Ricoh GRIII Review

There is a lot of negatives on the internet about the Ricoh GRIII at the moment, and I can appreciate that a lot of them are very relevant. However, it does feel like some out there have overlooked about what this camera is about, and have been focusing on the issues. 

Let’s get this out the way, the GRIII was advertised as a simple and efficient tool, with no extra fat, but what was delivered was a camera with some gimmicks thrown in, and one of the most effective parts removed (built in flash). 

The most efficient way to use this camera is the snap function with most of the extras turned off. A straight and simple street shooter, that has a decent macro function. When used in this way the camera excels. 

What feels like the biggest concern to me is all the gimmicky type stuff such as WiFi, Bluetooth, touch screen, etc. These specs are perfectly fine on a main stream camera for the masses, but for a camera that is built on the ideal that is simple and effective for street photography, these things just feel rather pointless. Further more, it feels like the time and effort going into these things could have been used to improve upon what was in the GRII

Okay, so you cannot make everyone happy. But the GRII is a great platform to start from, and most of us would have been happy with the same thing with better resolution, faster auto focus, and improved macro mode. I think this is the crux of the matter, that there was a lot right with the GRII, which the GRIII seems to have overlooked. 

The battery life gets me about 3 hours constantly on and shooting. Not perfect, but I appreciate that with the IS and all the extra stuff in a slightly smaller body means there will be a big drain on the battery. I also believe you should always have an extra battery, and this makes more sense for the people spending hours and hours on the street. For me, having another battery just over 50 pounds is quite a bit, considering that most people feel the need to buy one. 

The Auto Focus speed has improved over the GRII, but feels less accurate. There is not a problem in this regard to the snap function, which works as it should (even if it does not have the option for 1.2 meters...). This is something that can easily be fixed with firmware, so at this point I am not worried. 

The macro function is great. I feel that simple improving the distance at which this works is great. The F2.8 aperture in this mode produces some decent bokeh, and if the auto focus is improved in the next firemware update, then I have no qualms with this mode. 

The menu system threw me the most. I don’t mean in regard to understanding or complexity, but it is a lot more convoluted with too much going on. The GRII menu is by far one of the simplest and most effective menus I have ever used in a camera. The GRIII feels like you have to turn all the extra crap they threw in off before having the camera ready for comfortable and effective use. Things like standby and auto turn off, WiFi, and all the in camera processing sections should automatically be off when you start, which would make the battery last longer and the camera more effective. There is nothing more annoying that walking down the street you go to capture a photo and.... the camera has to switch itself back on, try and auto-focus or snap, and you miss the moment. This is a really pointless feature in a camera built for street photography. 

The in built memory I was originally unsure of. In lieu of the ability to have a second card slot (which I am not fussed about for a GR series camera), it is a neat feature. It’s rare I am out of memory cards or forget them, but the one time I do forget I am covered up to 2G, which although is not huge, does allow you to capture photos when you ordinarily would not be able to. 

The update to 24mp is also handy. They have managed to keep the look that the GRII produced (which I love), but increased it to 24mp. These 8 extra megapixels are handy if you need to crop, and lets face it, sometimes you need to. Some people may feel that this is dragging behind other brands in regard to resolution, but 24 is pretty standard at the moment, and is enough to get the job done for street photography. 

I touched briefly on the look of the images, but I will go into a bit more detail. The RAW files are lovely, and the look and colours are right up my street. Although I am most at home in B&W, I mostly shoot colour with high contrast and less punchy/ pastel type feel. This is easily done with the files from GRIII. This camera is more than adequate for a camera capturing moments on the street, and is clearly not a top end camera for portraits or landscapes. It can do these things, and certainly in urban and street type photography, but it is not built for amazing landscape photography with loads of detail for massive prints on walls. This was built for gritty street photographs and capturing moments and abstracts. 

The lens is your standard GR focal length with F2.8 maximum aperture. Again, this is enough for street photographs, and fast enough for most needs. The images are sharp (when auto focuses works), and there are very slight chromatic abhorations and minor vignetting at some apertures. However, without an AA filter, you are opening yourself up to certain things like this, that again are less important for your battle hardened street photographers, and are the whinging complaints of pizzeria peepers. This also bothers me less as I do a lot of film photography, where these things tend to be fairly normal. These things in no way step over the images in a way that makes them not useable, they are VERY minor compared to a lot of cheapo lenses that are out there. Photos in macro do a good job, but is not ‘true’ macro and will not replace a macro lens. Again, a very useful feature on this camera. 

