[JPT]

Nice positive article from the tech press on the GRIII here.

Ricoh?s GRIII camera is just tiny enough to survive the smartphone age - The Verge

[awscreo]

Nice positive article from the tech press on the GRIII here.

Ricoh?s GRIII camera is just tiny enough to survive the smartphone age - The Verge

fan of the camera from 2013, but never acquired one because of no zoom verge at it's best...

[ogl]

The GR Blog has some articles about the GRIII in English. I think this is where OGL got his images. I may have missed it, but I haven't see the link to the articles themselves yet.

GR official | RICOH official community site

I saw only Japanese version. That's why I used only pictures.

[beli_delfin]

Who wants a GR when you can have this: Zeiss announces ZX1 full-frame compact with fixed 35mm F2 lens: Digital Photography Review

Original GR goes with me everday everywhere. With wide converter it forms a light landscape and cityscape combo with great enough IQ. But GR III is basically the same camera reinvented with few enhancements that should and could been on original GR- tilted screen and wifi for instance. Not much development for how many years?

Basically I am looking for lanscape kit with best IQ and ZX1 looks promising. Forget LR, I do not care. And price will be somewhere in RX1R II range. But 1000 usd for GR III is not cheap either. So how hard would be for Ricoh to develop something with FF (like Sigma Quattro series) and add on EVF? That would be evolution. Ricoh made in a past great 21mm lens for Leica M, so that would ease work.

And I am curious what IQ new GR will have. Leica Summarit M 2,4/28 also has same 6/4 optical scheme, but without macro. So I presume it will be a tough job for Ricoh also to excell...

[ogl]

Original GR goes with me everday everywhere. With wide converter it forms a light landscape and cityscape combo with great enough IQ. But GR III is basically the same camera reinvented with few enhancements that should and could been on original GR- tilted screen and wifi for instance. Not much development for how many years?

Basically I am looking for lanscape kit with best IQ and ZX1 looks promising. Forget LR, I do not care. And price will be somewhere in RX1R II range. But 1000 usd for GR III is not cheap either. So how hard would be for Ricoh to develop something with FF (like Sigma Quattro series) and add on EVF? That would be evolution. Ricoh made in a past great 21mm lens for Leica M, so that would ease work.

And I am curious what IQ new GR will have. Leica Summarit M 2,4/28 also has same 6/4 optical scheme, but without macro. So I presume it will be a tough job for Ricoh also to excell...

FF GR with EVF would be just the imitation of other FF cameras with fixed lens. No any sense at all.
Why are you talking about non-existent FF GR and compare GR with Leica lens? Leica lens at which camera?

If you are very rich man, you don't care 1000 or 4000 USD. But your argue that 4000 USD is not much higher than 1000 is not serious.
Zeiss will be more expensive than Sony and you will be pay for Lightroom ater expiry date

Quattro is already history. It's not FF. APS-C and APS-H. Very big body. Sigma enters in L-mount now.

IQ of GR is always superb. It couldn't be worse or the same with 24 MP, new sensor, new lens and processor than GRII.

[RonHendriks1966]

So how hard would be for Ricoh to develop something with FF (like Sigma Quattro series) and add on EVF?

I think Sigma knows all the Quattro user by their first name....all 10 of them....

[regular67]

Nice not to be "obsolete" every 12 months because of the new toy in the window.

A camera does not become obsolete when the next one is coming out. You can still photos, and the image quality is not suddenly degradating.
Who cares if you have not the latest release, as long as it suits your needs.

This is not to be rude, but to criticize this "uniqueness" image that companies want to create, to keep you attached to a brand. You need the latest iphone, the biggest SUV, etc, there are all "unique"... until the next one comes out because it is "uniquer".
I rather prefer Nikon' way to deal with it : each year, they release a new Dxxxx body. Each time, with the latest sensor update. Yes, people are loosing track, and the "brand image" of the product line may not be really worshipped (sponsoring of Ashton Kutcher, comm'on...).
But at the end of day, consumers (I do not hesitate to use the word) know that if they buy the latest camera, they have the latest sensor, and that's great.

Coming back on the GR topic, I would not mind if Ricoh produces yearly refresh versions, with an updated sensor. It may harm the story-telling, but it would grow the business as well as users' appreciation.

Ok so now go ahead, and throw the rotten tomatoes

[clickclick]

A camera does not become obsolete when the next one is coming out. You can still photos, and the image quality is not suddenly degradating.Who cares if you have not the latest release, as long as it suits your needs.

