Ricoh GR Digital III Review
Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 10 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 3.5Mb.
The Ricoh GR Digital III produced images of excellent quality during the review period. The Ricoh GR Digital III's main drawback in terms of image quality is noise, with ISO 800 showing some noise, blurring of detail and slight colour desaturation. The noise and loss of detail get progressively worse as you go from ISO 800 to the fastest 1600 setting.
The new Dynamic Range mode works really well, resulting in images that have noticeably more dynamic range that those shot in the Normal mode, and far surpassing most other compact cameras. If you want to shoot images that retain detail in both the highlight and shadow areas, then the Ricoh GR Digital III is a great choice.
The Ricoh GR Digital III handled chromatic aberrations very well with limited purple fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations. The 10 megapixel images were just a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpen setting of Normal and either require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you should increase the in-camera sharpening level.
The night photograph was excellent, with the maximum shutter speed of 180 seconds allowing you to capture enough light for most situations. Macro performance is a stand-out highlight, allowing you to focus as close as 1cm away from the subject, although there is a lot of lens distortion and shadowing at such a close distance. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and good overall exposure.
Noise
There are 6 ISO settings available on the Ricoh GR Digital III. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting for both JPEG and RAW files.
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JPEG |
RAW |
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ISO 64 (100% Crop) |
ISO 64 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 100 (100% Crop) |
ISO 100 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 1600 (100% Crop) |
ISO 1600 (100% Crop) |
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Dynamic Range
When the Ricoh GR Digital III is in DR mode (Dynamic Range double shot) it takes two images with different exposures, and then records a single image that combines the properly exposed parts of each one. You can also choose to take a DR and Normal image at the same time (both are saved to the memory card). Here is an example which was shot with Normal and then the three DR modes (Weak, Medium and Strong).
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Normal |
Dynamic Range - Weak |
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Dynamic Range - Medium |
Dynamic Range - Strong |
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Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a little soft at the default sharpening setting of Normal. You can change the in-camera sharpening level to one of the preset levels if you don't like the default look.
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Original (100% Crop) |
Sharpened (100% Crop) |
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File Quality
The Ricoh GR Digital III has 2 different image quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.
| 10M Fine (3.30Mb) (100% Crop) | 10M Normal (2.08Mb) (100% Crop) |
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| 10M RAW (14.5Mb) (100% Crop) | |
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Ricoh GR Digital III handled chromatic aberrations excellently during the review, with very limited purple fringing present around the edges of objects in certain high-contrast situations, as shown in the example below.
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Example 1 (100% Crop) |
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Macro
The Ricoh GR Digital III offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is just 1cm away from the camera when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
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Macro Shot |
100% Crop |
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Flash
The flash settings on the Ricoh GR Digital III are Auto, Red-eye-Reduction, Flash On, Slow Synchro, Manual Flash, and Flash Off. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
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Flash Off - Wide Angle (28mm) |
Flash On - Wide Angle (28mm) |
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And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Flash On or the Red-eye-Reduction settings caused any red-eye.
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Flash On |
Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Red-eye Reduction |
Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night
The Ricoh GR Digital III's maximum shutter speed is 180 seconds, which is excellent news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 15 seconds at ISO 64. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
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Night Shot |
Night Shot (100% Crop) |
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Sample Images
This is a selection of sample images from the Ricoh GR Digital III camera, which were all taken using the 10 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.
Sample RAW Images
The Ricoh GR Digital III enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Ricoh RAW (DNG) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).
1/68s · f/4 · ISO 64
6mm
Download original
1/84s · f/8 · ISO 800
6mm
Download original
1/164s · f/4 · ISO 64
6mm
Download original
1/350s · f/1.9 · ISO 64
6mm
Download original
1/1000s · f/2.8 · ISO 1600
6mm
Download original
1/32s · f/1.9 · ISO 218
6mm
Download original
1/64s · f/5.6 · ISO 64
6mm
Download original
1/290s · f/5.6 · ISO 64
6mm
Download original
1/410s · f/5.6 · ISO 100
6mm
Download original
1/540s · f/9 · ISO 200
6mm
Download original
1/1620s · f/2.8 · ISO 100
6mm
Download original
1/410s · f/1.9 · ISO 400
6mm
Download original
1/233s · f/4 · ISO 1600
6mm
Download original
1/68s · f/3.2 · ISO 64
6mm
Download original
1/32s · f/1.9 · ISO 436
6mm
Download original
Sample Movie & Video
This is a sample movie at the quality setting of 640x480 at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 20 second movie is 29.6Mb in size.
