Ricoh GR-D Review v0.9
Disclaimer: The review you are about to read is for informational/entertainment purposes only. You cannot use the information you found in this review to sue me or any of my 7 personalities. If your genitals ever get caught in the GR-D’s retractable lens, you only have yourself to blame.
Introduction
The Ricoh GR-D is probably not one of those cameras that you would put in your short list of choices when buying a new digital camera, regardless whether you’re a casual snapshooter, a serious amateur, or a professional photographer. The design of the camera is quite odd in such a way that there seems to be no clear target consumer for the camera. However, as you would read through this review, I will make clear of that defined target consumer for the camera and explain how Ricoh has successfully cap-tured that small market.
GR-D photos were taken using a Canon 10D. All photos are mine. If you want to use them, just ask nicely…chances are I would give you the permission.
So who’s the camera for? Quite simple, for the photographer who wants the following features in a small package:
- Fast wide lens
- Manual exposure (Aperture-, Shutter-, and Full-Manual)
- Decent auto-focus
- RAW support
- Near-zero shutter lag
- Clean images in low ISO and “film-like” grain for high-ISO images.
- Well-designed User Interface
- Inconspicuous design for stealth photography
The GR-D has met all of these criteria, and has met it with flying colors. However, it stillhas a number of shortcomings that we will address as we uncover the features of the camera.
Fast Wide Lens
The aperture provided is from f2.4 up to f9. With the size of the sensor and lens, it is actually useless to have an aperture smaller than f9, because the depth of field is not much larger, not to mention the fact that at that aperture, you will just see some more effects of diffraction.
The photos you are about to see are taken from a “semi-controlled” environment: the subjects were lit by a single umbrella strobe and exposure is carefully measured using a light meter with the camera set on a tripod and using an el-cheapo wireless strobe trigger. All images are captured in RAW format and converted to JPG with sRGB colorspace; no post-processing has been applied to any of them. I have posted the original somewhere. I have one request: please download the original sizes sparingly.
That test image was provided courtesy of colour-science.com and printed on an HP 8450.
ISO64 f2.8
ISO64 f3.2
ISO 64 f5
ISO64 f8
ISO64 f9
As you can see on the full-size crop, it’s really hard to tell the difference between the apertures except for the loss of contrast for anything beyond f5.
Manual Exposure
The camera is capable of being used in aperture-, shutter- or even full-manual exposure modes. Most compact cameras in this size usually has the idiot/program mode. Still, the camera offers no flash exposure compensation, which is a huge oversight in my opinion.
Inconspicuous Design
When I opened the box of the GR-D, I was surprised at how small it was! I knew it was going to be small, but never thought it would be this small. Consider this photo I have made of the camera: A six-year-old is holding the camera.
Look how small it is. Did I mention how small it is?
As for the design: At first glance, you would think that the camera would not cost over half-a-grand; you’d even think that it’s probably one of those disposables. But upon close look you can see and feel the great craftsmanship bestowed upon this fine piece of equipment. The camera is mostly made with magnesium-alloy coated with rubber material on the hand grip. That said, I cannot say that this is truly a camera that can withstand a lot of beating. The SD/battery door is very flimsy, the pop-up camera flash is made of plastic, and the USB and A/V port covered by a rubber door that could easily be ripped off. With all that said, I am overall impressed with the camera’s looks and craftsmanship.
Decent Auto-focus
The camera has 4 focus modes: Multi-focus, spot, infinity, and “snap” focus. The multi-focus uses a set of focus points and the camera intelligently (using the term loosely
here) tries to determine which subject you are trying to focus. Spot uses a slightly larger focus point in the center and the operator of the camera focuses on the subject
that falls on that center of the camera. Infinity sets your focus to, um, infinity. “Snap” focus is sort-of like hyperfocal focusing, the camera sets the optimal focus distance on your lens depending on the aperture selected, such that it would have the maximum number of subjects in the frame in focus. This was most likely thrown in specifically for street shooting where the photographer shoots from the hip.
