Ricoh GR III First Shots: Sample images from Ricoh’s higher-res 24MP streetshooting pocketcam

posted Friday, April 5, 2019 at 5:15 PM EDT

Click here to see our Ricoh GR III First Shots

After being able to spend a couple of days with the new and improved Ricoh GR III in Yokohama, Japan at CP+ and gathering a batch of real-world gallery images, we've finally received the camera into IRHQ for review. As always, we immediately sent it down into the lab for testing, and we now have our standard First Shots series of lab samples images ready for perusal.

The long-awaited successor to the popular GR II, the new "Mark III" model offers an updated body design that is somehow even smaller than the predecessor, yet still manages to cram-in an APS-C sensor and a bright f/2.8 prime lens. The sensor on the GR III gets quite an update, going from a 16MP chip to a more modern 24-megapixel resolution one that also features on-chip phase-detect AF sensors and no optical low-pass filter. The ISO range is updated, too, going from ISO 100 all the way up to ISO 104,200 -- a big jump up from the 25,600 limit of the GR II. Further, the GR III's lens gets a slight update as well, although it maintains the characteristic 28mm-eq. focal length and bright f/2.8 aperture. Ricoh has modified the optical formula, removing an element compared to the earlier models, which is said to improve image quality. There's a lot more about the Ricoh GR III than just these handful of specs and features, so for all the details, head over to our in-depth Ricoh GR III Preview.

When it comes to First Shots, what we're looking at now is image quality. As always, our First Shots series give you a chance to look at how a camera performs across its full ISO range. On our Ricoh GR III Samples Page, we have raw files and their corresponding JPEG images shot at default noise reduction settings and with noise reduction disable (or as low as the camera will allow). Given the imaging pipeline updates to the GR III, there should be some significant improvements compared to the 16MP Ricoh GR II. The GR III is also now more close in competition to another extremely popular "street shooter," the 24MP Fujifilm X100F. Below, we have a couple of quick side-by-side comparisons, showing the GR III up against the GR II and the X100F, at both base ISO and ISO 6400 -- just to get the comparison juices flowing! Of course, you can always see side-by-side comparisons of the GR III's Sample Images against pretty much any camera we've tested using our Comparometer.