As of February 2025, we are no longer providing full size sample images or videos for download.
Please contact us if you have any feedback on our new policy.
Product Images
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Front of the Camera |
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Front of the Camera / Lens Extended |
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Front of the Camera / Pop-up Flash |
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Isometric View |
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Isometric View |
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Rear of the Camera |
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Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed |
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Rear of the Camera / Turned On |
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Rear of the Camera / Main Menu |
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Rear of the Camera / Adj Menu |
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Top of the Camera |
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Bottom of the Camera |
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Side of the Camera |
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Side of the Camera |
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Front of the Camera |
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Front of the Camera |
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Memory Card Slot |
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Battery Compartment |
Conclusion
The Ricoh GR Digital III is a thinking photographer's dream camera, offering a wealth of features, superb handling, almost infinite customisation, fast operation, and excellent image quality. Only the massive price hike to £529.99 / $699 prevents us from awarding it our highest Essential! / 5 star rating.
Ricoh have taken an already superbly thought-out camera in the GR Digital II and produced a new model that far surpasses its predecessor. The GR Digital III bucks the recent trend of offering just a few unimportant features in a so-called upgrade, with a brand new lens, sensor, image processing engine and LCD screen, plus a number of other innovative features. They all add up to make this the best Ricoh compact camera yet.
As Ricoh claim, image quality is improved, with noise levels at ISO 200 on the GR Digital III equivalent to ISO 100 on the GR Digital II, and so on. Together with the faster f/1.9 lens and the new Dynamic Range option, this makes this camera very effective in low-light conditions, either hand-held or with the use of a tripod. ISO 800 still shows some noise, blurring of detail and slight colour desaturation, but we'd be happy to use almost the full ISO range of 64-800, with 1600 as an emergency standby. Not bad for a compact camera with a small sensor.
The only fly in the ointment is the eyewatering price. £529 / $699 is a lot of money to pay for a 28mm fixed-focal length compact camera with a comparatively tiny sensor - you could buy a mid-level DSLR camera for that kind of cash. Still, if the Ricoh GR Digital III key specifications fit your billing, then we wouldn't hesitate to recommend what is one of the most photographer-friendly compacts that we've ever reviewed.
| Ratings (out of 5) | |
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| Design | 5 |
| Features | 5 |
| Ease-of-use | 5 |
| Image quality | 4.5 |
| Value for money | 3.5 |
Review Roundup
Reviews of the Ricoh GR Digital III from around the web.
photoreview.com.au »
The GR Digital III is the third model in a successful series of feature-rich digicams for enthusiasts, based on the popular Ricoh GR-series of 35mm film cameras launched in 1996. Acclaimed for their slim, well-designed bodies and functionality, these cameras have been popular with photo enthusiasts and professional photographers as 'walk-around' cameras that can be carried in a pocket.
Read the full review »
Specifications
| No. of Effective Pixels (Camera) | Approximately 10.00 million pixels | |
| Image Sensor | 1/1.7-inch CCD (total pixels: approx. 10.40 million pixels) | |
| Lens | Focal length | f=6.0 mm (equivalent to 28 mm for 35 mm film cameras) |
