1/15s. So if for example the camera tries to capture a scene at f/1.9, and ISO64 but the shutter speed required is less than 1/15s, it will drop the ISO until the exposure is correct.
Note that although the preset ISO steps are ISO64, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600, in this Auto-Hi mode the GRD III will choose ISO74, 219 or 308 if that’s what’s required.
Similarly, the camera will select the precise shutter speed it feels is the optimum, such as 1/143s or 1/410s, it doesn’t necessarily go with conventional stops like 1/125s, 1/60s and so on.
The other main setting I’ve selected is exposure compensation, at -0.7, as with this high contrast mode, bright areas easily blow out.
I don’t mind a little of this, and it adds to the look, but not too much, so I’m keeping it reigned in via the exposure compensation. I’d much rather have more of the scene in darkness than overly bright.
All of this I’ve saved under one of the three available MY custom modes on the main dial, so I don’t have to remember settings each time, just power up on MY1, and shoot.
As I said above, the Ricoh GRD III has great depth in all kinds of other settings, but I don’t want to rattle on about specs and settings any longer.
Oh aside from finally mentioning that the 28mm lens on the Ricoh is slightly wider than the 35mm I usually favour with digital compacts, but I’ve found in the past that I soon adjust to having more in the frame.
This review by Steve Huff goes into great depth if you’re keen to know more.
My first outing this month with the GRD III was very promising, and yielded the photographs in this post.
I’m more than happy with them, especially on the zero processing front, as I don’t need to alter the pictures in any way from what the Ricoh produced straight out of camera with that high contrast b/w mode.
Every time I use the GRD III it feels like some kind of homecoming, not least of all because of that amazing body shape and front grip, which is like slipping on a favourite old pair of slippers.
Performance wise, the camera is more than I really ever need, and using the High Contrast B&W mode is an attempt to kind of dirty up and dumb down that lens and sensor combo from being too good.
A very exciting return for the GRD III, all in all.
More updates to come as the February unfolds.
Have you used any of the Ricoh GR series, film or digital?
Please let us know in the comments below (and don’t forget to tick the “Notify me of new comments via email” box to follow the conversation).
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35hunter 
I had a look for a Ricoh GR II in Canada. $700+ shipping and taxes, so I guess I won’t be having the Ricoh experience. Pity, because it has some interesting aspects for sure.
That’s likely to be the GR II, yes, I think they were about £600+ new, and hold their value.
The original GR Digital was followed by the GR Digital II, then GR Digital III (the one I have, and which was also about £600 new, but cost me £150 a couple of years ago), then GR Digital IV.
Then the released the GR (dropped the “Digital” as the film GR series were long redundant by this time) with a larger APS-C sensor, to be a direct DSLR killer.
That was followed by the GR II, most likely the model you saw advertised, then last year the GR III.
All three of these later are still very expensive. Well, compared to most cameras I buy anyway, I’m sure they could be bought on a whim with pocket money by someone who has £7k Leicas!
I’m going backwards in the range, I’d most like one of the original 8MP GR Digitals, from 2006.
I got it in a thrift store for 2 dollars or so a Ricoh GR10, the sellers don’t know if they work and this one is not working. But I love the shape, it feels quite… right, well balanced. I am sure with any of the digital versions I would feel them too as an old pair of slippers. Reading the way this GR III can be set to shoot sounds fantastic, very photographic rather than just to tick specification boxes.
Ah, I had a Ricoh R10, a film camera that’s a simplified version of the GR series. Great handling, like all of the Ricoh GRs, film and digital.
The GRD III is an amazing camera, and yes whilst I’ve used other cameras that are easy to use, none have had the depth of features that can then be customised to make it as simple as you need.
after the extremely long exploring and “researching” ones and half years ago i decided to buy some used GRii for £330 on eBay. i was very lucky to get this tiny pocket monster in great mint condition and fallen in love with this camera and even got used to use the display instead of the optical viewfinder of my FF Markii. another wonderful discovery is the built-in flash that badly was removed from the GRiii.
Victor, glad to hear about another Ricoh GR fan. The GR or GR II are on my wish list, when they come down a little in price. They still fetch hundreds, due to their reputation and performance.
I got a lightly used GRDiii a few months ago and have been using it on and off since. My major gripe is that occasionally focusing – especially in the Macro mode – is either laughably slow or winds up missing the mark by a country mile. But, that said, its macro capabilities are growing on me, the more I use it – as are its general photographic ‘chops’. Also, surprisingly, the tiny pop-up flash is surprisingly useful – provided that one can find a way to sufficiently diffuse it.
And, yes, of course – its minuscule footprint and pocketability….make it a rather wonderful carry-everywhere camera.
Hi Miguel, thanks for your thoughts. The GRDs are just amazing little cameras. If they’d have made a 35mm f/1.8 version too I think they would have sold may times more, the only thing that seems to put people off is the rather wide 28mm lens. And yes the super close focus gets regular use with mine!