Ricoh GR IIIx Review

There is still nothing else that puts an APS-C sensor and a genuinely excellent lens into something under three hundred grams that disappears into a front pocket. The forty millimetre equivalent framing is the interesting choice: tighter than the classic twenty-eight of the standard GR, closer to how people actually see a subject, and better for portraits and food than for a wide street scene. Snap focus is why photographers keep buying these. Preset a distance, press the shutter, and the camera fires instantly at that distance with no autofocus delay whatsoever, which is the fastest way anyone has found to catch a passing moment.

The compromises make a long list and owners recite it cheerfully. Autofocus in normal operation is slow and hunts in low light. The battery is rated at around two hundred shots. There is no viewfinder and the screen does not move. Video is 1080p with no microphone input and no reason to use it. Dust reaching the sensor has been a recurring complaint across the whole GR line for years. None of that stops it being the camera that is actually with you.