There have been a lot of comments around overheating. I have not had this camera get hot or overheat from shooting stills. However, it has gotten really warm when shooting video. The video mode is below average - as you would expect from this sort of camera- but the fact that it is there at all is handy. It would be useful for B-roll footage at a pinch, but is about how far it excels on that front. You still get motion issues in this mode despite IS, but again you should not be expecting a lot from video mode on this camera. 

IS with stills is handy, and allows you to shoot at slower shutter speeds. I feel more than comfortable using this at 1/15 with no issues for photography. Being that this is the entry IS for a GR system, it is not perfect, and feels exactly that: first time entry into IS. It does what it says on the tin, and although I feel cameras don’t always need IS for stills. M43 has utilised IS in a fantastic way to aid low light with stills, and I can see why a lot of other brands are starting to test the waters.

Conclusion: The Ricoh GRIII with all the extras turned off is a decent street camera. You will need an extra battery, but this can be used an effective tool. The best stand out features are the move to 24mp, the improved macro distance, and ultimately the images that it produces are good. You will need an extra battery, but that is normal for anyone that spends hours on the streets. 

The main negatives as I see it is all the extra stuff that is just not required for such a niche camera; WiFi, Bluetooth, touch screens, etc. It feels like there was a lot of effort to get these things and IS into a camera whose main strengths are that it is simple and should not extra stuff in it. The autofocus is a buggy for some people and needs to be noted. 

Ultimately, if Ricoh can pull out some quality improvements on the firmware update, then a lot of the niggling concerns people have around autofocus and the like could be ironed out. This is a good camera, but I think a lot of it boils down to the potential that it could have achieved more than anything else. As mentioned above, the GRII was a great platform to make a great leap from, but instead of realising the full potential, it feels like there was a lot of compromise to shove as much as possible into this little box. You can not please everyone, so this is a lesson in do not try, but listen to users of this camera series. All I want is quality updates to basic features, the ability to have something that does not slow me down on the streets, and something that is not focused on gimmicks like WiFi, Bluetooth, touch screens, etc. These are throw away things, and although the main stream love JPGs and sending standard images to their phone, a large portion of this niche market will use RAW files, and everyone else will use their phone because finding around with Bluetooth and WiFi on a camera is far more awkward. 

From B&W To Colour

For those of you that follow what I do you know I have predominantly shot black and white photographs, be that film or digital. My latest videos mostly involve colour film, and usually the film or photos taken in videos are to show what a camera, lens, or the film can do, rather than me using the photographs for my ‘portfolio’. 

I have found myself wanting to shoot colour more recently. I attribute this mostly down to evolving as an ‘artist’. My background is music, and I was always evolving and changing what I was doing, and I feel that progression is a normal thing for someone that is creative. 

The hardest thing I have found is what I want out of my colour photography. How to I want to portray what the photos show accurately, but to my own taste. Specifically, I shoot RAW, so what will my colour editing look like to be consistent? And what do I like about different tones...

As shown in my ‘Big trouble in little Venice’ video, I didn’t know at first what I wanted. At first they were just very bright and sickly, and I was unsure why this was. I was too focused on the saturation and vibrant controls in light room. It wasn’t until recently that I discovered that if you scroll down, you have more control over the tonality of the photographs. 

I have identified that I like more faded/ pastel like colours (perhaps closer to certain film emulsions, rather than exact ‘as seen colours’. I have always like dark greens, faded reds, but I have always struggled with colours like yellow and green. I feel that I have now come to a look I feel is right, and have applied this to my photography. I have also kept them very contrasty, which has been something I have incorporated into my style for a long time. 

So how do you get to where you want to be with colour and editing? Well, as a test, I wanted to take all my digital photographs that I processed as B&W, and converted them to colour. Or to be more exact, take the RAW file and go from there. With this in mind, I have gone through a large portion of digital photos and converted them to how I envision them. This means that certain photographs I thought were rubbish became more stand out, and some that I thought were beautiful lost the magic that they had. 

If you look in the photography tab of this website, you will find that I have added a colour portrait gallery. This contains my colour photography, which has given my photos a new lease of life. Please take the time to have a look or alternately check out my instagram (link can be found in the menu above). 

In conclusion, I am enjoying re-touching my photos into colour. I am finally producing what I envision when I take photographs in terms of colour and not just B&W. I shot B&W for so long, all I did was eat and sleep B&W photography. - Sly. 

Half Way There!

I have a personal goal of doing 1 photography video a week for this year. I am planning to continue this afterwards, but this would be a massive achievement for me. Although I have been on YouTube for years, I have not been able to produce videos every week, especially surrounding guitars. 

I work full time, and producing content, travelling, editing, uploading, answering comments, all of this takes up a very large amount of time to do weekly. I love doing it, and having so many great comments and reactions to my videos continues to be a major driving force in producing videos. 

