Ricoh GR iii (Patreon)

Hey everyone, yes you read that right, this week I received a Christmas gift in advance from me to me, a beautiful new Ricoh GR iii.

How I decided to buy this is a funny story, well funny to me. I'm doing photogrammetry in the context of my job, although they provide a Sony a7ii, I still wanted to get what I needed on my own because right now we have to share it amongst ourselves.  At this time I don't own any auto focus lens, crazy when you think about it, I'm all manual. So at first I wanted to get something like the Sony a7ii, I need at least 24mp but don't need the latest and greatest gear. I passed on that because after testing out that camera I found the auto focus very slow and it's kinda important for photogrammetry. Btw if you don't know, photogrammetry is the process of scanning objects and/or materials using a camera, a drone or lasers. My second option was to buy a fuji lens for the x-pro2, I usually buy all my gear second hand so I was waiting for a good bargain for a 35mm or wider. Then I was thinking about going more compact, like the Sony a6500 or something... But then, I though about the Ricoh GR, a camera I always wanted but never really considered because of the hefty price tag. So I started looking for a used one and didn't find any in great condition, then I checked Amazon, I found that I could order a GR iii from Ontario and save half on tax. I knew this was not the best for photogrammetry, considering battery consumption and the fact that there is no viewfinder, (a work horse of a camera would be best) but it was already too late, G.A.S had kicked in, Gear Acquisition Syndrome not actual gas lol, I was too far in the youtube videos and everything, I had to get it. 

So here we are with the Ricoh GR iii, results are really impressive for such a small camera. Always wanted to have a good compact camera that I could carry on me day to day, and this Ricoh is just better than good, it's phenomenal.

This weekend I decided to change things up, I had this second instagram account called @diemegapixels which was all film and I felt like ignoring digital photography as a tool was just not very wise. It is now an account where I will share what doesn't make it on my main account and just random stuff in general. I'm sure lots of GR iii pics are going to make it there. 

https://www.instagram.com/fredoziano

I am tired of the analog vs digital war, I just don’t like being constrained anymore, letting the picture speak for itself, just being a photograph minus all the fluff behind it.

Friday night I took the Ricoh for a spin while walking my dog and made a few samples. FYI, I made this post public because all of these were shared on Instagram anyway. 

As you can see it's not too bad in low light, kinda impressive, shot these at ISO 6400, f/2.8 and from 1/60 to 1/15 of a sec, the 3 axis in-body stabilization helps for sure. These were edited in LR of course. Here's a few more images:

Also the built-in macro mode works very well:

I didn't try to scan any materials with this yet. Am I going to use it on shoots you ask? I damn well plan to that's for sure. I used it today though, I tried street photography, results are coming in very soon later tonight, writing it as we speak. 

Thanks for reading and see you later :)