In February 2020 I was fortunate enough to win a Ricoh GR III in Camera Centre UKs Landscape Photography Competition with the image below. In this post I want to discuss the features of the camera I found relevant to Landscape photography and give my thoughts and opinion on how useful I found them.
Bwlch Hairpin near Treorchy, multiple photos blended together, shot on Nikon Z6 with Nikkor 14-24 2.8 lens.
About the Ricoh GR III
The Ricoh GR III is a favourite among Street Photographers for it’s small size and ease of use while retaining very impressive image quality and dynamic range on it’s 24 MP APS-C Sensor, I do dabble in Street Photography but with my main interest being Landscape photography I was keen to discover how useful I’d find it. Keep reading for my opinion on that.
Size & Weight
This is a seriously small and lightweight camera, it’s ideal for keeping in your pocket as you hike and allows you to have both hands free which is... handy. They say the best camera is the one you have on you, and the size and weight of the Ricoh GR III means it’s easy to take with you everywhere, no faff getting it out of your bag etc means you take more photos and inevitably means you have more keepers from a trip.
Yes, those are “Moo” sizes business cards in the background. It’s a seriously compact camera.
Focusing
Autofocus on the GR III is decent, it’s not the fastest focus system I’ve used or seen but it gets the job done. The touch screen is very good and I find I use a tap on the screen to select my focus point on this more than I have any other touch screen camera. You can’t select the focus point using directional buttons on the camera body though so maybe that’s why, but it doesn’t bother me at all.
Manual focus is a pain, with no focus ring on the lens or dial on the body it’s basically unusable, however the snap focus function is very handy, especially for landscape photography. I tend to have snap focus set at a distance of 2m and then when I shoot at f/8 or above basically anything from 2m to infinity is in focus. This is perfect for those quick photos while on the move or at times when you don’t want to keep your camera out for long (eg. windy / rainy conditions, although the camera isn’t weather sealed so be careful).
The camera also has an auto mode and face detect which can be very useful as well as being fast and easy to use.
Wheal Coates
Ricoh GR III - 1/250, f/8, iso 100
Built in ND and IBIS
With a 2 stop built in ND and In Body Image Stabilisation you can really lower your shutter speeds and maintain sharp images. I’ve got away with dragging my shutter to half a second and you really can’t tell. It works a treat for getting water silky smooth or showing any sort of motion in your images.
Holywell Beach
Ricoh GR III - 1/15, f/16, iso 100
The photo above was very challenging, I wanted to show the motion in the long grass off the dunes but it was seriously windy (difficult to stay upright). I managed to slow my shutter to 1/15th of a second with the bright midday sun by using the built in ND and f/16, the IBIS had to work very hard here so I’m impressed with how it turned out.
Battery Life
Ok, battery life on the GR III is poor. However, i found myself charging using the USB-C in my car or with a powerbank between locations. The camera charged pretty quickly as I was driving or eating lunch at a restaurant and I didn’t find the poor battery life to be a problem in the end. If you plan on shooting all day without access to power then you need multiple batteries or this camera just isn’t for you. If you’re able to charge for 30 minutes between shooting then you’re good to go.
Conclusion
If I’m honest I did plan on selling this camera pretty much as soon as I won it. I would have used the money on a deposit for a new iMac to help with my editing (my 2014 MacBook sounds like it’s taking off as I type this), but over a weekend in Cornwall and Devon it proved it’s worth to me and now I’m seriously considering keeping it as the camera I take everywhere (as well as my iPhone). Time will tell if I continue to use it as my run and gun camera but I’m definitely going to hold on to it for a while as I’ve already developed an attachment to this little machine. This camera has character.
A few more photos taken with the Ricoh GRIII, most of which I probably wouldn’t have managed on my Z6.
If you’re interested you can buy the camera here