It’s been a long time since I last used a premium compact camera. Up until two years ago, I had a Sony RX1, which I have reviewed elsewhere on this site. Since I traded it in to help finance a lens purchase, I’ve been relying on my smartphone on those, albeit rare, occasions when I’ve left home without any of my bigger cameras. But, I’ve been eying the Ricoh GR 3 since it was first announced. Today, after stumbling across a used one for a reasonable price, I decided to take the plunge. A more comprehensive review will follow later, but for now, here are my first impressions, after using it for a day here in Tokyo.
Even though Nikon has been the company in charge of creating my workhouse cameras for the last 12 years or so, I've had another camera maker as my favourite when it comes to my own, personal photography. From the X-E1 to the X-T20, the X-Pro 2 I picked up a Fujifilm X-T3 at the end of 2018. After having it as my companion to most of the private trips I have made since then, as well as countless casual walks around Tokyo, I have finally gotten around to share my thoughts about this camera with the rest of the world.
A lens with an impressively wide f1.1 aperture for just 250 USD? Is the new generation of this “Bokeh Beast” worth your time and money, or is this another lens where specs and a low price tag are the only positives?
I took the Pentax 645Z Digital Medium Format Camera with me on landscape photography trips to Northern Norway and Iceland, as well as lived with it with a year travelling Japan. Is this beast of a camera worth the 8000 USD asking price?
A while ago I needed a speedy camera for a pretty interesting job. I ended up picking up a used Nikon D500 that I found in pristine condition, offered at a price that I couldn’t resist. The day after the assignment I went to Hawaii with my wife and decided to only pack the D500, to further familiarize myself with Nikon’s flagship APS-C camera and to decide if it was worthy of a permanent place in my camera bag.
It's now been a year since I picked up the mirrorless Nikon Z7. Since then, the camera has joined me to numerous assignments -- Travels all over Japan, Shooting deep underground at a construction site and of course, countless portrait sessions. Here are my thoughts on Nikon's first steps into the high-end mirrorless world.
This camera was released in the spring of 2014. I picked one up for several reasons – I needed a small and pocketable camera that could deliver photos with a quality that made them usable for work (Newspaper print & web) in a pinch. At the time when it was announced I was also planning to start a small video project. The high video quality of the mk3 that DPreview called "a game-changer" even when compared to full-frame cameras, was also a strong selling point. On top of that the bright lens and the pop up EVF was also two factors that made me buy it, despite the somewhat hefty price tag.
The Sony DSC-RX1 became the worlds smallest full-frame camera when it was released in 2012. Does its 24 megapixel sensor and fixed 35mm F2.0 zeiss-lens still hold up, five years later? To find out, I packed this camera and set off on a trip to the Italian Riviera.
It has now been well over two weeks since I picked up the Ricoh GR III, and I've been using it daily since then. During these two weeks, it has joined me out on the streets of Tokyo, to a few smaller hikes and day-trips in the outskirts of the city, as well as on a three day trip to the Izu peninsula, where some of the earliest cherry blossoms were in full bloom. While two weeks is by no means enough to fully get to know a camera, it is enough to get a solid understanding of whether or not it will warrant a permanent place in my bag or not.