Amateur Photographer – 09 August 2019

46 3 August 2019I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113

Testbench CAMERA TEST

TheGRIII’smacromode

enablesyoutofocusas

closeas6cmtoyoursubject

Ricoh GR III, 1/125sec at f/2.8, ISO 100

system,it is animprovement
ontheGRII, butcan’tbe
describedaslightning-quick
orinstantaneous.In bright,
high-contrastconditionsusers
canexpecttheGRIII toacquire
focusonstaticsubjectsfairly
briskly;howeverwhenlightlevels
drophuntingof thelensdoes
becomemorenoticeable.TheGR
III reliesheavilyonitsbright-green
AFassistbeamtoilluminateclose
subjectsin low-lightsituations,
and at night where subjects are

toofarawayfortheAFassist

beamtobeeffective,it becomes

veryhitandmissastowhether

it’llfindfocusornot.Thecamera’s

facedetectionworkseffectively

in goodlightandshowedno

difficultyidentifyingfacesin

full-lengthshots.Forstreet

photographyI oftenfoundmyself

shootingfromthehip.The

effectivefacedetectioncombined

withthediscreetsizeof thebody

makesit veryeasytoshootunder

the radar of those close to you.

A worryona cameraassmall

astheGRIII is thebatterylife–

somethingthatisn’thelpedbyits

vaguethree-barstatusicon,with

nooptiontoviewtheremaining

capacityasa percentage.In useI

discoveredthefirstbarof poweris

usedquickly.Toconservepower

I reducedtheAutoPowerOff

andSleepmodesettingstotheir

1-minuteminimum.UsingtheGR

III aroundthestreetsof Hastings,

turningit offbetweenspellsof

shootingandbeingcautiousof

notreviewingshotsfortoolong,

resultedin 145shotsbeingtaken

beforeit ranoutof power.Turning

thetouchscreenoffandwaiting

untilyougethometotransfer

imagescanyielda highernumber

of shotspercharge,butI never

exceeded 200 shotsin real-world

usebeforethebatteryiconbegan

toblinkred.TheGRIII is definitely

a camerayou’llwanta secondor

eventhirdbatteryfor.Ratherthan

forkout£49fora spareDB-110,

I’drecommendHähnel’sHL-90B

battery(£19),whichis a cheaper

alternative.Someusersmaywish

tocarrya smallUSBpowerbank

withthemforlongerspellsof

shooting,orwheremainspower

isn’teasilyaccessed.It’sworth

notingthatit’snotpossibleto

chargeandshootsimultaneously.

Puttingthecamerathrough

itspacesrevealedthatwitha

steadyhandandshakereduction

switchedonit’spossibletoshoot

as slow as 1/8sec and achieve

sharpresults.Theoptionto

setthefocusdistancefromsix

predefinedsnapfocusdistances

is greattohavetooif youknow

howcloseyou’reworkingtoyour

subjectandfancydirectly

overridingautofocus.

Comparedtoothercamera

apps,Ricoh’sImageSyncappis

verybasic.Despitenothavingany

issuestransferringimagestomy

smartphoneviaWi-Fi(four

secondsforJPEGsandseven

secondsforrawfiles),theapp

refusedtoletmetakecontrolof

thecameraremotely.The

Bluetoothsettingforanalways-on

connectionwasn’tparticularly

intuitivetosetupeither.

Inspectingmyimagesleftme

veryimpressedbythesharpness

of thelens,evenwhenused

wide-openat f/2.8.Chromatic

aberrationsarewellcontrolled

andtheGRIII’smeteringsystem

behaves,rarelyjudginga scene

incorrectlyorrequiringexposure

compensationtobeapplied.Users

whokeepthecamerapoweredfor

longperiodsarelikelytonotice

thatthehandgripandrearscreen

havea tendencytogetquite

warm.Oneotherthingtopoint

outis thetripodscrewonthe

undersideof thebody.Thisis

positionedveryclosetothe

batterycompartment,forcingyou

toremoveyourbaseplateeach

timeyou’dliketogainaccessto

thebatteryorSDcard,which

does get a bit tiresome.

ACONCERNof somemightbe
thattheGRIII’slenshasa field
of viewthat’stoowide.There
maybetimeswhenthe28mm
equivalentfocallengthis too
short,andit’sin thesesituations
wheretheGRIII’sdigitalcrop
modescanbeusedtogetin
closer.Aswellasa 35mmcrop
mode that produces a 15MP

image,there’sa 50mmcrop

modethatcreatesa 7MPimage.

Activatingthesecropmodesis

simpleenoughfromthemenu,

buttoaccessthemfasteryou

canassignthemtoa function

button.Whena cropmode

is selectedthefocallengthis

displayedin thetoprightcorner

andthepreviewimagefills the

screen.FortimeswhentheGR

III’slensisn’twideenoughthere’s

theoptiontofit a GW-4wide

conversionlens(£229).This

changesthefieldof viewtoa

21mmequivalent,butit does

alsorequiretheGA-1lens

adapter(£39)toattachit.

AddtheGW-4lensandGA-1

adaptertothecostof theGRIII

and it takes the cost to £1,067.

Crop modes