I use spot focus 90% of the time. It is quite accurate compared to other compacts, but still a far cry from the SLRs–which is to be expected. A lot of the users find the grinding noise annoying…and I while I’m not that bothered by it, I can empathize with them since the camera is designed for discreet, low-key photography–and the last thing that should make you stick out like a sore thumb is the grinding noise coming from the lens focusing.
Near-zero Shutter Lag
There’s not much to say. Of course, it’s not as instant as SLRs, but it’s fast enough for me, especially when AF is set to “snap” or “infinity.”
RAW Support
In addition to in-camera 8-bit JPEGs, the GR-D also supports RAW format in the form of the yet-to-be-adopted-Adobe’s-close-to-being-bastard-child Digital Negative (DNG) format. This is both good and bad. Good part is that with this sort-of RAW file standard, the files are instantly recognized in Adobe image editing software; the bad part is that the camera came with no decent RAW conversion software. Why is that bad? I, for one, do not like the Adobe Camera RAW converter; in fact, I don’t use it for RAW conversion because it just doesn’t produce the colors that I want and I end up doing more post-processing than I want to.
If the DNG does become standard, and more camera manufacturers adopt the RAW format, there will be more options when it comes to converters. If it doesn’t, users are
stuck with ACR, and for me that’s not so good as I have explained in the previous paragraph.
Clean Images in low ISO and Film-Like Grain in Higher ISOs
Ricoh is using the 8 megapixel 1/1.8” CCD that is found in most middle-of-the-road and few high-end compact cameras. This is probably that same CCD that is found in current generation of 8MP compact cameras, the camera is clean in low ISOs and grain increases exponentially as we go to speeds beyond ISO 200. But what sets the Ricoh
apart from its contemporaries is the image processing algorithm: Ricoh’s colors are not oversaturated (in fact, it’s almost muted), and no liberal use of noise reduction, which probably gives the “film-like” characteristics of the images.
GR-D provides ISO64 to ISO1600 in JPEG mode, and oddly only up to ISO800 in RAW mode which led me to think that the ISO1600 is really just an 800 +1 stop “push.” The following photos, like in the previous set, is shot in RAW mode. Again, I’d let the pictures do the talking.
ISO64 f8
ISO100 f8
ISO200 f8 (White Balance kind of screwed-up here)
ISO400 f8
ISO800 f8
As you can see, in ISO800, there IS noise, but the noise structure reminds me of Fuji Superia 800 grain.
Well Designed User Interface
It’s hard to objectively describe what a “well-designed user interface” is since each user has a definition of one. However, I’ll be bold enough to say that the GR-D’s user interface design is reason enough to buy the camera. The user interface is so well-designed that up to this day I haven’t had the need to open the camera manual. The dual wheel interface (found in most SLRs) in a small camera is just pure genius. And it is customizable enough that most functions aren’t buried deep in the endless sea of menus.
Other Strengths and Warts
- No frame orientation sensor. It’s probably just a small thing, but it’s a step back for Ricoh for not including this. Reviewing images is quite annoying when you have to tilt the camera when browsing from an image shot horizontally and then vertically, and vice-versa.
- Slow Image Buffer. This is the BIGGEST flaw of the GR-D design: Slow Image Buffer, It’s probably the biggest gripe among GR-D owners/users, including yours truly. I am using a Corsair 133x speed SD card, and it’s still not as fast as I want to. What’s more, even if the camera supports continuous shooting, the LCD is off while doing so…so basically you are shooting blindly while doing continuous shooting. You need to take these flaws into consideration when buying the camera, if you can live with them. I cannot stress enough that this could the deal killer for those who are on the fence on purchasing a GR-D.
