Ricoh GR

Ricoh GR review - If you’re looking for an advanced compact with a premium on image quality, there are few better on the market than the Ricoh GR.

Ricoh joins the APS-C format compact party

With the launch of the Nikon Coolpix A we marvelled at how, in the space of a year, the idea of a large sensor compact with a fixed, prime lens, has gone from being an obscure niche (as it was when Sigma launched the original DP1) to a burgeoning and competitive area of the market. Now, with the Ricoh GR, Pentax Ricoh has added to this trend by introducing an APS-C compact with a fixed 28mm equivalent F2.8 lens.

At first glance the Ricoh GR looks like a street photographer's dream camera. With a fixed focal length 28mm wide-angle lens, 16 megapixel APS-C sensor, high-res 3 inch LCD screen, flash hotshoe, wealth of customisable controls and a fast auto-focus system, does the pocketable Ricoh GR live up to its promise? Read our in-depth Ricoh GR review complete with full-size image samples to find out...

Announced almost a year ago - and rumored for a long time before - the GR Digital was always going to be something of a niche product. Described as a 'professional grade high resolution compact' the GR Digital echoes the design and ethos of the popular and very highly regarded GR series of film compacts and is unusual in having a fixed 28mm equivalent F2.4 lens and full photographic control. The 8MP GR-D (as we'll call it from now on) is also fairly expandable; with an optional optical viewfinder, 21mm equivalent ultra wide converter and dedicated flash available (though by then you've spend well over $1000). Originally released only in Europe and Asia, the GR-D has recently made its way to North America, though you're still unlikely to find it on the shelves of your local camera store. So does the GR-D live up to all the hype or is it just another 8MP compact with pretensions?

The Ricoh GR IIIx squeezes a big APS-C sensor into a pocketable camera body and matches it with a fresh 40mm prime lens, a first for the fan-favorite snapshot camera.

With a fixed-focal-length lens and steep price tag, the 10-megapixel GR Digital III won't appeal to the average user. But photography professionals and enthusiasts who want a 'proper' camera in a compact body will be delighted with its rock-solid build and fantastic photo quality

Ricoh’s line of powerful full-featured pocket cameras has undergone an interesting and welcome transformation since the first GR Digital model was introduced back in 2006. There were three subsequent cameras, all with small sensors, with a bump in resolution from the first 8.1-megapixel version.

The street photographer's dream?

The Ricoh GR III is a camera designed for photographers of a certain type: only street photographers. And it makes no sense for anyone else.

If you can live without optical zoom and want a classically designed camera to remind you of the good old days, then the GR Digital might be for you. It is, however, extremely expensive.

For any aspiring photographer looking for a camera to begin their journey, the Ricoh GR should be one of the first stops. The GR packs mid-size DSLR imaging in a pocketable and lightweight form factor that isn’t anything but a pleasure to carry around and shoot with. What Is It?...

I’m not sure how the Ricoh GR one will do in the marketplace, now that smartphones are gnawing away at the digicam sector. But, I figure it will have enormous appeal to enthusiasts and the adventurous. After all, how many people do you know who will die for a fixed lens camera? But wait, it […]

With excellent image quality and tons of extra features, this camera proves that you can shoot big without a zoom lens.