Ricoh gr iiix Review: The Perfect Street Photography CAMERA?
The Ricoh GR iiix is easily one of the most hyped and talked about street photography cameras in recent times. After using this camera for the past six-months I totally understand why. However, despite loving the Ricoh, It isn’t a camera I'd recommend to everyone.
Pocket Power:
So I’ve been using the Ricoh GR iiix for just over 6 months at this point, mostly for street photography both here in London and while travelling. After all this time, it still amazes me that Ricoh has managed to get an APS-C sized sensor into a camera body this small.
The size of the Ricoh GR iiix is the main reason why anybody gets this camera. Usually, cameras this small have much smaller sensors and which directly impacts the image quality. The Ricoh GR iiix has a 24mp APS-C sized sensor. That's pretty much the same size sensor you get in Fujifilm’s x-series cameras such as the X-T4.
After reviewing photos from this camera for the past couple months, I'm really impressed by the quality of photos I’ve been able to capture. For me, the Fujifilm files are still marginally better but it's really close, and more importantly I can edit these files pretty much the same way I edit my fuji files so I don’t have to change my workflow and how I edit my photos.
In all, you’re getting photos close to what you get with much larger cameras, in a tiny package you can bring pretty much everywhere.
Now on that very point, there are times and places where you cannot or shouldn't use a larger camera. For example, while travelling, if you are in a shady area, or shooting at night, it probably isn't the best idea to be walking around with a large camera. Also in certain locations like train stations or shopping centres, security may ask you to put your camera away if you’re walking around with a DSLR, but with the Ricoh, nobody really notices it or bothers you.
The truth is, the Ricoh GR iiix looks a bit like a cheap point and shoot, and most people will just think you’re a clueless tourist while using it, which is actually one of the best things about it.
The Focal Length:
There are actually two versions of this camera, the iii which has a wider angle lens, and the iiix which uses a 40mm lens. I prefer the 40mm FL - that works out around 27mm on Fuji. Which version you choose is down to personal preference but focal length aside, they are the same camera.
Look and feel:
As for using and holding this camera, It's lightweight, easy to hold and is pretty straightforward to use too. There's just one dial at the top, a couple buttons at the back and you can use the touch screen to select your focus point.
The screen is ok, but not great and is actually hard to see when it's really bright outside, which is a bit of an issue seeing that there isn’t a viewfinder.
Final thoughts - Who is this camera for?
The Ricoh GR iiix is for a very specific type of photographer and despite really liking it, I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. The main reason I say this is the price. This camera costs around $1000/£1000 new - which is expensive. Keep in mind that a new XT4 is around the same price and is a better camera on pretty much every front - but is larger.
For me, the size of this camera makes it worth it and it was the reason why I opted for it over the Fuji X100v. However, for the same price you can get a better camera which will give you far more flexibility, and will take better photos and video too.
So it really comes down to what you prioritise, if you want something small and light and are happy to stick to one FL, you can’t really go wrong with the Ricoh. But if you’re new to photography, or will only be using one camera body, I’d probably opt for one of Fuji’s cheaper interchangeable lens cameras instead.