I'm afraid you misinterpreted my intended meaning. Perhaps putting "obsolete" in quotes didn't convey I mean this cynically, and what I'm referring to is this constant progression of "new" cameras from the big 3 that implies somehow the one in your hand is now inferior. And I think it's nice that this is not part of the GR philosophy. It has clearly been conceived as a camera with longevity in design and execution with a solid evolution of features. Did you read through the link I posted? (GR Story / GR | RICOH IMAGING) And I mean more than skimming down the page - scroll down to "Philosophy" and hit each of their topics, e.g. "What is a photo?"

It would also appear from your limited posting that you like eating tomatoes and a plate of crow as well. Makes me wonder why you choose to dine here. DPR might be more to your liking.

[beli_delfin]

FF GR with EVF would be just the imitation of other FF cameras with fixed lens. No any sense at all.
Why are you talking about non-existent FF GR and compare GR with Leica? Leica at which camera?

If you are very rich man, you don't care 1000 or 4000 USD. But your argue that 4000 USD is not much higher than 1000 is not serious.
Zeiss will be more expensive than Sony and you will be pay for Lightroom ater expiry date

Quattro is already history. It's not FF. APS-C and APS-H. Very big body. Sigma enters in L-mount now.

IQ of GR is always superb. It couldn't be worse or the same with 24 MP, new sensor, new lens and processor than GRII.

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough.
It makes no sense to compare cameras as "this one imitates another". From timeline and sensor size original Ricoh GR could imitate Fuji X100S or Sigma Merill line, that were introduced before. But that would mean nothing. GR has its own unique strengths and market niche where it excells. And that original is missing some features that appeared in later versions or not even then. Sorry, but it took two years to introduce wi-fi and five to make LCD tiltable. In my opinion this is too slow development.

One of my main reasons to buy GR was availability of wide converter, that make great, light 21mm/28mm landscape combo. And in past Ricoh know how to make excellent wide angle lenses with LTM GR 21mm and 28mm. So from that standpoint making FF single lens camera would make sense. It is another niche, perhaps not exactly for street shooters and pocketable, but with great sensor form K-1 and pixel shift option it would be great, light landscape camera. I just see GR III as partially missed oportunity.


If it does not make sense, why then RX1 variants and now ZX1 exists? RX1 best part is lens and IQ quality, perhaps not measurable, but percievable. And Ricoh could play on this card too. Price-wise of course FF is pricier. Price of RX1 is in a A7R range. So if Ricoh/Pentax make hypotetical FF in a K1 price range, camera can be viable with proper marketing. And Ricoh/Pentax needs such gems to survive in a very competitive and (over) crowded DSLR/ mirrorless market. Just another gem(s) beside GR III.


My point about Leica Elmarit-M 2,8/28 (sorry, I choose wrong one, Summarit 2,4/35mm) is that Leica is a 8/6 design of Distagon-type with one aspheric element. Most 28mm designs in a past were 7/7, 8/7 or 9/7 designs. Original GR lens is 7/5 design akin to Leica, with Leica having additional biconvex lens directly behind aperture.

Now single lens cameras could benefit from fact, that last lens element can be closer to sensor (like RX1), which benefits field curvature and perhaps even symmetrical systems (like double Gauss) are possible. So it seems it is quite brave decision to reduce lens count to 6/4 (basically 7/4 because of double aspherics) and I hope IQ will deserve Ricoh reputation. But if Leica designers needs 8 lenses in Elmarit it is not easy task to get top image quality with two lens elements less. Let's wait and see...

[D1N0]

The GR has a long history back to the film days which makes it not a copy of any digital camera . Ricoh will not adapt it to the whims of the day because that would make it into a different camera. It has to be pocketable so no large f2 full frame glass, not even an articulating screen or an EVF. Just a newer sensor, stabilisation and a more compact body and a touch interface added. Already pretty revolutionary for Ricoh. If they would do whatever the current fad is, there would not be a GR line anymore. It would long since have drowned by trying to compete. It stays true to its identity and changes will only be made if it doesn't mean the camera will loose its unique "quality in your pocket" identity.

[adjutant]

Ricoh GR series have a massive cult following in the street photography world. Every iteration refines what a street photographer wants from a compact digital, which is something more like a premium film camera that fits in your pocket. It's such a great design, all it needs is polishing and trimming. Fuji has tried to come out with GR killers, but keeps failing. I get that some of you don't understand what this camera is or why it doesn't have improvements leaps and bounds ahead of the previous model, well this camera is on a league of its own. It's refining something that's near perfection.

Having said all that, I seriously question Ricoh's "bold" move to remove the built-in flash, especially on a camera with leaf shutter. Built-in flash is vital to any premium compact. The utility of always having fill flash available cannot be understated. At the very least Ricoh will need to release a tiny pocketable P-TTL external flash.

