What a camera!
After admiring from afar the images captured by the plethora of Ricoh GR III street shooters on Instagram, I decided to take the plunge and picked up an older Ricoh GR II for a very reasonable price (despite some of the online prices that are just extortionate). I wasn’t sure how well this 16MP model would do but I must confess, I’ve been absolutely blown away by it (attached is an image
I took during a recent day trip to Blackpool). I’m an amateur street shooter from Birmingham, and my go-to camera is the Fuji X-T20. After arriving early doors on the Blackpool Promenade I spent an hour or so shooting with the Fuji before deciding to give the Ricoh a whirl. As I walked along the North Pier I used the Ricoh to capture people scenes up close amongst the amusement arcades there. All I can say is WOW! I was an instant convert, and then spent pretty much the rest of the day shooting with the Ricoh (sorry Fuji, I still love you!) The Ricoh’s 18.3mm f/2.8 lens is brilliantly sharp and wide enough for capturing street photography up close. Teaming that up with the in-built Positive Film effect I was capturing images with wonderfully deep colours and punchy textures. Despite it being an older camera (with relatively poor battery life) I’ve swiftly fallen in love with this APS-C powered pocket dynamo and it now accompanies me on all my travels. (I’m going back to Blackpool in August.) I’m amazed at the depth and sharpness you can get in the images and they look equally impressive in print. What. A. Camera! Jay Mason-Burns
Great shot, Jay. Have a Samsung memory card on us to put in it.