Ricoh GR II review: Grab the GR II when you only care about the picture and the price

The original Ricoh GR made a splash when it was announced three years ago . At the time, it was the only compact with an APS-C sensor for less than $1,000 (£640, AU$1,355), when its competitors were the high priced Nikon Coolpix A , Fujifilm X100S and Leica X Vario . Of the lot, only Fujifilm updates the line on a regular basis, and there still aren't any new APS-C compacts. Instead, we're seeing a boom in the 1-inch sensor models like the Sony RX100 series, Canon's 1.5-inch G1 X models, and one Four Thirds-based camera (the Panasonic LX100 ).

Ricoh finally got around to updating the GR, but the changes are pretty minimal. Although there have been tweaks, the main enhancement is the addition of Wi-Fi for remote shooting and file transfer with phones and

. And while the camera does feel a little dated, with slow autofocus in low light and mediocre video and options, it still remains a standout if all you want is great photos for less than $800/£630 -- as long as you're willing to work a little for them. (Thus far, I haven't been able to find it for sale in Australia.)

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As a reminder, larger sensor sizes not only tend to have lower noise than smaller ones, but they allow for more control over depth of field, which allows them to produce better looking out-of-focus areas when combined with a large-aperture lens. The GR II pairs the 16-megapixel sensor with a relatively large aperture 28mm f2.8 lens (35mm equivalent).

Image quality

While the camera produces high-quality images, if you're looking for a camera that delivers the best straight-from-the-camera JPEGs, this may not be it. They're not bad, it's just that frequently high-contrast shots tend to look a little washed out, as if they're intended to be post-processed. Its raw files (it uses DNG format), though, are more neutral and have a decent amount of dynamic range for bringing out detail in shadows and highlights.

It does some image processing, but doesn't seem to produce optimal results when it comes to highlight and shadow areas, and its default noise-reduction (NR) settings blur too much at ISO 6400 and above. You can fiddle with them -- the camera lets you customize the ISO sensitivity ranges at which it applies weak, medium, or strong NR, which is a really nice feature -- but I found the defaults still deliver the best results. Also, the automatic white balance, as with many of these compacts, also skews a little blue/purple in our tests.

The fixed 28mm lens is pretty good. There's a little fringing on especially high-contrast edges, but it's otherwise sharp with no obvious vignetting (darkening around the edges) or sharpness falloff at its widest or narrowest apertures.

Its age shows when it comes to video, however. Although it shoots 1080/30p, the results are pretty soft; you can see a lot of color jitter even in good light, and there's no image stabilization. The camera lacks any manual movie controls, so it's not really for anyone interested in shooting more than a casual clip every now and then, anyway.

Analysis samples

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Performance

The GR II is sufficiently speedy, though I wouldn't paint a racing stripe on it. At 1.2 seconds, it starts up quickly compared to competitors thanks to the fixed focal-length lens that doesn't need to extend. And its 0.2 second to focus and shoot in good light is right up there with the best of them. However, in dim light it's really slow at 0.7 second. Time for two sequential shots takes about 0.4 to 0.5 second, depending upon whether it's JPEG or raw, which isn't as fast as the fastest models, but it's competitive. And it rises to a slow 2.1 seconds when you enable flash.

Shooting speed

Sony RX100 IV 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.2 2.1Panasonic Lumix LX100 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.5 2.5Ricoh GR II 0.2 0.7 0.4 0.5 1.2

Typical continuous-shooting speed

Sony RX100 IV 5.7Panasonic Lumix LX100 4.1Ricoh GR II 4.1

It's a respectable continuous shooter for JPEG, sustaining 4.1 frames per second for more than 30 images; the tracking autofocus doesn't really keep up, though. And while its raw burst reaches 6.8fps, that's only for 10 frames, after which you have to wait for it to save.

The autofocus generally performs well as long as you don't use the multi-point AF -- like all cameras, it usually picks the wrong subjects -- and I didn't struggle with the LCD in direct sunlight. However, given the lack of a zoom lens and no electronic viewfinder, it seems like the battery life should be much better than it is.

Design and features

I have really mixed feelings about the camera's design. There's a lot to like: it's a good size and weight, with a decent rubberized grip that makes it easy to shoot single-handed, and once you've configured it to your taste, it's quite streamlined to use.

