subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 3 August 2019 47
FEATURES 8/10
BUILD& HANDLING 8/10
METERING 8/10
AUTOFOCUS 7/10
AWB& COLOUR 8/10
DYNAMICRANGE 8/10
IMAGEQUALITY 8/10
VIEWFINDER/LCD 7/10TheGRIII givesusersgoodchoiceoverthelevelofhigh-ISOnoise
reductionthat’sappliedtoitsJPEGimages.Ourbestresultswereachieved
byshootingin raw,withclean,noise-freeimagesbetweenISO100-400
andjusta hintofluminancenoisecreepingin aroundISO800.NoiseatISO
1600 andISO 3200 is perceptible,butbynomeansdisastrous,andcanbe
broughtundercontrolbyapplyinga littlenoisereductionin post.There’sa
noticeabledropin detailandincreasedluminancenoiseatISO6400.Users
couldpushuptoISO12,800in anemergency,butthethree sensitivity
settingsabovethis should be avoidedatallcosts.NoiseRAWISO 100 RAW ISO 3200 RAW ISO 12,800
RAW ISO 25,600 RAW ISO 51,200 RAW ISO 102,400
ResolutionWithnoanti-aliasingfilter,theRicohGRIII managesto
deliverexcellentresolutionfiguresfromitsrawfiles.
AtitsbasesensitivitysettingofISO 100 werecorded
3,600l/ph,whichis preserveduptoISO 400 before
it drops slightly to 3,400l/ph at ISO 800.Asis tobe
expected,thelevelofdetailfallsoffathigher
settings,withISO 3200 producinga figureof3,200lph
andISO 6400 yielding3,000l/ph.Pushbeyond
ISO12,800(2,800l/ph)andfiguresdroprapidlyto
2,400l/phatISO 25,600and1,600l/ph atISO102,400.TheRicohGRIII wasduea newsensorandthe24.2-million-pixelAPS-CsizeCMOSchip
it’snowequippedwithbringsit uptodate.Being 14 timeslargerthanthesensorinside
conventionalsmartphones,it hasa significantadvantagewhenyou’rechallengedbylow-light
conditions.UserscanconfidentlypushuptoISO 3200 whendarkenvironmentsdictatea higher
sensitivitysettingandtheincreasein resolutionmeansthecropmodesareveryusabletoo,
especially the 35mm option, which delivers a 15MP image that’s adequate for A3 or A4 prints.
Lab results
AndrewSydenham’slabtestsrevealjusthowthe camera performs
Ourcamerasandlensesaretestedusingtheindustry-
standardImageEngineeringIQ-Analysersoftware.
Visit http://www.image-engineering.de for more detailsWithtoday’ssmartphonecamerasbeing
sogood,youmightbeundertheimpression
thatthetrustycompactnolongerhas
reasontoexist.Premiumcompact-camera
manufacturershavebeenforcedtolook
at waystodifferentiatetheirmodelsfrom
smartphonestoensuretheycontinueto
appealanddon’tdiea death.Byoffering
high-qualityoptics,a largeAPS-Csize
sensor,robustbody,intuitivecontrollayout
andmodernconveniencessuchasWi-Fi
connectivityandtouchscreencontrol,there’s
stilla veryvalidreasontocarrya premium
compactin yourpocketandonethat’ll
ultimatelydeliversuperiorimagequality
tothatof anysmartphonecamera.
TheRicohGRIII,likeitspredecessors,is a
photographer’scamera.It’ssimplisticin its
design,yetprovidesthemanualcontroland
excellentlevelof customisationyouwant
froma camerathat’sgreatforcapturing
instantaneousmomentswith.
There’sa lotto likeabouttheGRIII.
Menunavigationis aidedbythetouchscreen,
autofocusresponsehasimproved,theimage
stabilisationis effective,it hasa fabulous
selectionof picturestylesandtheimage
qualityfromthefastlensandnewsensoris
staggeringfora cameraof itssize.Thingsthat
letit downareitsAFperformancein lowlight,
lackof optionalEVF,wirelessconnectivity
set-upandpoorbatterystamina.
Thesensor,lens,processor,screen,body
andoperationalimprovementsdocomeat a
pricethough.At£200morethantheGRII
wasat launch,theGRIII isn’tcheapandfor
spending£799onit I’dat leastexpectthe
GA-1lensadapterandsparebatterytobe
includedin thebox.Fujifilm’sXF10(£449)is
a considerablycheaperalternative,butthe
GRIII wouldcertainlybemyfirstchoiceif
moneydidn’tcomeintoit.
Forthosewhofancya pocket-friendly
compactandonethattakesgreatshots,the
GRIII shouldn’tbeoverlooked.Overtimeit’s
a camera that you start to fall in love with.VerdictHereweshowdetailsfromour
resolutioncharttestpattern
(above).Multiplythenumber
beneaththelinesby 200 togive
theresolutionin lines per
picture height.
RAW
ISO 102,400RAW
ISO 6400RAW
ISO 800RAW
ISO 100Thecropsshownbelowaretaken
from the area outlined above in red
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