What? What on earth is he on about? Less than two weeks ago, he was swearing up and down that it was out of the question. That even though the GR III was on its last legs, there was no way we were replacing it! Pfff, and to think he’s always going on about not focusing on the gear and how we shouldn’t listen to the manufacturers’ siren calls urging us to buy the latest versions of their cameras with their loads of megapixels. And now this chap goes and buys the latest Ricoh GR?
So yes, I’ve bought the Ricoh GR IV. Let’s rewind a bit. In my last blog post, I told you about my misadventures with my Ricoh, which had lost its autofocus. It was quite a nuisance, forcing me to use it differently, but ultimately, for street photography, it was manageable. Even though I had a few more limitations due to the loss of autofocus, I was getting used to it. After my trip to the Perenthian Islands, I noticed the annoying appearance of several specks of dust on the sensor. As I could no longer take my camera apart to clean it, I started to seriously consider upgrading my kit. Not that it was urgent, but the question was bound to come up in the fairly near future, and it’s still a bit of a hassle to get hold of a camera on Réunion island.
Even though I’ve wrecked quite a few Ricoh GRD IVs (drops, splashes, etc.) and a few Ricoh GRs as well, I only have three cameras left that are more or less in working order. A GRD IV that plays up as soon as you open the aperture and seems to have focusing issues. A Fujifilm X-E2, over 10 years old, which I mainly use with manual lenses; and the Ricoh GR III, which is seriously starting to show signs of wear and tear. I’ve said it before: the Ricoh doesn’t have the robustness of a Leica or any other camera with a more solid build. It’s still a pocket camera, with all the advantages and disadvantages that entails. Among the disadvantages, I’d single out its durability. Not that the camera is fragile, but I don’t consider it to be ‘durable’.
So here I am, on the lookout for a Ricoh GR IV to buy. My plan was to buy it in Singapore just before coming home from holiday. After doing some research online, it turns out the GR IV is out of stock in Singapore. The only model available is the monochrome version… So, change of plans – I’m making the most of our stopover in George Town, Malaysia, to buy it. In Malaysia too, stocks are quite low, so I’ve contacted a shop to ask them to put one aside for me. €1,300: that’s the price I’ll have to pay for the Ricoh GR IV… It’s expensive. Especially when you consider that the GR III was selling for less than €1,000… I didn’t get a great deal by buying it in Malaysia. It’s more or less the same price in France. On Réunion island, you’d be looking at a good €1,500! The downside is that I only have the Malaysian warranty… Which is basically the same as having no warranty at all!
I started using the GR IV in George Town and also spent three days in Singapore with it. I’m going to share my first impressions of this camera after just one week of use.
For those of you with a Ricoh GR III, don’t expect a revolution. You’ll quickly find your feet. A few buttons have gone, others have changed shape, but you won’t get lost! As for the rest, it’s a Ricoh GR. Simple and effective. I think they’ve included a Snap mode on the mode dial, but I’m not yet sure what it’s for. I just switched to Av mode (Aperture priority) and that was it. I quickly made my usual settings: Snap at 2.5 m, f/8, 1/500 s, Auto ISO (1/500 s | ISO max 1600). Nothing revolutionary. There’s just one thing I do regularly now, which is to manually adjust the ISO to deliberately reduce the shutter speed when I know I’ll be in situations that don’t require high shutter speeds. All this to prevent the ISO from rising too quickly and thus keep noise to a minimum.
The image quality is really very good. I think my GR III must have had a slight sharpness issue as well, because at f/8, the images are much sharper at infinity with the GR IV. I’d already suspected there was a slight problem with the GR III, but as I had nothing to compare it with, I thought I was just imagining things… Now the images are much sharper! At ISO 1600, the images are of very good quality. I haven’t pushed it any higher yet. I’ll do that later.
Right from the first time I used it, I found the camera overheated a lot! It’s the same problem as with the GR III. But on subsequent occasions, the issue was less severe. I can confirm that the GR IV still overheats. It’s not unbearable, but it remains a problem. In this respect, Ricoh hasn’t improved on its latest model… I’d also complained a lot about the battery life. The GR IV has a brand-new battery: the 1,800 mAh DB120 (compared to the 1300mAh of the Ricoh GR III). So? After my first outing, I was surprised by how short the battery life was and started grumbling… But on subsequent occasions, I was pleasantly surprised. Ricoh claims 250 photos on a single charge. Personally, I managed up to 350! I’m a bit of a shutterbug and I chimp a lot. So, all in all, it’s really not bad – in fact, it’s very good. For the record, I switch off the touchscreen and anything else that might drain the battery. Basically, a battery used to last for two hours of intensive use. I had three batteries with me and never used more than two in a whole day! That’s a pleasant surprise for me, and kudos to Ricoh.
It’s nice to be back with the AF. And in that respect, I think it’s more responsive than the GR III, which I didn’t find particularly good. The 5-axis stabilisation (instead of 3) is incredibly effective. Again, my GR III must have had a few issues in that regard, as I’ve taken handheld night-time photos with the GR IV at very, very slow shutter speeds.
So, those are the most important points for me. All in all, after a week’s use, I reckon it’s a good update to the Ricoh GR. Is it worth switching to this new model if you’ve got the III and it’s working fine? Hmm, I’d say no. If you’re in the market for a new GR like me, between the GR III at €900 and the GR IV at €1,300, I’d still go for the latest version. OK, it’s a lot more expensive, but my first impressions of this new model are quite good.
This trip to Singapore also gave me the chance to enjoy using the camera’s native 28mm lens once again. I often found myself needing a wider focal length whilst I was there. All the photos were taken with the Ricoh GR IV in Singapore.
Your last post was titled”half broken” – you must be nearly “broke” by now splashing out all this money on cameras!
Regardless, I’ve said before and I’ll say it again – you take brilliant photos. That shot of the reflection with the guy on his phone is a wonderful piece of street photography.