| F-aperture | F1.9 – F9 (exposure control with both aperture and ND filter when F8.0-F11 displays in auto shooting mode) | |
| Shooting Distance (from the front of the lens) |
Approx. 30cm from lens tip to infinity Approx. 1cm from lens tip to infinity (macro) | |
| Lens Construction | 8 elements in 6 groups (aspheric lens: 2 elements and 2 surfaces) | |
| Digital Zoom Magnification | Digital Zoom | Approx. 4.0x |
| Auto Resize Zoom | Approx. 5.7x (VGA images) | |
| Focus Mode | Multi AF (CCD method) / Spot AF (CCD method) / Manual Focus / Snap / Infinity (Focus lock and AF auxiliary light available. For Multi AF and Spot AF, full-press snap and pre-AF are possible.) | |
| Shutter Speed *1 | Still image | 180, 120, 60, 30, 15, 13, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3.2, 2.5, 2, 1.6, 1.3, 1 - 1/2000 sec. (maximum and minimum shutter speeds vary depending on shooting mode and flash mode) |
| Movie | 1/30 - 1/2000 sec. | |
| Exposure Control | Exposure Metering Mode |
Multi (256 segments), Centre Weighted Light Metering, Spot Metering (TTL-CCD metering method, AE lock possible) |
| Exposure Modes | Program AE, Aperture Priority AE, Shutter Priority AE, Manual Exposure | |
| Exposure Compensation |
Manual Exposure Compensation +/-2.0EV (1/3EV Steps), Auto Bracket Function (-0.5EV, ±0, +0.5EV / -0.3EV, ±0, +0.3EV) | |
| ISO Sensitivity (Standard Output Sensitivity) | AUTO, AUTO-HI, ISO64 / 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 | |
| White Balance Mode | AUTO / Multi-Pattern AUTO / Outdoors / Cloudy / Incandescent / Fluorescent / Manual / Detail, White Balance Bracket Function | |
| Flash | Built-in flash mode |
Auto (during low light and when the subject is backlit), Red-eye-Reduction, Flash On, Slow Synchro, Manual Flash, Flash Off |
| Built-in flash range |
Approx. 20 cm - 3.0 m (ISO Auto) | |
| Flash compensation |
+/-2.0EV (1/3EV Steps) | |
| Monitor | 3.0-inch Transparent LCD (approx. 920,000 dots) | |
| Shooting Mode | Auto Shooting Mode / Program Shift Mode / Aperture Priority Mode / Shutter Speed Priority Mode / Manual Exposure Mode / Scene Modes (Text / Movie / Skew Correction / Dynamic Range Double Shot) / My Settings Mode | |
| Picture Quality Mode *2 | F (Fine) / N (Normal) / RAW (DNG file format) *3 | |
| No. of Pixels Recorded | Still image | [4:3]3648×2736, 3264×2448, 2592×1944, 2048×1536, 1280×960, 640×480 [3:2] 3648×2432 [1:1] 2736×2736 |
| Movie | 640x480, 320x240 | |
| Text | 3648x2736, 2048x1536 | |
| Recording Media | SD memory card, SDHC memory card, Internal memory (approx. 88MB) | |
| Storage Capacity (Pictures/Time)*4 | Still image | 3648×2736 (RAW: 4, F: 22, N: 38) / 3648×2432 (RAW: 5, F: 25, N: 43) / 2736×2736 (RAW: 6, F: 29, N: 50) / 3264×2448 (N: 47) / 2592×1944 (N: 72) / 2048×1536 (N: 109) / 1280×960 (N:175) / 640×480 (N: 705) / Text: 3648×2736 (38), 2048×1536 (109) |
| Movie*5 | 640×480: 30 frames/sec. (51 sec.), 640×480: 15 frames/sec. (1 min. 42 sec.), 320×240: 30 frames/sec. (2 min. 12 sec.), 320×240: 15 frames/sec. (4 min. 19 sec.) | |
| Recording File Format | Still Image | JPEG (Exif ver. 2.21) *6 , RAW (DNG) |
| Movie | AVI (Open DML Motion JPEG Format compliant) | |
| Other Major Shooting Functions | Continuous / S-Cont / M-Cont, Self-Timer (operation time: approx. 10 sec. / approx. 2 sec.), Interval Timer (shooting interval: 5 sec. - 1 hour (5 sec. steps) *7, Color Bracket function, B&W (TE), Color Space Setting, Noise Reduction, Histogram, Grid Guide, Depth of Field, Electronic Level, Hot Shoe | |
| Other Major Playback Functions | Auto Rotate, Grid View, Enlarged Display (maximum 16x), Resize | |
| Interface | USB 2.0 (High-Speed USB) Mini-B, Mass storage*8 / Audio Out 1.0Vp-p (75Ω) | |
| Video Signal Format | NTSC, PAL switchable | |
| Power Supply | Rechargeable Battery |
DB-65 (3.7V) x1, AAA Dry Alkaline Battery x2, AAA Nickel-Metal Hydride Battery x 2, AC adapter (AC-4c option) 3.8V |
| Battery Consumption: *9 | Based on CIPA Standard |
Using the DB-65, approx. 370 pictures / Using AAA Dry Alkaline Battery x2, approx. 25 pictures*10 |
| External Dimensions | 108.6 mm (W) x 59.8 mm (H) x 25.5 mm (D) (excluding projecting parts) | |
| Weight | Approx. 188 g (excluding battery, SD memory card, strap), Accessories approx. 30 g (battery, strap) | |
| Operating Temperature Range | 0ºC-40ºC | |
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