Having recently picked up a mint GR1s (an absolutely brilliant film camera produced over 20 years ago, for the one person on a Ricoh forum who may not already know that...), and I started wondering exactly why the next version our beloved GR couldn't have all the same features as the GR1, e.g. flash, viewfinder, smaller lens, etc.?
It was a brilliant camera 20 years ago, so why were so many useful features removed? Just to make it few millimeters smaller? I'm honestly wondering...
I'd think a film camera takes much fewer electronics amd thus leaves more space for extras such as anice secondary screen like the GR1v. Just the ibis unit in the GR III is massive. Add to that the size of the chopy, sensor, battery, the space for heat dissipation.
The film camera should have plenty of extra space the digital one does not have.
I'd love that secondary top LCD more than anything though.
Here's the deal - they already fit all the digital hardware inside the body and it's smaller than the the film camera. So add the 8mm back onto the longest side, and make it a few mm taller. It would still be small and fit perfectly in a pocket.
Oh, and while were adding things, yes I'll take the top lcd, as well as the waist-level finder just like this
I think we have more of a chance of getting a pop-up EVF than an optical finder of any kind these days.
Probably true from a marketability standpoint, but I'd take a simple OVF and be happy.
To each their own, but the more I think about it, the less I want any viewfinder of any sort on my GR. I had two Sonys with pop up EVF. It was a horrible experience.
Neither the viewfinder nor a flash are essential on the modern bodies. Both can be used as an extra accessory without any hassle for people who desire so. I for example like to use the OVFs, but I know I’m in the minority so why should Ricoh bother most of their customers at all?
I like the bigger lens. Only from looking at it you can tell it’s better. And it doesn’t really come in the way of the GR being pocketable.
What is the “etc” you that in your mind?
I assume it's not even possible but if the ring could be made into a clickable fn button that'd be cool for the few times one uses their left hand. I think that's the only hardware change I'd make.
Better autofocus, more customisability. I.e. I'd love being able to add and remove snap distances. I now mostly use two and I'd be able to switch much faster without all those options.
The back wheel not being automatically assign to exposure compensation when in manual with auto ISO. It keeps getting bumped as I shoot and I dislike that. When shooting full manual one has to press the ISO button and then move the wheel to change it. This would work better with exp. Comp. As well when shooting manual with auto iso.
I also think it’s hard to do from an engineering perspective. There’s already no room left, and the lens mechanism itself is rather error prone.
It would be great if Ricoh could improve on the dreaded lens error first. Maybe the front unit with the sensor needs a redesign. This would be also a great opportunity to add a clickable button.
But what a great idea! I hope we’ll see a clickable ring in the future, even if it won’t be on the GR IV (yet, haha).
Oh yeah, that AF. It’s not as much of an issue on the GR III as it’s easy to operate it so that basically everything outside your arms’ reach is in focus, but on the GR IIIx it can get annoying pretty fast.
That said, the latest firmware updates slightly improved the AF. During my absolutely non-scientific tests the AF went from completely unusable in low-light situations to somehow workable when you try really hard.
And before somebody comments that the AF is perfectly usable, I want a MILC class AF in the GR, nothing less.
More customizations, or at least more consistency would be very welcome. I still can’t get used to the functions of the lever & wheel switching depending on the mode you’re in. This is also something that could be fixed in firmware.
They definitely should source another component for the wheel. It happened (too) many times that I came back to my Mac just to realize that most of my photos were overexposed and went straight to the trash.
I didn't really mind the AF on the IIIx. It's just about learning it. I feel that on one hand, sure, there's so much better AF options out there, but on the other hand, we're a bit too spoiled because of technology. If it would be considered excellent AF 10 years ago, and photographers were extremely happy with these results and took excellent professional level photos, why shouldn't we be able to do the same.
Like you, though, I'd love better AF, even if I hardly ever use it. When thinking of improvements to the GR III/x, it's one of the few things I can think of. Another firmware thing I'd love is the ability to set snap focus to one of the two main dials. I hardly ever change my aperture, but would love being able to change the snap focus distance without having to press the back lever first. I'd prefer having shutter speed to the back lever, snap focus distance to the front dial, and change aperture by pressing the back lever and then moving the front dial. Now I have to do the opposite.
I had actually turned my IIIx's monitor off as I had learned to see in 40mm and hardly ever needed it. But then I saw several pics were either -0.3EV or +0.3EV. Hardly the end of the world but frustrating. Now I keep the monitor on and make sure to check often.
Yes, we’re spoiled, I agree. But if others can do it (hey, even Panasonic finally managed it), I think Ricoh can do it, too.
It’s not that the things I pointed out are bad per se. They are the weakest links in the chain and once they would get fixed we would get an almost perfect camera.
The next thing on my list would be weather resistance, but I don’t think it’s possible on this body with that lens construction.
See, the wishes never end ;-)
Sensor dust being blocked would be awesome
Yeah. But my understanding is this is impossible.
But…I can dream…LOL.
No denying there are options for flash and an OVF, and while I might say there is a "slight" hassle, my original post was more along the lines of the older film camera already had these features, and I feel like some of them could be added without any real compromise in size.
And for the record, I definitely don't want a pop-up viewfinder...
Have you tried this:
- Map "Manual Focus" to the FN button.
- Set the touch screen to "Touch to focus".
Now when you're out shooting and want to set a snap distance, press the FN button to put the camera in manual focus mode. Point the camera at something the same distance as what you want your snap distance set at and touch the screen. The camera will focus and stay at that distance while you shoot.
And if you want to change the snap distance just tap the screen again...
Agreed. The pop up EVF just seems wrong for this camera.