The small, untiltable popup flash sits on the left top and doesn't pop up very high, though it seems pretty powerful, and you can dial back its output to a variety of levels to avoid harsh results.

To the right of the hot shoe is an illuminated power button, a large shutter button, and a lockable mode dial -- that's a nice feature that you don't find a lot in compacts. In addition to the usual manual, semimanual and automatic exposure modes, it has Pentax's unique TAv (shutter/aperture auto shift) mode which lets you set shutter speed and aperture while the camera automatically adjusts ISO sensitivity as necessary. There are also three saved custom-settings slots as well as a dedicated movie mode: unlike most modern cameras, the GR II lacks a dedicated record button, and in fact has no manual controls at all for video.

It has only one adjustment dial, vertically mounted into the grip and oddly named "the up-down dial." A thumb-operated jog dial on the back also handles some adjustment tasks, such as control aperture when you're in manual-exposure mode, but when pressed it brings up access to five settings, which you can customize. Below that is a switch that toggles between setting the adjacent button to autoexposure/autofocus lock or to to enable continuous autofocus.

To the right of the thumb rest is an exposure compensation rocker that I really wish was used -- or could be reprogrammed -- for manual focusing. The four-way navigation switch has buttons for macro mode, flash, white balance, and a function button that defaults to setting the autofocus area. To manually focus, you press the macro button and then rotate the up-down dial to adjust.

There are several options to make manually focusing easier, such as a user-defined magnified area and edge-highlighted monochrome, but none of these are on by default -- and good luck finding them without reading the manual. Below are a programmable button and the display-options button.

On the left below the flash popup switch is a button to bring up your effects options. The camera has a nice selection with the ability to adjust their parameters.

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Holding down the effects button turns Wi-Fi on or off; you can also trigger a connection on

devices by tapping the NFC spot on the grip. Also on the grip side is the compartment with the micro HDMI connector for connecting to a TV and an annoying proprietary USB connector through which you charge or hook up to a computer. The lens also has a bayonet mount for adapter lenses.

Useful features include contrast bracketing (in addition to all the other usual bracketing suspects, like effects, exposure, dynamic range optimization, and white balance); a full-press snap mode, which automatically focuses at a user-specified distance when the shutter button is pressed; and interval composite, for exposure-adjusted time lapses. It has an easy to use level indicator, three saved-settings options, and a built-in neutral density filter for cutting down light when you want to drop to a slow shutter speed or wide aperture.

Ricoh has an odd Wi-Fi strategy. It has a somewhat bare-bones wireless-transfer app which (at least when I looked at it) doesn't rotate for horizontal use. It supplements that with a seriously full-featured wireless tethered-shooting web application called Ricoh GR Remote that's optimized for use with

browser on.

Ricoh has surmounted the biggest hurdle for GR Remote, which was that it couldn't connect to the camera and the Internet at the same time on many phones. Now more phones support simultaneous Wi-Fi and mobile data, but just in case, the company now offers a cached version of the software that downloads to your device but still runs in the browser. (My unit had some issues with GR Remote, so I've been unable to test it thus far.)

So what's not to like? Well, for one I wish it had a tilting or articulated screen or a viewfinder for easier framing. But mostly it's just surprisingly complicated for a camera that doesn't have a huge feature set. Plus, if you've got vision issues you may have a problem with the tiny print in the menus.

For a complete explanation of its features and operation, download the GR II's manual.

Conclusion

As a pocketable camera that can produce great photos -- albeit with some fiddling -- the Ricoh GR II is a nice choice for inconspicuous and quick street shooting or as a travel camera for the landscape fan. But if you're looking for something that's equally adept at video or has the shooting-angle flexibility that a movable LCD or viewfinder provides, this may not be the camera for you.

