Ricoh GR-1

The Ricoh GR1S is very fine PS camera. Its color display very noble character and the contrast and sharpness in picture/image is great and color is deep. Excellent color rendation.

Excellent color rendation Great sharpness Solid body Low F number Bright viewfinder excellent contrast/flare/vignetting/distortion

Flask is weak somewhat noisy

Leica Z2X, Yashica T4, Yashica T4 Zoom, Rollei Prego 90, Leica Mini, and many.

I never contacted with them. Absolutely no problem so far.

This is a review of the GR1V, the latest and best version of the GR1 series, with the ability to manually control film speed ( in one third stop increments ) and focussed distance. Manual focus presets are 1,2,3 and 5 meters and infinity. This is an adequate range of settings for the 28 mm focal length. After 10 rolls of film the camera has performed very well with no reliability problems thus far. The camera comes with a lens hood and can take 30.5 mm filters with an adapter, available separately. The camera with spare battery, roll of film, filter and adapter or lens hood, HFD card and hand strap all fit nicely into a Lowe Pro Z10 pouch. Date recording function is built in.

Handling and ergonomics are very good. All the controls are easy and positive to operate. The viewfinder is clear and reasonably bright, with noticeable barrel distortion. Viewfinder information is less than you would expect in an SLR but much more than most compacts and is user friendly. The viewfinder shows approximate shutter speeds down to 1/30 sec, approximate focussed distance, flash status, and focus confirmation. The lens is excellent giving very good image definition right into the corners. Best aperture is around f 8 but performance is very pleasing wide open.Overall the lens is as good as a high quality SLR prime. Shutter lag is pleasingly brief. Exposure are corect in the great majority of situations.

Viewfinder frame lines appear slightly off alignment. Lining up verticals is a bit difficult. Sometimes the film does not load, but its OK the camera indicates this so you try again. The leader has to be pulled out to just the right length. Mine is black, and a bit of paint flaked off around the on/off switch on the first day. No further problems since then. Sometimes the camera fails to find focus It warns you by flashing the focussing frames in the viewfinder. A slight shift of camera angle will usually fix the problem.

Contax T3, Nikon 35 mm compact, Olympus mju 2 ( stylus epic ) The Ricoh is the easiest of this group to use and is on a par with the Contax for quality.

Not needed yet

I take photos in positive slide film almost exclusively when I travel overseas. Therefore I also need a small and handy camera loaded with negative film to take the kind of travel photos that most other people take during their trips – with myself and my wife in the photo in front of the scene. I first have the GR10. It was not reliable. After 1 year the lens component inside the viewfinder fell apart, then another 10 months the flash stopped working, and finally the wheel inside the film compartment developed sharp edge due to old age and scratched the film. The good thing is that Ricoh in Hong Kong provided 3 years warranty so all 3 problems were fixed free of charge. However, I still gave this camera away and bought a GR-1s. The GR-1s is supposed to be more robust when compared to the GR10. It does in my case – it works fine for 2 years now and has no problem at all. The good thing about these 2 camera, as others have pointed out, is the excellent 28mm lens. I was not surprised about the problem in my GR10, and will no if it also happens to my GR-1 – they are not professional SLR and you cannot expect them to be as reliable. I have friends using other Canon/Nikon/Olympus P&S cameras and they also have various problems. Even if I wish to change I am not able to find an alternative if I want a new camera (not used one) in similar size, weight and having an excellent lens. Contax T3 also has an excellent lens but it is only 35mm (it is expensive also). To me this is not wide enough for my travel photos.

Excellent wide angle 28mm lens Small and light

Shutter spped not fast enough Flash power is too small GR-1 has no remote self timer (GR10 has) Date imprint function can be accidentially turned on

Olympus P&S Canon iXUS Fuji P&S

As mentioned above. The good thing is the 3 years warranty

I bought the 's' model with date option in may 2001 for its small dimensions; very fine camera. Small enuogh, I've captured lots of beautiful shots and was really satisfied. I came from NIkon SLR manual focus bulky and heavy (but I still use it): the GR1s was with flash, EV compensation, light and fast, wonderful for my style of photography. During feb 2003 the Ricoh camera went out of order with no explanation after, maybe, 25 rolls. For me that was the first time a camera stop working, over the Nikon I own 2 point&shoot (Yashica 1994 and Oly 1994) and a twin Rollei 1954. Very unpleasant! The shutter device broke, the repair cost runs round 400 US dollars! I decided to abandon Ricoh. So I am very dissatisfied, and heard in this list that this is not uncommon. BEWARE

lots of function snap focus depth of field

can turn on unintentionally sometimes (in some occasions) noisy

P&S SLR

lacking, costly, slow to give an estimate

Small camera. disapointing results. black & white shots better than color. bought this to have a nice GOOD little toy to always take with you... take care...if you just put it in your cote-pocket to have a CLEAN pocket , cause the camera attracts dust , tobacco rests ect.ect.which get into the thing and are a disaster for this mashine... so you need a ' small ' camera bag for the gr1...so then it's a big lump again in your pocket... flash- pics are awful... after 25 rolls , the film advance winder stuck....had to take it to the importer..for repair. costs $110.- after that , the mode selector didn't work anymore.... this thing has a stupid habit : When you load a film , it first rewinds the film... the philosophy for having this done is ,that you cannot open the camera-back mid-roll and then mess-up your roll....(if you happen to open a cameraback midd-roll , you'll deserve to have a wasted film-that will teach you) film advance is noisy.... The lens: nice focal lenght of 28/2.8 , but images produced are nothing special. pity.'caus the feel of the gr1 is good.good material.(though black paint comes of eventualy) and the size is great. though the view through the finder is poor..

small. nice black & white shooter.

not durable. when loading a film IT FIRST ADVANCES THE WHOLE FILM TO THE END OF THE ROLL !!! thus not possible to change the film mid-roll....(an option EVERY camera should have)