RICOH - GR DIGITAL III

If you are a serious amateur with a good knowledge of camera techniques, but find yourself leaving your SLR at home too often - because of its bulk - then the Ricoh Digital could be for you. I fall into this catagory, and after much deliberation, I settled for the Ricoh, primarily for the following reasons;compact size/pocketability,build quality,lens quality,full control i.e. full manual, shutter priority, aperture priority,and speed. I must admit £475 (at time of writing)was a big price tag even for a camera of this quality, and I wondered if I had done the right thing. I needn't of worried. I can honestly say I have taken taken more pictures with this little camera in the last month than I have in the last six months with my slr - and the picture quality is steller. Most of my recent work has been using the macro mode, and even when enlarging to A4 there is no visible noise. I was shooting at ISO64 and cannot vouch for prints using faster film settings. No doubt film speed above ISO400 does result in more noise. (There is no compact on the market, with a comparable sensor size that will not introduce more noise at these higher speed settings.)But then if all this matters to you then you wouldn't be aftter a compact camera anyway. As mentioned earlier this camera is aimed at photographers who understand camera techniques and have good experience with full manual controls. It took me an hour or so to thoroughly familiarize myself with all the controls and settings, which largely are very intuitive. I particularly like what is known as MY settings (there are 3 of theses) where the operator can set a favorite shooting combination up (for instance film speed of 100 ASA, shutter speed 125th sec, B&w, snap focus) and save it for quick easy call up, just by turning the desired MY dial. Oh yes, the snap focus is a brilliant feature that works perfectly, the operator can set the camera to always focus at a pre set distance,(1M, 1.5M,2.5M & 5M) for quick fire street photography (or any chosen subject). After testing, I can say that all the pictures came out sharp, with very little shutter lag. For a Compact camera it is fast. It powers up immediately and the shutter is as fast as any (compact) on the market - and arguably the fastest if using the snap focus. The lens is fixed 28mm F1.9, and what a lens. To some this may be too limiting, but I found it to be the opposite, it actualy liberated me to concentrate purely on the composition (and not deciding if I should be changing lenses). This little camera really frees the photographer to take photos - and surely that is what we all want to do - as photographers, right? There is not enough room here to list all the other features and functions, but there are many;There is a built in flash, it shoots in Raw or Jpeg, it can take AAA batteries in an emergency etc...Now you may think I am an employee promoting the product thusfar, but no camera is perfect and here are a few criticisms: The main one that you will see in all reviews regarding this camera is the price; it is about £75 too expensive (in my opinion). It is a high class camera - no doubt - but £399 would be more realistic. The second criticism is no built in viewfinder. Now I new this before I purchased, and Ricoh do sell external viewfinders GV-1 & V-2, but it is all added cost. A wide angle adaptor (GW-2) is also available, along with an external flash (GF-1). In fact I have got used to using the rear monitor. These are minor gripes though as the camera has in fact exceeded my expectations. For now it fits exactly where I wanted it to; in my pocket at all times. Its fast and responsive, fully customizable, has a steller lens, inspres me to take pictures, and at the moment at least is the best compact on the market.

Had this for a few months now and am VERY pleased indeed. Really good handling, very bright and clear screen, quick and responsive. Images very good quality and camera has very fast lens so excellent in low light. Took it to Venice and it outperformed my D Lux 4 at evening shoots. Produced some amazing images from very dark locations. Fits easily in pocket and fires up quickly. A great camera!!

Just a short review to state that I've been using this camera constantly for two years, and love it. I'm on my second one; I sold the first a year ago, and instantly regretted it, and bought another. The handling, flexibility, quality, along with the portability, are unbeatable. Since launch, a huge array of quality 'prosumer' compacts have become available, but for me, they just can't top this - though I'm sure the GRDIII can. I do - occasionally - wish the camera had a longer lens (around 40mm equivalent) though.