Ricoh GRD3 is an advanced fixed lens compact camera and also the best Ricoh compact camera up to date. Ricoh GRD belong to the famous Ricoh GR line, which features fixed wide angle lens equivalent to 28mm with big aperture.
This product philosophy is pretty straightforward, it is designed and engineered for serious photographers. Every buttons, features, and menu interface are designed to be easily accessible for photographers. Aufo focus performance is excellent. This combination ensures photographers to be able to capture the decisive moment when it occurs.
BODY & HANDLING
Ricoh GRD3 is made by magnesium alloy body, very lightweight but very sturdy. It has a big leather-like texture in the hand grip and a bit on the back of the camera. The ergonomic is excellent. It is very comfortable even for a long period of time. The grip make it easier for photographer to keep the camera steady to prevent camera shake/blurred image.
Ricoh GRD3's body interface are the best interface for compact camera. Here is why:
First, it has many dedicated buttons, two dials, and up-down button in a very thoughtful design. All the buttons are very accessible.
Second, most of the buttons are customizable. There are two customizable function buttons. In addition, the up-down button and the two dials can be customized in certain way to fit your prefered shooting style. There is also a ADJ. button, which is also function as a customizable button.
Mode dial is positioned far top right of the camera with a dial lock. The lock prevented the mode dial to be changed accidentally. GRD3 also has three custom mode dials that can be customized. For example, MY1 for general outdoor shooting, MY2 for low light shooting, MY3 for macro shooting, etc.
This kind of body interface usually only available on high-end digital SLR cameras. But even that, I doubt there are any high-end dSLR cameras that offers wide range of customization option that GRD3 offers.
When using a camera, most of photographers are forced to adapt to the camera interface, but in GRD3, you can tailor fit it into your style. With practical experience, you will find which kind of setting is the best for you.
OPERATION & AUTO FOCUS
Ricoh GRD3 starts-up time is 2 seconds and off-time is around 3 seconds which are not very fast, but not the slowest. The operation is generally smooth. Regarding Auto focus system. This camera has the usual multi-focus and spot focus (focus on the center). Focusing speed are moderately fast at around half a second. AF noise is very quiet. You can only hear the faint swirling noise clearly when you are very close to the camera in a quiet room.
Ricoh has several rather unique AF features. Here is some unique AF features:
Pre-AF = When this feature is activated, the camera will performs auto focus automatically when you start pointing on a scene. This will make auto focus operation a lot faster.
Snap-AF = This is basically bypassing auto focus. You set the focus distance (GRD3 offers 1m, 2.5m, 5m and infinity). When this setting activated, you just click away without having to wait. Because shutter lag is almost 0 sec. You will able to capture the frame instantaneously.
GRD3 also provides depth of field guideline for each aperture in the LCD screen, so you can make sure that your subject will be in focus. The Snap AF works well in digital compact camera with small sensor because the depth of field are large. So the possibility of getting sharp picture is a lot larger than in digital SLR cameras.
There is also a focus confirmation lamp positioned right to the hot shoe. This is very effective when you use external viewfinder as a compositional tool. The AF lamp will provide focus confirmation. The lamp also serves as camera processing indicator.
Missing from GRD3 auto focus is the ability to move the move the spot focus to other part of the frame. There is manual focus that allow you to enlarge / zoom the center portion of the scene, which is helpful when you deal with macro photography, but it is not adequate for normal range of photography because the magnification is only around 2-3 times. and it is only in center of the screen.
IMAGE QUALITY AND NOISE IN HIGH ISO
Image quality is excellent in advanced compact camera class. Shooting in low ISO (200 or lower), it is hard to find the difference the result between this camera with digital SLR camera which has much bigger sensor unless you zoom in to 100%. Dynamic range (the difference between the brightest and darkest parts of an image) is generally good, but around 1 stop lower than digital SLR camera. The camera has adjustable dynamic range expansion (weak, medium, strong) which will help to optimized your image with special algorithm.
