Ricoh GR ii

[drew doty]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Recently got this is as a new camera for backpacking due to its high image quality and being extremely lightweight.  Has anyone used it extensively and what are your feelings about it?  Battery life? Low light sunrise shots?  Did you get dust on the sensor easily?  Things like that.</p>

[Ian]

Sorry you’re not getting a response.   The photography forum used to be pretty active but has withered over the past couple years.

Please share your thoughts after you’ve used it some as I’m sure there are others like me who are interested in this camera but don’t currently own one to directly respond to your inquiry.

[drew doty]

Thanks Ian!  I appreciate your comments. I have initially tried it out and it weighs 8.62oz on my scale with battery and sd card.  It is suuuuuuper sharp across the frame and is easy to carry in my shirt pocket while hiking.  A definite plus when ease of use is concerned.  I think it will be a spectacular camera for hiking.  I’m just curious how low the shutter speed can be before it gets blurry.  Also, not sure how many shots I can get from one charge since I just got.  I also like that im limited in my focal length because there is more time for hiking and enjoying the surroundings!

[Ted E]

I use to have it as my one and only camera. It’s great for being handheld, sharp photographs, and is pretty easy to customize. I think its the best pocket camera made. The GR III seems to be even better, with a newer sensor.

Unfortunately, I lent it to a friend, and he somehow dropped it in a lake and ruined it. He did reimburse me for it, but I decided to go for a Sony A6100 for its replacement with a Sigma 16mm F1.4 lens. Nowhere near as packable, but with a peak deigns capture it rides on my shoulder well. The nicer thing about the sony is since its interchangeable lenses, it’ll be more flexible if I want to eventually get some other lenses for it. Also, the F1.4 lens that sigma makes is so much better than the sigma F2.8.

[drew doty]

Awesome!  Glad you like your Sony.  I too have a Sony a6000. It’s a great camera no doubt.  Ive taken it on many trips and got some great photos as well.  However, it is the form factor that I’m looking at here with the pocketable size.  I used to bring the Sony and a few lenses and batteries, etc..  I’m trying to go as light as possible without sacrificing too much in the camera dept.  The Ricoh has been great.  Images are spectacular and I find that I take less time fussing with my camera and more time enjoying hiking and nature.

 

The one gripe I have so far is the poor metering of the Ricoh. It struggles to find decent exposure when there is too much  contrasting light(sunrise, sunset).  I usually go manual and dial in the histogram to get good balance. The video is kinda crappy too and I wouldn’t use it too much.   But all in all it does well for for what I need it to do and it definitely lightens/shrinks my pack by a lot. I used to carry my camera in a case attached to my wasit belt but that became annoying and I wanted it to go in my shirt pocket.  Batteries are super light too and cheap.  There are better cameras out there but this one is quite nice.  In Lightroom the raw files are ok, but the jpgs turn out real nice.  Better than the raw files in my opinion.  The camera with 3 batteries and sd card weighs in at 10.35ozs and my Sony a6000 with a sigma 19mm 2.8 with 3 batteries weighs 20.5 ozs and definitely doesn’t fit into a shirt pocket.  Here is a photo I took recently, with the Ricoh ii, on a trip into the Superstitions.

[Adam Kilpatrick]

that’s a nice shot!

I reckon the GRiii looks pretty nice :-)

[drew doty]

So… I recently acquired an adapter for the Ricoh that allows me to put on a filter.  Thanks Ted!  Really appreciate it!  The adapter,  the filter, and lens hood weigh 1.45oz. Bringing the total to 10.2 ozs for a aps-c sensor sized camera, battery, memory card, filter, adapter, and hood.  I also could add a wide angle lens to the equation if I wanted for 7.5 ozs for a total of 17.7 ozs.  Excited to try long exposure on my backpacking trips and have a polarizer as well.  I think I like having one focal length for certain trips.  I helps me engage with the HIKE more and let go of focusing on photography too much.   pun intended.

 

I’ve carried heavyish equipment before Fuji XT2 with 18-55mm 2.8, 4 batteries, filters, and a rokinon 12mm, mini tripods,  but found that the photos were obviously better but at some point it just turned into a memory on a hard drive and maybe a photo was all I needed.  If that is true then why not carry just a little something less but still creates an image that I love regardless of what camera it came from.  Anyway, I like being creative on trail, and this (GR) set up is not the most creative package, but it allows for some level of creativeness and doesn’t weigh much at all.  For comparison my Fuji Xt2 setup weighed 59oz or 3lbs 11ozs.  Seems like a significant difference.

[Ted E]

I’m glad you’re enjoying the new accessories instead of them sitting around my place gathering dust :-)

[drew doty]

I tried posting a couple of shots but the files are too big.

 

Here is a link to an example of what I was able to get shooting .jpg out of camera.

 

Long Exposure

 

[Andy Stow]

I loved my Ricoh GR, but unfortunately it quit opening and closing. I sent it in for repair and they wanted to replace the whole lens assembly for not much less than a new camera would cost.

[Author]

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