It is important to have creative goals, and making sure I produce decent content week in and week out is had work, and I love rising to the challenge. Although personally I can point at some weaker videos, I feel I have produced some very strong content this year, especially on the intake Olympus camera and lens front. This has been mostly what I have been circling around, as I love vintage Olympus cameras, and there is not a lot of decent content on them out there. 

When it comes to the actual gear, all thoughts and reviews come from using this equipment week in and week out. I am not getting any money to do any of this, it is all off of my own back, which also means I have a lot invested in it mentally and physically. In photo walks you see me actively using this equipment, and I believe these have become my most popular videos due to my relationships with people in them. 

This would not have been possible without my good friend Cameraface,who is in a large portion of the videos I upload to YouTube. We have great chemistry out on the streets, and this translates well to video. His time and effort has gone a long way into making this project a reality and allows me to spend most of the time trying to focus on the craft of shooting, rather than filming. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

You have seen and will see more of my creative friends in my videos, Emily has proved very popular with people interested in the Battle Zuiko 40mm video(s), and we are endeavouring to come together for another video soon, when both our schedules allow. 

I also appreciate that this has been a big learning experience as well. Although I still use the run-and-gun method when it comes to videos, and ultimately this works well for street photography, getting my head around colour grading, and making sure I have appropriate recording gear has been an ever developing skill. This can make watching a video I created in January of February very different from something in May, but I feel it is good that subscribers and see the evolution in front of their eyes. I am not a pro in terms of videography, and I am picking everything I can up in a short period of time.

I have a long way to go to complete the goal of a video a week, but at this point I feel very confident that I can achieve this, despite the fact I work full time. A big thank you to my subscribers and my followers, I try to answer every question I receive. I also welcome suggestions for the website, and videos. 

So, I am half way there, woah oh living on lens flair! - Dear lord that was awful! - Sly. 

Getting inspired: Maintaining Motivation

Seeing the sunny weather after months of snowy, rainy cloud, can be a great inspiration when it comes to being creative. That’s fantastic, and make sure you make the most of it! But how does one maintain the motivation in day to day life? 

Let’s face it, work and real life can get in the way of creativity, and certainly tends to be the main excuse for lack of creative productivity. It is hard to satisfy those creative urges when you have had a difficult day or week at work. It is easy to over think it all, and decide to ‘take it easy’. Realistically, this is a poor excuse, and one I have been guilty of many a time. 

It is very easy to tell someone: Don’t over think it, just go and do it. Yes, this is true generally... just doing something and not over thinking it can yield productive results, and even surprise you. However, sometimes going out without being prepared can also be a bad thing. You go out, with a camera or pick up a guitar or a pencil and just start trying to pour all your frustration and effort into it, then find that now this just proves your apathetic mood towards doing it in the first place. 

Now before I get into this next part, don’t shoot me, but I do enjoy making lists of things to do, shoot, write, etc. I am not suggesting you write a list then just go out right away and do something, but rather make a list at any point in order to draw inspiration from in the future. 

A good example of this for me is videos. I make lists of equipment or topics, so that down the line I can go... right I will do "this". Now, I will concede I have a habit for "winging it". Taking a piece of new gear out with camera face and just hitting record and going for it. As much as this shows the advantage of just going out and doing something, I want to highlight that this is only usually possible because of making lists and thinking about different things helps to keep creative juices flowing. 

I make lists for all sorts of things. Songwriting, photography, videos, etc. Even writing down things that may seem half arsed, sometimes when putting them into practice become some of the best work I have done. Musically speaking, I am in my element when experimenting, which can translate well live, as well as recording. I have found this translates into photography as well. So I like to keep an open mind when making these lists. 

Granted at the moment, a lot of my video work is on vintage Olympus and Zuiko gear, so a large portion of the list is made up of these things. But even writing something like "Why do you do photography?" Is a great subject. This can have you falling down the rabbit hole exploring the the psychology and reasoning behind: why do make certain decisions or lean towards doing certain things?

So lists and Spontaneity not doing it for you? Another suggestion I have is surround yourself in what you love. By this, I mean if you are into something, make sure you are subjecting yourself to it. For example, If you are into a specific type of photography; watch videos and read books about it. This can be applied to anything you are into. This can be a great way to introduce inspiration, as you are absorbing all sorts of information, even if you are only half paying attention to it. In fact, if you are half paying attention, you will find that something will stand out above the noise and grab your attention. 