To deal with dynamic range problem, Ricoh GRD3 has a feature called Double Snap, this feature will take two images consecutively and combine them together to expand the dynamic range. This features are great to bring up shadow details, but you will need tripod for good result because just a bit shake in the process, then the end image will be blurry.
Image in high ISO are also excellent for compact camera. It is very usable up to ISO 800 and 1600 is acceptable for small print or web. Colors and saturation are retained even in highest ISO. [Check the ISO / noise comparison in my website]
VIDEO MODE
Do not expect miracle from GRD3 video mode. This camera is intended for still photography so video mode is very basic, but will be useful for quick snap and web sharing.
SOME PERCEIVED WEAKNESSES
* It is easy to accidentally press the the up and down button (usually use for zoom)
* Spot focus limited to center of the frame only. It is not moveable like other advanced compacts.
* Manual zoom magnification should be greater and also movable to other part of the frame (not only center).
* A bit slow processing when shooting in RAW files (approx. 2 sec each), although you can shoot 5 frames continuously at 2 fps.
* Double Snap feature does not give you control over exposure or other setting.
* Need tripod to get Double Snap feature to work well.
* No image stabilization. This is understandable because the size of the camera could be larger. Also, the high ISO performance and bright lens will suffice in low light condition.
* No scene modes or face detection. This camera is not aimed for casual / family compacts market.
* Tele converter lens is not available.
* Small image sensor, while closest competitors already move to DSLR quality sensor
COMPETITORS
People that looking for Ricoh GRD3 might also consider:
Sigma DP1 14MP Digital Camera $550
DP1 uses 14.6 megapixel FOVEON sensor (effective 4.6 mp), and 28 mm f/4 lens.
Sigma DP2 14MP FOVEON CMOS Sensor Digital Camera with 2.5 Inch TFT LCD $650
DP1 uses 14.6 megapixel FOVEON sensor (effective 4.6 mp), and 40 mm f/2.8 lens. DP2 is slightly improved from DP1 in term of processing and operation speed and interface.
Leica 18420 X1 12.2MP APS-C CMOS Digital Camera $1995
Leica offers 12 megapixel APS-C sensor and f/2.8 lens equivalent to 35mm.
People might also consider advanced compact zoom lenses such as:
Canon PowerShot G11 10MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle Optical Stabilized Zoom and 2.8-inch articulating LCD $500
G11 offers 28-140mm f/2.8-4.5 zoom stabilized lens, professional quality body interface and swivel LCD screen.
Canon PowerShot S90IS 10MP Digital Camera with 3.8x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 3-inch LCD $430
S90 offers 28-105mm f/2-4.9 stabilized zoom lens
Panasonic DMC-LX3K 10.1MP Digital Camera with 2.5x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Black) $500
LX3 offers 24mm-60mm f/2-2.8 stabilized zoom lens
All the camera above offers 10 megapixel image resolution, which is believed to be sweet spot for image resolution and noise trade off.
CONCLUSION
Ricoh GRD3 is a unique compact camera. It is has the best interface and ergonomic compared to its rivals. Image quality is very good considering GRD2 has small CCD sensor. The new 28mm f/1.9 is great. Low light performance and image quality are very good. AF operation are excellent and very innovative. For so long, compact cameras always have problem with slow focusing. With this system, you can bypass the AF with Snap or pre-AF mode.
Of course, Ricoh GRD3 is not for everybody, because it only has 28mm fixed lens, not zoom lens, and it lacks consumer friendly features such as face detection, scene modes and photo retouch. However, this camera is ideal for people who understand about basic photography. The focusing features, size and image quality make this camera ideal for street photography.
Overall, Ricoh GRD3 is a remarkable camera in such a small package. It sports everything the serious photographer will love, not only fancy features as marketing gimmicks. Highly Recommended!
Subjective Rating Relative to advanced compact camera in 2009
Image Quality : 4/5
Features : 4/5
Performance : 5/5
Body and Handling : 5/5
Value for Money : 4/5
0 comments:
Post a Comment