- Excellent Company Support. Usually when a company releases a new camera model, the company releases a firmware update or two to address some minor issues, and practically tells the consumer to get bent until a new version of that particular model comes out, even though the issues seem easily remedied by a firmware upgrade. Ricoh, on the other hand, has gone through numerous firmware updates, not because the camera has serious issues, but because the company has actually listened (through their blog) to consumer gripes and has continually addressed them through these firmware updates. I hope Ricoh continues this great dedication and standing behind their product…maybe in the future they will address the slow buffer issue (Hint to Ricoh engineers: turn-off simultaneous JPEG and RAW when in RAW mode)
- AAA Battery. While the Ricoh proprietary battery can last hundreds and hundreds of shots on a single charge (that’s with the LCD on almost 100% of the time), it is nice to know that the camera can take the ubiquitous AAA battery in the event that the proprietary battery runs out of juice while taking pictures of your beloved cat.
- No optical viewfinder. Yep, I’m baffled by this one. Ricoh could have put a small optical viewfinder in there if they really wanted to. I guess they want me to buy the
external viewfinder, which is not going to happen anytime soon. On the upside, Ricoh gave us this high-resolution LCD viewfinder. While it smudges easily and not easy to see in bright light, not to mention that it’s mostly tinted with a magenta cast regardless of white balance, it does provide 100% field of view, and with the most recent firmware update (version 2.01), you can shut it off all the time for complete stealth shooting. - Look, Ma, it can do Macro! I’m not really enthusiastic about this one. It’s there, just like every other compact digicams in the market.
Conclusion
No camera is perfect. And when you are speaking of professional capabilities in a small package, that perfection is even harder to achieve. Ricoh has made the step in the right direction with the release of the GR-D, it has the features of the most advanced SLR in a small package without compromising a lot of the quality of the images it produces. No doubt that it has many flaws (with the slow buffer as the biggest), but its shining quailities far outweighs them, and I have nothing but the highest recommendation for GR-D, and I will be waiting for the next iteration, hoping it would surpass the feature set that the current GR-D has today. Sign me up for Ricoh GR-D Mark II!
On a side note, I was expecting a product like this to come from Leica. I can almost here somebody from Leica kicking himself when Ricoh announced this product when it’s actually they who should have spearheaded it.
What’s Missing in This Review?
The GR-D has a number of interesting accessories that is not covered in this review. One of them is the external viewfinder that aides in framing your shots, and the 21mm lens adapter which makes you take even wider shots. At the moment I have no access to these accessories. As soon as I get a hold of these or God-forbid be able to afford one for personal use, I will update this review accordingly. But, seriously, Ricoh…$40 for a leather case?
About the Reviewer
I am not a professional photographer; I’m just your average, trying-hard amateur who learned photography by using Al Gore’s marvelous invention. I have tried to put together this review because I believe the product deserves every exposure it can get (Yes, I bought my GR-D with my own money). While I’m no Phil Askey, I hope you will find the information printed here beneficial to your next camera purchase.
Everyday Photos from the GR-D
Popularity: 33% [?]
April 25th, 2006 17:56
Thanks for the review, very interesting, I ordered a GR last week, what I find intertesting about your great review is I did not know about Spot Autofocus, that si real bonus to me as I dont trust the multi method.
April 25th, 2006 18:34
you say you’re “no Phil Askey.” Count yourself luck on that one. He’s apparently not a nice person in a world class way. I liked your review and thought it got to the most important issues right away.
A trick that takes further work, perhaps even to the extent of reading the manual, is finding how to put useful stuff like setting contrast to -1 or -2 for high dynamic range in jpegs, on the rear control wheel, so that they come up after you push it in.
scogtt
April 25th, 2006 23:10
The LCD does NOT shut off with raw shooting, only with jpgs.
April 25th, 2006 23:21
Yes, Bill, you are correct. But when you really think about it there is actually no Continuous mode in RAW per se, since the thing is frozen while flushing its buffer from memory to the SD card.
April 25th, 2006 23:26
[…] Bubuli posted an amusing yet very informative review of the Ricoh GR-D digital camera, safely called Review v0.9. Don’t let the lack of .1 to make this review a full release, the review offers ‘useful’ information for anyone who would be interested in purchasing this ‘camera’ camera. I for one would never give a Ricoh camera a second look, not even a first look for that matter. In a world of Canons and Nikons, some of these little gems do get unnoticed. Hop on over to his review, be amused with his clever remarks, be informed and don’t forget to let your friends know about the review. […]
April 25th, 2006 23:30
Cool beans! Are we ever to expect a 1.0 review release?
