Ricoh GR pros and cons

Luke

Legend
Location
Milwaukee, WI USA
Name
Luke
The GR is fairly long in the tooth as cameras go. And I know this place was FULL of them "back in the day". So what made you sell yours (or stop using it)?

Or why do you continue to use it, what do you love about it?
 
Interesting question, this.

A good friend of mine asked my advice recently because he was in the market for a carry-anywhere, high quality, small fixed lens compact. I pointed him at both the GR (which I have) and the X70. He chose the latter, partly because his local dealer had one in stock (to even see the GR he would have had to pay in full before they would order one in) and partly because it is a younger design. It's absolutely true to say that the GR (GRII) is long in the tooth, but it is still a tremendous camera and the latest in a distinguished line that reaches back to the film GR1 (I had one of those back in the day too.)

I find it frustrating that Ricoh bought Pentax but that the Pentax tail appears to be wagging the Ricoh dog. I would have loved to have seen evolution of the GXR concept and I feel that the Pentax designers are holding the talking stick and are inherently more conservative in their designs.

I hope that the next 12 months brings a new generation GR with a 24mp sensor - perhaps even FF, if it can be achieved in that diminutive but distinctive magnesium alloy body shell.

Why do I still use my GR? Because there is nothing else quite like it. it handles like an extension of my arm and doesn't interpose its handling quirks between me and my subject. It performs, delivering crisp sharp images time after time. It has a HiBW mode that I have never been able to replicate with another make of camera, or in post. It fits in a pouch on my belt, in my briefcase and in my life. It's the camera I carry when I don't carry a camera. If it didn't exist I'd probably have an X70, but it does, and it doesn't have gimmicks like a tilty touch screen. It's a dowdy, workmanlike tool but I love it. If mine died tonight, I would buy another and breathe a slight sigh of relief as I unboxed it. I can just about imagine life without Marmite or bacon sandwiches or Earl Grey tea, or espresso porridge or a Land Rover but I simply cannot imagine life without a little Ricoh.
 
Best vacuum cl... Sorry, Camera in the world. Love mine, dust and all. I too would like it with 24mp but happy with apsc for a little more dof.
I love the way I can edit the custom settings. No need to actually change the settings and save. Just edit in the menu. How sensible is that !
I can live with its faults. Very few in my opinion. And how many cameras can boast a 300 second exposure along with B and T.
The hood and adaptor is great to have in nasty weather. I'm not really worried about the screen visibility in the sun. manual focus and f8
means I can just point it in the right direction an get a keeper. Shutter speed dependant of coarse.
The level is clear and doesn't get in the way. I find it invaluable when using the 21mm adaptor.
Now I don't do video, but the GR has a unique trick. Ok it can only be used fully auto but you can pause a clip with fn2 and start again with another scene !
Great, less editing, and you can use the ae lock.
Sadly you can't video in high contrast b&w but the other effects are available like bleach bypass .
If I was told I could only have one camera I would find it difficult to choose the one to keep.
It would be the GR. If I learned today it was to be discontinued I would find a way to buy 2 or 3 to last me. Just in case.
 
Hehe, ok, I'll be 'that guy'... :) I sold my GR again after only 4 weeks...
I agree with everything Bill and Garry said (except maybe that I prefer Olympus' implementation of the digital level).
I loved it's "dowdy, workmanlike" ways... (In that it's only 'bested' by the utilitarian "design" of the original Sigma DPs :) Which I loved too...)

But... since I intended the GR as my everyday, take-everywhere camera I was disappointed with its shortcomings in regards to close-up/macro shots.
Especially in a nature-rich place like Oregon that was a bit of a disappointment. (Now that I live in a "big city" again, that issue might not be as big anymore)

Then... I couldn't get the colours to my liking. The DNGs didn't play nice in Capture One. The included Silkypix converter was not great. And the jpgs sometimes had a cyan/green cast to them. All in all, I couldn't get the colours similar enough to my m43 & 43 cameras.
(Which brings me to another point: I already had a EPM2 with 14mm lens (and 20mm and 45mm)... Neither of these lenses are quite as sharp as the GR (well maybe the 20mm is), but they're not terrible either. And sensor-wise I couldn't see a huge difference between the 6 year old APS-C sensor vs the 4 year old m43 sensor...

Oh, and one last bit: I didn't like the chemical smell of the grip rubber which made my hands smell - even after 3 weeks of use :D

So there! ;)
 
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I'm late to the GR game but I was a Fuji junkie for a while and I just couldn't find the x70 worth while. I've had every x100 version and while they were all great, I found that in that bracket of camera size, my RX1 was pretty close and hard to beat. I decided I wanted something smaller but I just couldn't warm up to an x30, or anything with a smaller sensor.

I didn't like the looks of the GR, but then I went through pages and pages of GR photos and when it came down to it...I was interested in it for the size and portability.

My GR II is on my just about every day. I know I shouldn't have, but I've thrown that camera in my front pocket hundreds of times. I just finally noticed some dust at f/16 and I blew it out pretty good. My OCD makes it hard to not think about the dust, but I pretty much got it out, and keep it in a zip lock back now. No more going into the pocket on its own.

I find for my needs, it takes great pictures, and it feels like an extension of my hand. No regrets ordering it new online and giving it a try. I still wouldn't buy an x70 vs the GR.

I try to keep the GR thread bumped with pics as often as I can :)
 

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Thanks all for your input. There's no doubt in my mind that for the right person, the GR is still a viable choice. Tilman's voice of reason talked me off the ledge. I changed my snipe bid accordingly so that if I HAD won that limited edition green one, it would have been a STEAL. So thankfully I missed out on it. And in retrospect, I was going to buy it for the "wrong" reason.

Tilman, the next beer's on me. And maybe I'll put that money towards the Fuji 56mm that has been tempting me lately. :daz:
 
The GR is fairly long in the tooth as cameras go. And I know this place was FULL of them "back in the day". So what made you sell yours (or stop using it)?

Or why do you continue to use it, what do you love about it?

What made me sell mine?
...the lack of a viewfinder, simple as that mate!

If the eyes could handle it, I'd still be handling a GR. The film version suits me a ton more, even if the OVF was pokey and only had limited overlaid info.

But like the GRs of 35mm days, great form factor, cracking lens and very decent output.
 
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Thanks all for your input. There's no doubt in my mind that for the right person, the GR is still a viable choice. Tilman's voice of reason talked me off the ledge. I changed my snipe bid accordingly so that if I HAD won that limited edition green one, it would have been a STEAL. So thankfully I missed out on it. And in retrospect, I was going to buy it for the "wrong" reason.

Tilman, the next beer's on me. And maybe I'll put that money towards the Fuji 56mm that has been tempting me lately. :daz:
That's a good call - you have to really want the GR otherwise you won't get the best out of it (though I suppose that's the same for any camera really).
 
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