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Ricoh GRD III -- WOW!!!

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Oxide Blu

Guest
First impressions:

- It's bigger than the GRD II, but not by much.

- The lens ring extends slightly beyond the hand grip. The GRD II hand grip is just a tad beyond the lens ring.

- There is an extra contact in the hot shoe, presumably for the GF-1 flash/strobe due out this fall.

- The display ... WOW!!! ... This makes it all worth moving from the GRD II to the GRD III. If you are a GRD II user, the increased size and resolution of the GRD III display is going to blow you away. After playing with it for only a few minutes I was wondering how I ever managed with the lower resolution display on the GRD II. (And I absolutely loved my GRD II.)

- There is a crap load more things in the menus. Scrolling (holding down the up arrow or down arrow) is now fast but not so fast that you can't take your finger off the scroll button and stop on the menu item you want.

Ricoh hit a home run on this one. They did right to discontinue support of the GRD II. The GRD II and the GRD III are two entirely different cameras that share a common design and similar menu/button footprint.

Now, to go play with the thing. :D
 
Rawfa

Rawfa

Active member
+10
+11
+12 for high ISO
+13
+14
+15 for Dynamic Range

You've hot some shooting to do, my friend :)
 
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VladimirV

Guest
I agree, I had a GRD III for a while now and have to say it is fantastic. The IQ is very good and ISO 1600 is perfectly usable, especially the RAW files.
It is a massive improvement from the GRD II although I still prefer the b&w pictures from the GRD I, the noise just adds wonderfully to the images.
This will give the LX3 and even DP1/2 a run for their money.
 
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ddk

Guest
VladimirV said:
I agree, I had a GRD III for a while now and have to say it is fantastic. The IQ is very good and ISO 1600 is perfectly usable, especially the RAW files.
It is a massive improvement from the GRD II although I still prefer the b&w pictures from the GRD I, the noise just adds wonderfully to the images.
This will give the LX3 and even DP1/2 a run for their money.
Click to expand...
Vladimir, what about the AF system, do the same GRD2 issues still exist? FYI I prefer both color (more natural) and BW (wonderful grain) from original GRD.
 
Rawfa

Rawfa

Active member
VladimirV said:
The IQ is very good and ISO 1600 is perfectly usable, especially the RAW files. QUOTE]

I don't mean to be questioning what you are saying but that is a very odd statement since I've read a review from a very respected spanish website that says iso 400 is still the border for this camera. I read this website on a daily basis and it is not likely for them to be wrong with their reviews.
Click to expand...
 
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VladimirV

Guest
@Rafa
I will post some samples and a quick review hopefully by beginning of next week.
It depends what you consider usable but there is a lot of detail left in the pictures, the color is fine and the noise is not too bad and can be removed with noise ninja. I do not think ISO 400 is the most you can get from this camera. Keep in mind though that I am someone who finds the GRD I pictures at ISO 1600 perfectly acceptable while not being a big fan of the GRD II images at high ISO.
I would say as far as small sensor cameras go the GRD III is the best at high ISO, from the samples I have seen it also beats the DP1/2 at high ISO if you shoot color.

@TEB
Something like that.

@David
Ricoh has fixed the AF issues from the GRD II, no more screen freeze, faster AF overall and the new customizable Snap mode and full-press Snap AF are great and make it prefectly usable for street photography.
 
D

ddk

Guest
VladimirV said:
@Rafa
@David
Ricoh has fixed the AF issues from the GRD II, no more screen freeze, faster AF overall and the new customizable Snap mode and full-press Snap AF are great and make it prefectly usable for street photography.
Click to expand...
Great news, thanks Vladimir! :thumbs:
 
D

Dawson

Guest
A bit of a trivial question for Oxide Blu, Vladimir or anyone else who might know actually!

As Oxide Blu stated the III is a little bit bigger than it's predecessors, but does this mean the very cool new GC-4 case (The ever-ready-esque one) is also a tiny bit too big for the GRD/GRDII? If anyone has managed to get hold the case and is able to try out a GRD/GRDII in it I'd really like to know how snug/sloppy the fit is... I'd love to be able to buy the GRDIII but I haven't worn out my GRD enough yet - a case is also quite a lot cheaper! :)
 
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VladimirV

Guest
The main size difference is in height and due to the protruding lens so the case should fit the GRD I and II just fine but I could not test it. Don't see why it would not work though.
 
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Dawson

Guest
Thanks Vladimir: it's probably a longshot but I might try and find somewhere that will stock it, take my GRD along and see if I can pair them up! I guess it has the tripod screw-in anyway so it's not going to move around or drop out once it's in...
 
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andrewteee

New member
Estimated at $700 in the US. Good as the GRD3 may be it will be hard to justify another small sensor camera for that much money today.

I wish they would allow you to turn off noise reduction. I do that with all of my cameras. I'd rather have sharpness and noise.
 
nostatic

nostatic

New member
andrewteee said:
Estimated at $700 in the US. Good as the GRD3 may be it will be hard to justify another small sensor camera for that much money today.

I wish they would allow you to turn off noise reduction. I do that with all of my cameras. I'd rather have sharpness and noise.
Click to expand...
I think it'll be a tough sell considering that $799 will get you an E-P1 w/14-42 lens. My gut says anything over $500 for a small sensor will be pushing it considering the low priced dSLR and now u4/3 market. That being said, I do take my DLux4 most anywhere and places/times where I even consider the E-P1 too big.
 
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