Street Photography Beast: Meet the Ricoh GR III

It’s almost here.

For those of you who have waited for Ricoh’s GR III compact camera, you needn’t linger around any longer: The GR III will soon be available for purchase and it is quite an impressive piece of kit aimed directly at street photographers.

Given the legendary reputation the GR II has, the GR III would seem to have its work cut out for it. Thankfully, the folks at Ricoh brought their A-game for this product.

Equipped with a 24.24-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, the GR III also makes use of GR ENGINE 6 imaging engine according to PetaPixel. On the front of the camera is a 18.3mm f/2.8 lens with six elements in four groups. The autofocus system combines contrast-type with phase detection-type autofocusing which allows for more accurate AF according to Ricoh, resulting in “…the clearest, sharpest images in GR-series history while reducing distortion and chromatic aberration.”

And all of this in quite a small form factor: Measuring 4.3×2.4×1.3 inches (109.4×61.9×33.2mm), the Ricoh GR III has a really small footprint compared to some of its competition. The back has a (now almost industry standard) 3-inch LCD screen that also allows the user to control camera functions through its menu. It will also shoot Full HD video. The outer casing is finished in various shades of black and matte black with texturing for improved grip. It’s all very minimalist and unobtrusive yet perfectly appropriate given its niche.

Pricing comes in at a competitive $USD 900 that, while not exactly cheap, keeps the GR III’s accessible to many street photographers.

Do you use Ricoh products? What do you think of the new GR III? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.