April 25th, 2006 23:39
“Cool beans! Are we ever to expect a 1.0 review release?”
in between my meds? most likely not.
but i’m updating the review as i see fit based on the feedback i’m getting.
April 26th, 2006 09:41
The Rioch GR-D is not a mass market camera,but that it exists at all is encouraging. After seeing how Leica let the LC-1 onto the market without an optical finder, and same with all their subsequent cameras, I’d say they’ve given up on their acknowledged area of expertise rather wimpishly and one shouldn’t look to them for the future. The ability to hold the camera up to you eye is an advantage - especially for stability of the camera. Ricoh’s providing the external viewfinder is good, but the price is a real downer- I believe the 28mm auxilary finder from a Cosina/Leica rangefinder works quite well on the GR-D; if you can find one. As someone who likes to take photos in poor weather or near water, I was hoping the GR-D would have had weather-sealed construction - but alas not.
April 26th, 2006 10:47
Mark,
The Cosina/Leica 28mm does work, but I’m not sure if one of them (or both) blocks the pop-up flash. And, yes, I share the disappointment on not being weather-sealed…placing the mic on the bottom made it worse.
If I were the CEO of Leica, I would create something that competes with the GR-D…with a slightly larger CCD, faster buffer (ehem!), and a built-in optical viewfinder…with slightly smaller LCD and a slightly larger body to accomodate the slightly larger imaging chip…and maintain all the positive points of the GR-D. even if i price it about $300 more than the GR-D i believe it would be a hit! but I guess they’re just contented with rebadging Panasonic P&S and mark up the price without additional features (just that “red dot”)!
April 26th, 2006 18:48
Dear Mr Rants
Great review, in particular, I liked the irreverent styleee and the casual use of the word “Genitals”.
This GR is the best point and shoot camera released to date by anyone. If you consider long focal length shots on any 1/8th ccd a poor comparison to full frame 35mm digital, then what these compacts do best is the wide stuff and you wont find a better wide lens on any compact. Zero fringing or CA and minimum optical distortion. It looks cool and makes great A3 prints, what more do you need?
April 26th, 2006 22:42
no continuous mode in RAW, no buffer or not , the LCD stills lights up as it says “recording” for 10 seconds. Am I missing something , or is there NO way to completely turn off the screen in raw mode ? In jpg mode it’s always off, no light hits your face
April 26th, 2006 23:04
“Am I missing something , or is there NO way to completely turn off the screen in raw mode ?”
Yes, you are correct, Bill. it IS annoying when you think about it since it already has that blinking green light to indicate that it’s writing to the card…especially when you’re trying to be inconspicuous (which is why you have the displays off in the first place).
April 27th, 2006 01:00
There was a lot of hype around this camera — it was supposed to be the equivalent of their fames GR1 film compact cameras. Pro-SLR quality in a compact package. Well, the GR-D comes up way short. A side by side comparision with my GR1s film camera and 400 ISO film shows really how inadequate the camera is. GR1s with 400 ISO film provides significantly better image quality that the GR-D at 100 ISO. Period. Cheap consumer DLSR’s have better image quality. Very disappointing.
Biggest problem is the tiny sensor used in so many cheap P&S digicams. They have high noise and the GR-D has high noise. If Ricoh really wanted to produce a camera that lived up to the “GR” name and fulfill the hype and promise of the camera, they would have used a much bigger sensor. A 4/3rd’s sensor or bigger. The lens on the camera is fine. And as someone pointed out it might be the finest consumer P&S digicam made but unfortunately that is not saying too much. Like nearly all consumer digicams its good for web photos and small prints only.
Ricoh, do this camera the right way, and I and many others, will buy it. Right now, it far from worth the money or worth the bother.
