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The Ricoh GR – The Legacy Continues.

Photo: The Ricoh GR (left) and the Ricoh GRDIV (right)

18th July 2014, Singapore – The Ricoh GR had been around for a while since its introduction to the market. From our understanding, the GR had done well in terms of sales locally and till this moment as I write, units of the GR are still being bought off the shelves. The Ricoh’s GR-Series compact cameras had been around since the good old days where film rules. Marketed and position as the company’s High-End compact cameras line, Ricoh GR-series cameras had been trusted by professional photographers all over the world till today. As the global digitalization evolves, the Ricoh GR Series had also updated what a modern professional compact camera should be. It was made not just to replace the previous model (Ricoh GR Digital IV or GRD4), the newly designed GR is a new camera altogether. The latest & current model – simply called the “GR” is the answer to this update.

Photo: A Brief history of Ricoh GR models from 1996 till the previous model GRDIV before the GR made its debut in 2013.

The main reasons why professional photographers are buying the GR are pretty obvious. The GR comes with a 16.2mp APS-C sensor – the biggest sensor so far that Ricoh had ever placed in a compact camera, a newly designed prime lens that gives an effective focal range of 28mm wide, a bright aperture of F2.8 (I missed the F1.9 on the GRD4 though) & a new GR V-Processor as the sweetener for the GR package. To make the GR sweeter, the 3 inch 1.23 million dots LCD is using the same “WM” aka “WhiteMagic” technology as the Sony RX1/RX100.

For the keen eye, one would have also noticed that Ricoh had added the TAv shooting mode (Time Aperture Value) to the GR which is pretty unique to Pentax cameras. Since both companies (Pentax & Ricoh) had merged, it’s great to see Pentax-ish factors finding their way into Ricoh cameras and I hope to see the same can be done to the Pentax products too.

As usual, I would like to disclaim myself that this is not a technical review site, we are really more keen on what kind of photo, colors & image quality that the GR can produce. If you are looking for in-depth specifications, please look elsewhere or at the provided links after the jump.
(PS: Hello to the people over at Dpreview forum, thanks for constantly sharing my reviews over the dpreview forums. I noted the comments from many dpreview users that this site is not a technical-review site. Yes, they are absolutely right. From day 1, I had positioned my humble website as the “user review site” and not a “technical site” and I hope this is the last time I had to disclaim myself. Keep sharing my articles anyway – love you all!)

Recently when I was meeting up with the local distributor, I took the opportunity to loan the GR out for a weekend. I had own a few previous versions of the GR-Series cameras and admittedly, I had not really touch the new GR till this review. The GR was introduced for exactly a year now, and after using it over a weekend, it is easy to understand why professional photographers are buying the Ricoh GR as their travel or “Off-Day” compact. The GR was built on a solid magnesium alloy body, nice & large grip (a typical Ricoh design cue but useful anytime!), fits into most pockets, focus fast & accurately, produces images with excellent resolutions and a sensible button layout.

All photos published along with this article were shot using the Ricoh GR on a one-day excursion to places of worships in Singapore. The photos were not edited except for straightening, slight cropping and added water-marks. You may wish to click on the photo to view at full size to check out the sharpness and the number of details captured within every shot.

Interested to find out more the Ricoh GR?
You may wish to click here or here.

You can buy your Ricoh GR here.

If you already own the GR or has a GR-Series camera, you may also wish to join the local GR community now at;
– http://eepurl.com/Cv7Yv
– https://www.facebook.com/GRSingapore

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About Pentax Ricoh Imaging Company, Ltd

PENTAX RICOH IMAGING CORPORATION was originally founded in 1919 under the name Asahi Optical Joint Stock Co. In the 1950s, launched the first SLR camera, the Asahiflex I, and the company haven’t stopped since. From the Asahi PENTAX single-lens reflex camera to the Spotmatic and to our most recent K-5IIs and incredibly tiny Q10, Pentax empowers and inspired photographers around the world.
For information on Ricoh, click here.

About APDS (Exclusive Distributor for Singapore)

Audio & Photo Distributor (Far East) Pte. Ltd. formerly known as MHE Consumer (S) Pte. Ltd was founded in 1973.

Since its inception Audio & Photo has had been the distributor of many well-known international consumer brands such as Konica cameras from Japan, Kenwood and Nakamachi hi-fi products from Japan, and Metz flash and accessories, Rollei cameras and Jos Schneider enlarging/professional lenses from Germany, to name a few.

Currently Audio & Photo Distributor is the sole distributor of Pentax & Ricoh cameras from Japan . With over 35 years of marketing experience and history, Audio & Photo has developed a strong network of dealers located islandwide in Singapore with whom it enjoys close rapport and support.

Audio & Photo Distributor (FE) Pte Ltd bides by its belief that it exists because of the customer, and therefore it will always strive to serve the needs of its customers with full dedication and commitment.

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