Comparative specifications

	Fujifilm X100T	Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX100	Ricoh GR II	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 IV
Sensor effective resolution	16.3MP X-Trans CMOS II	12.8MP MOS	16.2MP CMOS	20.2MP Exmor RS CMOS
Sensor size	APS-C (23.6 x 15.8mm)	Four Thirds (17.3 x 13mm)	APS-C (23.7 x 15.7mm)	1-inch (13.2 x 8.8mm)
Focal-length multiplier	1.5x	2.0x	1.5x	2.7x
OLPF	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sensitivity range	ISO 100 (exp)/200 - ISO 6400/ 25600 (exp)	ISO 100 (exp)/ISO 200 - ISO 25600	ISO 100 - ISO 25600	ISO 80 (exp)/ISO 125 - ISO 12800
Lens (35mm equivalent)	35mm f2	24 - 75mm f1.7-2.8 3.1x	28mm f2.8	24 - 70mm f1.8-2.8 2.9x
Closest focus	3.9 in./10 cm	2 in./3 cm	3.9 in./10 cm	1.9 in./5 cm
Burst shooting	6fps 25 JPEG/ n/a raw (burst only available with focus and exposure fixed at first frame)	6.5fps n/a (40fps with electronic shutter and fixed AF/AE)	4fps unlimited JPEG/4 raw	5.5fps (with electronic shutter; 16fps with fixed focus and exposure) n/a
Viewfinder (mag/ effective mag)	Hybrid Reverse Galilean 92 percent coverage EVF 0.48 in./12.2 mm 2,360,000 dots 100% coverage	EVF 0.4 in./10.2 mm 2.764m dots 100% coverage 1.39x/0.7x	Optional Reverse Galilean (GV-1, est $230; £150; AU$300)	OLED EVF 0.4-inch/10.2mm 1.44m dots 100% coverage
Hot shoe	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Autofocus	n/a Contrast AF	49-area Contrast AF	190-point Hybrid AF	25-area Contrast AF
AF sensitivity	n/a	n/a	1.5 - 17.5 EV	n/a
Shutter speed	20 - 1/4,000 sec.; bulb to 60 minutes	60 - 1/4,000 sec. (1/16,000 electronic shutter); bulb to 2 minutes	300 - 1/4,000 sec.; bulb; time	30 - 1/2,000 sec, (1/32,000 electronic shutter); bulb
Metering	256 zones	1,728 zones	n/a	n/a
Metering sensitivity	n/a	n/a	1.8 - 17.8 EV	n/a
Best video	H.264 QuickTime MOV 1080/60p, 30p	MP4 UHD/30p, 25p, 24p @ 100Mbps; 1080/60p, 50p	Motion JPEG AVI 1080/30p, 25p, 24p	XAVC S 4K 2160/30p, 25p, 24p @ 100Mbps
Audio	Stereo	Stereo	Stereo	Stereo
Manual aperture and shutter in video	Aperture only	Yes	No	Yes
Maximum best-quality recording time	14 minutes	15 minutes	25 minutes	5 minutes
Optical zoom while recording	n/a	Yes	n/a	Yes
IS	None	Optical	None	Optical
LCD	3 in./7.5 cm Fixed 1.04m dots	3 in./7.5 cm Fixed 921,000 dots	3 in./7.5cm Fixed 921,600 dots (plus another set of white dots for brightness)	3 in./7.5cm Tilting 921,600 dots (plus another set of white dots for brightness)
Memory slots	1 X SDXC	1 x SDXC	1 x SDXC	1 x SDXC
Wireless connection	None	Wi-Fi, NFC	Wi-Fi, NFC	Wi-Fi, NFC
Flash	Yes	Bundled optional	Yes	Yes
Wireless flash	Yes	No	Yes	No
Battery life (CIPA rating)	450 shots	300 shots	320 shots	280 shots (LCD); 230 shots (Viewfinder)
Size (WHD)	5.0 x 2.9 x 2.1 in. 35.2 x 49.5 x 10.8 mm	4.5 x 2.6 x 2.2 in. 114.8 x 66.2 x 55.0 mm	4.6 x 2.5 x 1.4 in. 117 x 63 x 34.7 mm	4.0 x 2.3 x 1.6 in. 101.6 x 58.1 x 41 mm
Body operating weight	15.5 oz. (est.) 439.4 g (est.)	13.9 oz. 394 g	8.8 oz. 248 g	10.4 oz. 294 g
Mfr. price	$1,300 £1,000 AU$1,600 (est.)	$800 £700 AU$1,000	$800 £630	$950 £920 AU$1,400
Release date (US)	November 2014	November 2014	July 2015	July 2015