[Rico]

FF GR with EVF would be just the imitation of other FF cameras with fixed lens. No any sense at all.
Why are you talking about non-existent FF GR and compare GR with Leica lens? Leica lens at which camera?

If you are very rich man, you don't care 1000 or 4000 USD. But your argue that 4000 USD is not much higher than 1000 is not serious.
Zeiss will be more expensive than Sony and you will be pay for Lightroom ater expiry date

Quattro is already history. It's not FF. APS-C and APS-H. Very big body. Sigma enters in L-mount now.

IQ of GR is always superb. It couldn't be worse or the same with 24 MP, new sensor, new lens and processor than GRII.

The GRIII is on the right path. What we need to ask for is UHS-II. The GRII should have had UHS-I in 2015. UHS-I is not enough for 24mp sensor. With UHS-II the camera will operate across the board much better.

What Ricoh/Pentax needs to do is create a real sister camera to the GR. They should develop a Pentax fixed compact at 40mm focal length. I don't care whether they use APS-C or FF. APS-C would match better to the GR and using a 28mm lens on APS-C gives you ~42mm field of view. But the camera people keep saying they want the GR to be i.e. EVF/OVF, zoom, FF etc is another sister camera to the GR.

Sigma announced they are going to FF with the Quattro. The Panasonic FF L-mount announcement also should be taken seriously. Back in the day I had a Panasonic LC1. That was one of the best digital cameras ever made and really set in motion the whole retro styling. Any one wishing for mirrorless FF Panasonic should help lift the bar. Sigma's real announcement was they ditched SA mount for L-mount only and of course FF size sensors. It will be interesting to see in the future the results from a FF Sigma Foveon body with $5,000 Leica optics.

[ogl]

The GRIII is on the right path. What we need to ask for is UHS-II. The GRII should have had UHS-I in 2015. UHS-I is not enough for 24mp sensor. With UHS-II the camera will operate across the board much better.

What Ricoh/Pentax needs to do is create a real sister camera to the GR. They should develop a Pentax fixed compact at 40mm focal length.

I think you will get 40 mm if to put new tele conversion lens on GRIII.

As for UHS-II.
It's some kind of misunderstanding...

UHS-I's bus speed is till 104 MB/s. It's enough for 24 MP APS-C files and even for 4K video.
30 MB/s minimal writing speed SD card is enough for 1080p and 4K video files at 60/120 fps. Class 3 cards are targeted at recording 4K.

The camera doesn't care UHS-I or UHS-II card to operate faster or slower. It depends on hardware - motheboard, CPU ability, bus speed between motherboard and SD card and software.
A card's speed depends on many factors, by the way.

[Rico]

I think you will get 40 mm if to put new tele conversion lens on GRIII.

As for UHS-II.
It's some kind of misunderstanding...

UHS-I's bus speed is till 104 MB/s. It's enough for 24 MP APS-C files and even for 4K video.
30 MB/s minimal writing speed SD card is enough for 1080p and 4K video files at 60/120 fps. Class 3 cards are targeted at recording 4K.

The camera doesn't care UHS-I or UHS-II card to operate faster or slower. It depends on hardware - motheboard, CPU ability, bus speed between motherboard and SD card and software.
A card's speed depends on many factors, by the way.

The advantage of UHS-II is more than just speed the bus can communicate bi-directional with the card and the subsystems through the additional contacts on the UHS-II compliant cards. They wouldn't need 2GB of internal memory to run the GR using UHS-II. The biggest bottleneck every Pentax camera I have owned has been the slow SD card bus. Every Pentax I have used I am waiting for the files to be written to the SD card from the buffer. The K-1 LCD actually shows a little spinning graphic that indicates the camera is basically waiting for storage to catch up to the rest of the system.

Moving to UHS-II at the very least will cut that time in half even if Ricoh uses the top UHS-I 109 standard. It should be a no brainer for Ricoh to use UHS-II as it makes it easier for their engineers to get the best out of the subsystems as UHS-II has extra contacts. The camera will operate much faster as the buffer will be clearing twice as fast for the user. Clearing the buffer faster helps conserve power.

[RonHendriks1966]

The GRIII is on the right path. What we need to ask for is UHS-II. The GRII should have had UHS-I in 2015. UHS-I is not enough for 24mp sensor. With UHS-II the camera will operate across the board much better.

Speed is part of the total system. So what would be required for a street camera? What would be possible given the choices made for sensor, sensor read-out, processor, busline to the card and all other parts. Probably uhs-I is adequate or even more then enough. It is a little camera that has to be consious about energy use, because of the small battery.