April 27th, 2006 03:06
Freddie
if Ricoh used a bigger sensor like 4/3rds they probably couldn’t make it in such a small package, and no doubt it’s going to be a lot more expensive even if they could.
i haven’t seen a film-based GR in the flesh, let alone used one, so i can’t really comment on that regard.
as for comparing it to a cheap DSLR’s…well…apples and oranges, my friend…no doubt cheap DSLR’s images are better, but you can’t put them in your coat pocket, either.
April 27th, 2006 09:53
Dalegaspi- you describe a camera that I’ve seen a lot of people describe as their ideal. The funny thing is that all technology is already available - but marketing fools are so convinced that we all need 10x zooms, OIS, 30x program modes and making cameras so small any finger touching it will hit a button, or two.
Yes a 4/3 or APS sensor would be great - and yes it would boost the size a bit - but personally I prefer something about sony-V3 /Olympus 5050 sized if it means I get a decent optical finder. The Canon powershots are about the only OVF series still going - and the economy is amazing , estimated 1,500 shots with LCD off for the A620.
Oh - and nice photgraphy of the GR_D by the way in this review - which proves it’s ultimately the photographer who truely makes the image.
April 28th, 2006 05:32
thanks, Mark. you’re too kind.
April 28th, 2006 14:35
Mark is correct. All the technology is available to make a large sensor compact camera. Yes, it might be a bit larger than the current GR-D, but it could still be compact enough to fit in your pocket. It doesn’t have to be much bigger than the film camera GR-1 (the GR-D is actually made smaller than the GR-1). The only thing that really might have to be bigger is the lens — and perhaps a little biger than the lens on the GR-1.
Quite frankly, I’d like a camera that can fit in my pocket AND provide exceptional image quality — quality consistent with high-end SLR’s. That’s what the GR1 was all about, and what the GR-D should have been all about (it certainly created that expectation by using the “GR” name, but then just let alot of people down).
Sooner or later some manufacturer will catch on — perhaps when they are looking for another market segment to grow in when the cheap P&S market and the DSLR markets are all saturated.
April 28th, 2006 19:01
“Sooner or later some manufacturer will catch on — perhaps when they are looking for another market segment to grow in when the cheap P&S market and the DSLR markets are all saturated.”
i think Ricoh has realized this that’s why they created the GR-D. like i said before, while i’m sure they have thought about putting a larger sensor, it probably would have been more expensive. just like the next guy, i’m all for a bigger sensor…you’ll never know, maybe the next GR-D will be the camera that WE both can agree that it lives up to the “GR” name.
April 28th, 2006 21:19
[…] Ever since posting the GR-D review, this site’s unique visitors has increased by a factor of 6! The review has been linked to a number of websites, too…For once, I think I did something right here. I am now in the process of writing another review (commence cringing now)…don’t hold your breath, though…this one may take a while. If that next review proves to be another hit, then I think this thing would be a regular thing on this blog. […]
July 11th, 2006 02:03
the grd is good enough for taking shots in cartier-bresson-quality. if your eyes are good enough.
goto magnum-photos.com and check the masters of light: full of grain, vignetted from ne end to the other, heavily unsharp.
but: everyone marvels at these pics.
remember: winogrand did it with olympus xa. he had a really bad haircut, was overweight, but nevertheless, his eyes got something. it’s the eyes, dude, it’s the eyes.
