Ricoh GR II Review: This pocketable APS-C camera knows there’s more to Wi-Fi than Android and iOS

by Mike Tomkins

posted Thursday, March 31, 2016 at 4:18 PM EDT

A few years ago, we reviewed both the Ricoh GR and Nikon Coolpix A, two cameras that offered street shooters a very similar proposition: A big APS-C image sensor and a bright, sharp prime lens in a pocket-friendly camera. Today, we've just finalized our review of the followup Ricoh GR II, but it finds itself in an altogether different market. Nikon has exited stage left, discontinuing the Coolpix A without a replacement, and while there are still some rivals -- notably the Fuji X70 and Sigma's dp Merrill and dp Quattro-series cameras -- they're quite a bit larger and heavier.

If you want a pocket-friendly street shooter with the best possible image quality, then, the Ricoh GR II is definitely going to be near the top of your shortlist. Sure, it's a relatively modest upgrade that probably won't appeal much to existing GR owners. The GR II shares the same imaging pipeline with that camera, and the main changes are the addition of in-camera Wi-Fi and NFC wireless connectivity, a deeper raw buffer and support for Ricoh's Pentax-branded wireless flash strobes.

Clearly, the Wi-Fi support is the big news here, and doubly so because it is pretty much unique in the current marketplace. Where almost all Wi-Fi equipped standalone cameras are reliant on apps which require that you use them with an Android or iOS device, the Ricoh GR II is as close to brand-agnostic as it is possible to be. Its Wi-Fi feature set is also uncommonly rich, providing access to pretty-much every single camera control and feature remotely -- even the menu system!

That's all good on paper, but how does it perform in the real world? To find out, you'll want to read the conclusion of our in-depth Ricoh GR II review. And if you've not already done so, be sure to read the overview as well to get a feel for precisely how the GR II compares to its predecessor, as well as our field test for a rundown of how it performs in real-world shooting.