Watching camera videos give me a lot of inspiration. Compared to videos on photography, which tends to be overrun by a lot of opinion. Granted you encounter this in camera videos, however, I tend to skip boring intros and talking, and skip to how it is being used. One thing I have noticed, whether it is guitar gear or photography gear, is I tend to use it differently to how most people in videos are. 

Take an image, painting, or album art that you love, get it printed, and put it somewhere. Perhaps on your desk at home, or on the wall in your lounge or kitchen. somewhere where you are seeing it/ walking past but not necessarily paying attention, as your subconscious is recording. Having things that elicits a response in you when you see or hear it should be something you are exposing yourself to. 

This next section feeds into the last part; make sure you put time aside to do something involving what you love. This can be a small amount of time or perhaps up to an hour. But make sure you take time to play around with photo editors, seeing what you can do to the photographs. Take time to watch videos around a type of photography you don’t know much about. Find a couple of youtubers that post some content you enjoy, and subscribe. You will be notified when there is a new video, and you can put 10-15 minutes aside to watch it. 

Put aside time to do all these things in your life. And then, take time to do nothing in between. Counter intuitive right? the inspiration well is something that easily drys up. Taking a break from something you love is important, as it allows time to absorb information, and to forget certain  thoughts, feelings, and attitudes towards things. This then in turn allows you to come back to doing what you love with recharged batteries. 

To stop this going from a break to "stopping to do it and falling back into your bad habits of not actually doing anything" situation, you have to do make sure you are doing the other things in your life. Once you get into a cycle of doing the other things, they encourage inspiration, and in turn encourage creativity. Taking a break can make you want to go back and do it even more, rather than "I want to do it but I can’t because...". It is about remembering inspiration is not the life lasting energy of a star, but rather like the battery in the devices you use. You need to let it all re-charge, but you can still do these things throughout the day.

Doesn’t make sense? How often do you look at your phone everyday? How often are you on a tablet or laptop in your spare time every day? Try to imagine this over the course of a week, a month, a year. How much time do you think that is a year? So now start applying the things I have mentioned in tandem with these things. Looking at your phone? Change your wall paper every week. Make sure you are taking photos of things, even mundane things on your phone. Put a video on in the background whilst doing things on your tablet or laptop. Perhaps start researching places to print photos or a piece of gear your want to save up for.  

After a while, these things find their way deeper and deeper into your routine. finding someone else to do these things with can be an even bigger inspiration. I love doing things I love with friends, and having someone that finds inspiration easily is someone to spend time around. Inspiration can breed inspiration, and fun can breed creativity. 

After a month of doing these things in your spare time (watching videos, subjecting yourself to images, going out and practicing, doing them with friends, then taking a small break), you might find it much easier to come back and find inspiration.  

Anywho, catch you on the flip-flop! - Sly. 

Editing videos/ rendering

Now that the first video in the 'Battle of the Zuiko 40mm' is up on youtube, after 20 odd hours of editing and rendering, I have decided to make a blog about editing videos.

Now making videos has become an important part of what I do, and it is something I enjoy doing. I am lucky enough to have a good friend filming me most weeks on the London streets. Editing is something I have had to learn on the fly in regard to photo walks. Most of my older videos were just guitar gear reviews/demos, and did not need much editing. Photowalk vids are hour(s) worth of footage, ontop of scaning/ uploading/ editing photos. 

Trying to gauge and feel my way through what is right in terms of editing has been a steep learning curve. Even having an idea in my head of what I want, can be difficult to translate to the screen. However, I have gotten comfortable with the whole documentary style shakey video and fast editing. 

It is the hardest part of making videos. The content flows more easily, as it is spontaneous on the streets, and things always present themselves. Once in the editing suite, everything slows down, there's footage to cut, music and audio to sync, and subtitles to write (dear lord the bloody subtitles!). 

If I have any tips, it would be to be cut throat with the footage. I have found that about 6-8 mins is best for me, with 10-12 mins when I have someone else in the video. As nice as it is getting footage walking along, adding more than 5-10 seconds of walking footage in between photos/ actual content is a no-no. It is something I have had to really cut back on, especially in places I love like Camden and Brick Lane. 

Out-takes have become important to my video workflow. It is something I never force, but I always like adding in bits at the end where I am cocking up, or a silly part of the day that was actually captured. I think it adds a human element to the process.

Swearing is fine in videos. Everyone has a different take on this, however I think it is an important expressive part of human expression. I am not talking add expletives for the sake of it, but the odd 'bollock's or 'shit' I have no issues with. It all comes down to taste...

Anywho, just a couple of thoughts on editing vids. See you on the flip flop - Sly.