PS: take the bad for good – slow buffering makes you waiting exactly until the decisive moment is here. because you know: there is no second chance…
July 28th, 2006 10:40
[…] Since I fully switched to digital some three years ago, I have always shoot in RAW format. Digital medium has always been unforgiving over- and underexposure, much less forgiving than slide film. And with ultra-megapixel-count-in-small-imaging-sensor like the GR-D, the tolerance for wrong exposure is even worse. Consider this shot. […]
September 9th, 2006 11:37
[…] Look, I’m not saying the Nikon D200 interface is unuseable. But let’s get real, it’s not the best out there. You want to know what a good camera user interface is? Check out the Ricoh GR-D. Actually, I’d go out on a limb that the Canon 10D has a better user interface. Don’t go out celebrating, just yet, Cannon Trekkies. We’re not even halfway through the review yet. And again, this is just me. What do I know? […]
October 14th, 2006 12:19
Hello, Pretty nifty review man. I am looking for a camera I can call my own and as I look at the thousands of them and try to choose I come across this thing called Ricoh gr. I thought holy shit this thing is half camera half SR-71 Blackbird. It is the coolest looking little camera I’ve ever seen. My problem is I just don’t no what to choose. Another model I am seriously considering is the Fuji Finepix f30 zoom. You can shoot at iso 3200. Pretty nifty huh? My problem is my eyes are larger then my knowledge and people at most(all) the camera shops don’t know shit about what they are selling. Might you suggest a place to purchase the gr-d as well as suggest some other camera models I might consider? Thanks Earl
October 14th, 2006 19:30
Earl:
F30 is nice camera, too. I have not tried an F30 myself, but a quick search with google states these following notable differences (aside from higher ISO range in F30):
- F30 has optical zoom
- F30 has NO RAW mode
in contrast, the GR-D has a fixed lens (28mm equivalent) and you need to spend much more moolah to get the 21mm attachment…but it has RAW mode. I’m not sure how important those features for you.
if this is going to be your only camera and if you don’t post-process a lot in Photoshop, I think the F30 is a safer bet.
BTW, Fuji just announced the F31 (F30 successor). You may want to check out the differences and see if it’s worth the price difference (and the wait).
Thanks for dropping by.
October 24th, 2006 02:25
[…] WTF? It’s still a great camera. But, seriously, Ricoh…sky blue? […]
November 20th, 2006 07:42
[…] Speaking of cameras, I noticed that that 75% of the time people land on this blog because of the GR-D review. I must admit I haven’t touched that camera in a while, but I just thought of a photo project/essay and decided to use this camera exclusively for that project. Once I get that thing done, I will be updating the review. […]
November 23rd, 2006 10:40
[…] Ricoh has issued a new firmware update for the awesome GR-D. One major feature for this firmware update is that you can now select the quality of the accompanying JPEG when using RAW mode, which alleviates some of the painful wait times between shots in RAW mode. Well, according to my not-so-scientific tests, when set to the smallest JPEG quality, the RAW writing times is down by an average of a whopping TWO SECONDS. La dee da. […]
March 9th, 2007 09:51
[…] The only product that has caught my attention so far was the Sigma DP1. Finally, a company has recognized the market for such a camera! True, that market is not exactly mainstream, but it’s too small to ignore; this is the reason why the Ricoh GR-D has been mildly successful despite its high price and limited availability (Ricoh has long ceased marketing cameras in the US). […]
June 12th, 2007 04:26
[…] Take the current Ricoh GR-D […]
October 13th, 2007 06:48
Do you know when the GRD 2 version is coming out? I too await the Sigma DP1 but fear it is only a figment of their imaginations - Sigma thus far only has a website and a lot of pictures of its cameras, no product and no date. The last I heard from Sigma (2 months agao), they said watch for it on their site. Shame. Let’s hope the GRDII will supass it anyway.
March 16th, 2008 02:29
I’m always amused by the GR-D haters. Invariably they’re the ones who think they know what they’re talking about, yet have never used the camera themselves. The GR-D takes fantastic pictures if you have a modicum of talent. I was persuaded once I checked out what people on Flickr had posted. I’ve made some 8×10 B&W prints that have impressed others. There is no better small, digital, quick action B&W shooter out there, primarily because of its fantastic prime lens. It’s a gem.
July 25th, 2008 06:32
Nice review, captures the true reason why the GR-D exists
The fact I am still using such an “old” camera is enough proof for me that itś good. Sure I have a Nikon DSLR (and lots of other cameras) and love it too, but nothing captures the feeling of a certain moment like the GR does. Like it sucks up the vibe of the place and puts it in a photo. Picture quality is not the only thing I want in a camera, I want a camera that makes me feel good and makes me want to use it all day long….and thatś exactly what the ricoh does!