Ricoh GR Digital: A fling with a digital-analog compact.

I know it's late, but Happy New Year 2023! It’s been a while since I posted any content on this blog, so I thought I might just start by telling you about the first camera I sold in the new year, the Ricoh GR Digital (GRD I).

Ricoh GR Digital with GV-2 Optical Viewfinder

The background story is that with the increase in film prices, I’ve been contemplating the idea of a digital-analog camera, mainly to reduce my expenses on film rolls and developing. So I began to search for a digital camera that could fill my needs... something not too advanced to still give me the feel of a compact film camera. To make a long story short, the Ricoh GR Digital caught my attention as it has a CCD sensor that is said to render "film-like" black and white JPEG files straight out of camera. Also, having the reputation of being the "king of the street" (due to a certain photographer using it as his tool at some stage of his career), the GR is associated with compact form factor, discreetness and versatility in getting the shot in the heat of the moment, making it the more enticing to try. Soon enough, I ordered one from Ebay when I found one in a not-so-pristine condition for less than AUD100.

Mind you, this was not my first encounter with a digital Ricoh GR. I previously bought the APSC-sensor Ricoh GR in 2020 during one of the COVID-19 lockdowns and sold it again straight away without even putting the camera to use. Something about the look of the camera and the lack of a viewfinder... the camera is too digital for my liking. It’s just like going back to using my first ever camera, the Canon EOS M, I thought. This happens to me a lot when I just know I won’t like the camera before even putting it to use, so I was a bit worried that this Ricoh GR Digital will be a similar experience.

Ricoh GR Digital & Leitz Minolta CL Size Comparison

As fate would have it, I fell in love with the camera as soon as I held it in my hand as it reminds me of the film Ricoh R1s in terms of size. The GR Digital truly is a different breed... unlike the newer and chunkier APSC-sensor Ricoh GR, this one feels right. It feels like a compact film camera when you hold it, and the somewhat rudimentary button layout works well at keeping it simple. Not to mention, the much smaller 1/1.8" CCD sensor, which to me is the best thing about the camera; even when using the camera's largest aperture (f/2.4, I believe), you're unlikely to miss focus... you can just snap away.

In practice, the camera does everything I want from a digital compact with an analogue feel. The camera takes its time to start and lets out a whirling noise as the lens extends or retracts, which takes away from the discreetness when you're in a quieter indoor environment such as on the train. My copy happened to have some issue with the thumb wheel dial, which didn’t bother me as I just set the setting once and never changed it again. I set the camera to always shoot in program mode, monochrome, start with the LCD off (with an OVF attached to further enhance the analog shooting experience) and the focus set to snap mode. Once you opt for the LCD screen to be off all the time and attach that external OVF, you can quickly forget that it’s in fact a digital camera you’re holding.

I bought the external Ricoh GV-2 viewfinder which in hindsight was quite expensive (around AUD300) for what it is. If you're thinking to get an OVF for the GR, the only reason you'd want to get the GV-2 is the form factor; it does a fantastic job at keeping the camera compact. Other than that, the frame lines were not very accurate, probably because it was designed for the newer GR series. Also, it displays a 4:3 frame line rather than the 3:2 ratio that I prefer. Not that this bothers me, but eventually I found myself using the LCD live view more and more to frame my shots. By extending my arm to take the shot I got a field of view that is closer to that of a 35mm lens, which I recently figured is what I’m most comfortable with.

Ricoh GR Digital LCD Screen

Result wise, I can’t really say that the GR Digital produces "film-like" photos, as I feel that it would be an overstretch, but the camera does produce some nice digital grain, or perhaps I should say noise. In black and white, this could be what some people mean when they say the camera produces film-like photo quality. Then again, you can always post-process your digital image to mimic the film look.

I must say that I really enjoyed using the Ricoh GR Digital, to the point that I bought another copy still in a box just as a backup. Subsequently, I gave the APS-C GR a second chance and bought another one, but it wasn’t long until I sold it again. The better image quality (in terms of sharpness) produced by the bigger sensor comes at the price of a loss of simplicity, as you have depth of field to think about even when using the snap focus. But to go back to my previous point regarding the use of the LCD screen, I found that I had grown to use the GR Digital in a way that was not initially intended. The more I use the camera, the less I use the external viewfinder, and with that, gone is my digital-analog compact. So, after using it somewhat regularly for more than a year, I ended up selling both cameras last month as I don't see the point of having them anymore.

But for those of you who seek to find a digital compact that can mimic the feel of shooting with a film compact and don’t mind the 28mm field of view, I can heartily vouch for the Ricoh GR Digital. It is a camera that has made me reconsider my use of film and whether I will ever need another film point-and-shoot camera in my life. Get one while they’re still cheap!