I recently bought a used Ricoh GRD IV. Another one you might say… The previous one had been damaged in a stupid fall (Blog here). The camera had hit the ground hard and didn’t seem to have any apparent damage. I did notice that the left side of my pictures were still blurry. In addition, small dust spots had appeared. It was impossible to close the aperture beyond f4, otherwise the dust was visible. That’s why I went on the hunt for a new GRD IV. I found it on leboncoin. But there too, I realised that there was a problem when I used the camera at f 2.8. Still a sharpness problem that doesn’t appear at f1.9 or other apertures. The camera is usable but I don’t have to use f2.8.

So what? I start looking for another GRD IV? At the risk of coming across another camera with problems? No, I’m going to keep it simple. I have a lot of small cameras lying around at home. The easy solution would be to use my Fuji XF10 that I bought at the beginning of last year. For the record, I got it for 250€. That’s cheap. This camera is not particularly popular with street photographers, but I had a blast with it. I had found the pleasure of my beginnings when I used Zone Focusing with my Fuji xE2 mounted with the 18mm f2. This was the same thing but with a camera the size of a Ricoh GR.

So no, the Fuji XF10 is out. In the future, I will surely use this camera, but for the moment I wanted to give the Ricoh GR3 another chance! It’s been almost 3 years since I was offered this camera. I’ve hardly taken any pictures with it and the last ones I found on the memory card are from July 2020! OMG ! 2 years this camera has been sleeping in a cupboard … My first feeling when I picked it up is that the right side of the camera is still overheating … Nothing has changed. I find the positioning of the power and shutter buttons still too close to each other. But I’ll try to ignore these flaws and try to make it my new tool on the street.

I need something new and also to challenge myself a bit. That’s why I’m switching to the GR3 for the moment. Nothing is definitive. If you have been following me since the beginning, I have been between the Fui XE2, the Ricoh GRD IV, the Ricoh GR, the Fuji XF10 and now the GR3! There is one camera I keep coming back to.  It is the GRD IV. But what I have found in my journey is that changing cameras has been very important in my work and allows me to break a certain routine. I am a fan of routine and find it comfortable, but sometimes change is good. Last year when I switched to the XF10 for almost 9 months, I rediscovered colour. I don’t know what will happen with the GR3, but I want to give it another chance.

This camera was given to me by some very close friends whom I left in Mainland France. The least I could do was to use it. Don’t think that the photos that illustrate this Blog were taken with the GR3! No, the good old GRD IV was used. The GR3 is now in my bag, but I haven’t had the opportunity to use it in the street yet…

All the photos were made with the Ricoh GRD IV.