Fujifilm X-Pro1 in 2018

There is something to be said about the original X-trans sensor, even in 2018. The X-Pro1, in a lot of people's minds, has sat behind the X-T1. Specs-wise is this very true. The X-T's are released later that the X-Pro's, meaning they always benefit from hardware boosts. However, as much as I used to love my old X-T1, there is something to be said for the X-Pro 1's sensor. 

With the latest firmware update, the X-Pro 1 is much more appealing. The autofocus is decent, okay it won't rival the X-T2, it can be used with decent street lenses like the 23mm F2. I think the camera always had a bad rep' for autofocus, which never really bothered me that much, as I tend to manual focus more. 

The image quality is fantastic, and has a more unique feel than the latest X-Trans sensors (and that is saying a lot because the X-T2 is a lovely camera). 

My only real issue with the camera is that it cannot do silent shutter. This is a must for mirrorless cameras for street photography, and it seems odd that it was not set up to have this feature. 

The overriding question is can it hold up in 2018? Yes. Does it matter that it has a 16mp sensor? No. The images are sharp and look fantastic printed large. That is less of an issue for me than not having a silent shutter. So if you have a chance to pick up one cheap, I say: go for it! you can always sell the camera for the same price you got it. 

- Sly.

Battle of the Zuiko 40mm lenses coming soon

Although I do not have EVERY vintage zuiko 40mm lens, I have enough to create videos on. Specifically two very comparable ones in the Olympus 35 RD's F.Zuiko 40mm F1.7 rangefinder, and the Zuiko OM 40mm F2 pancake for the OM SLR cameras. 

Firstly, the 35 RD, with the 40mm F1.7 Zuiko lens. This is a 6 element lens (not sure how many groups), that is nice and sharp, goes to F1.7, and focuses up to 0.85 of a meter. Now, the biggest downside to this lens is the lack of short close focus, a common feature of rangefinders of this era. The focus throw for this lens is very short indeed; making it great for quick focusing. 

The OM 40mm F2 Pancake lens is also a 6 element lens (in six groups). This lens is nice and sharp from F5.6-F16, have lovely bokeh at F2 & F2.8, and has a short focus distance of about 30cm - mine actually focuses to about 26cm! The focus ring pull is three or four times further than the RD, and the aperture ring is right at the front of the lens, which makes it easy to accidentally touch the lens. 

Shooting wise both of these lenses are fun to use, and can easily be adjusted. Because the 40mm F2 pancake is sat on the OM camera, which meters through the lens, it is easier to use the onboard meter. The lens on the 35 RD has the light meter reader just above the lens, but does not have a meter in the viewfinder. This is not an issue for an experienced street tog, but can make it difficult to change on the fly, since you need to look at the lens to see your settings. In auto mode the 35 RD automatically meters and you do not need to worry about it. 

On the streets, they both have their advantages. The RD is quicker to focus, the camera is quieter, and draws less attention. The 40mm F2 pancake is more versatile, can do close focus short depth of field shots, but the OM cameras are louder due to the mirror mechanisms. 

On paper, the RD is the precision beast. Fast aperture, fast to focus, quiet, and with a sharp fixed lens. Being attached to a rangefinder, and without an exposure meter in the viewfinder, the 35 RD is better for seasoned street toggers. 

On paper the OM 40mm F2 lens is a great all rounder. Being on the OM system, it takes full advantage of TTL metering and focusing. It also has close focucing and lovely bokeh. This lens is very usable for all levels of photographer. 

Very soon I will be doing a battle of the Zuiko 40mm lenses video, and I am looking forward to seeing the results of these two lenses going head-to-head on the streets. Keep an eye out ;)

- Sly.

Helsinki: The Bay & Lammassaari

I have been exploring parts of Helsinki the last few days, and I am really enjoying the aesthetics. Not only is the culture interesting, but the different areas around the city lend themselves to different styles of photography. 

When I first started trying to do some street photography in the centre, I wasn't having much luck. This is because I was forcing it and not getting into a rhythm. A few days later, and I have captured some very memorable moments. The architecture, tram lines, and street shadows lend themselves perfectly for street photography. A great range of subjects around every corner. 

I have captured a couple of sunsets and explored the bay area where I am staying with a friend; it is truly beautiful here. There is a very peaceful kind of silence here, as if the landscape has removed its ego, and left you to absorb and reminisce within your own mindscape. A different kind of silence to other countries I have been to.

I visited Lammassaari with a friend the other day, and it was very bare, and both open and enclosed at the same time. I loved it here, and would love to capture it in winter when it is cold and icy. 

I quickly round things up: If you are thinking about going to Helsinki- do it. You won't regret it, especially if you are going for adventure and photography reasons. 

Have a good one - Sly.