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The good: Bright F1.9 optics; robust build quality; excellent out-of-camera JPEGs.
The bad: Mediocre video quality; lack of a dedicated video recording button.
The bottom line: The GRD IV is a niche product which may appeal to those who can appreciate its robust build quality, fast F1.9 aperture and fixed-focal length lens.
Review:
Throughout the years, Ricoh has always retained the same look and feel of its GR-series cameras--starting from the first iteration, the Ricoh GR1, which was manufactured during the film era.
One distinctive aspect of the GR-series cameras is its wide-angle, fixed-focal length lens coupled with a fast maximum aperture and housed in a robust chassis. Not deviating from this tradition, the GR Digital IV packs a 10-megapixel CCD sensor and sports a 28mm wide-angle fixed lens with a fast F1.9 aperture, along with a 1.2 million-dot LCD display.
What's New
One key improvement made to the GRD IV includes a new hybrid AF system that allows speedier autofocus (50 percent faster than its predecessor) which enables the camera to acquire focus in as fast as 0.2 second. For the first time, Ricoh has incorporated sensor-based image stabilization in the snapper, giving users a three-stop improvement--which means get sharper images in low-light conditions. Compared with the GRD III, the Ricoh GR Digital IV is fitted with a new 1.23 million-dot LCD screen that is 1.7 times brighter than its predecessor.
Design And Features
The GRD IV's understated, black appearance coupled with a fine, pebbled-texture finish covering the entire chassis gives the camera a professional feel. There's a texturized rubber padding on both the grip and thumbrest, which makes the camera grippier, offering a more secure hold. We found the camera to be quite compact and could be easily concealed in our pants pocket. Despite being lightweight, its magnesium alloy body lends a sense of robustness to the camera's body and feels strong enough to be able to withstand some bumps along the way.
We liked the shooter's top and rear button placement, which makes it easier for one-handed operation. Users can easily switch between different mode settings via the top mode dial (after pressing on the lock button) or a rear jog dial which allows one to quickly adjust frequently used settings such as white balance, ISO, image quality and metering modes, to name a few. A front dial also allows you to toggle your aperture values and other in-camera options. Two function buttons at the camera's rear and three custom options on the mode dial provide advanced users with ample customizability.
Despite its fine design concept, we wished the snapper had a dedicated video recording button for shooting candid videos. Instead, we had to go through the hassle of switching to the Scene option on the mode dial and selecting the movie mode--which could cause you to miss the moment.
One of the highlights of this new camera has got to be its signature 28mm F1.9 fixed-focal length lens. Its fast F1.9 aperture helps in reducing camera shake, providing sharper images in low-lighting conditions. Also, the wide aperture value does help in isolating subjects while defocusing the background.
Those who are used to zoom lenses may find a fixed lens limiting--which is something you either love or hate. We did find it quite enjoyable as we could put our creativity to the test when working with that limitation. It's wide enough to capture most landscapes or buildings, and its in-camera level, which helps ensure proper horizontal and vertical orientation, is not something we see in most compacts.
Shutterbugs who enjoy street photography would also enjoy using its snap focus mode, which allows you to preset your focus distance at 1m, 1.5m, 2.5m, 5m or infinity. This allows you to shoot discreetly and quickly, without the lens hunting for focus. Its Pre-AF function is also a nice touch, which allows the lens to start focusing before the half-press of the shutter button--which helps the camera acquire focus faster.
The GRD IV also comes with creative filters, which can be individually tweaked to suit one's preferences. For example, we could adjust our favorite black and white setting in terms of sharpness and contrast to give us just the right balance, allowing for excellent out-of-camera JPEGs that can be shared without the need for further post processing.
Interestingly, the shooter also takes readily available AAA-size batteries aside from the usual lithium ion variety, which makes it handy as a travel compact should you have problems finding a power supply while on holiday. However, we did discover that there was a delay in the camera's startup time when using non-lithium ion batteries.
The GRD IV's autofocus performance was average and should be suitable for typical day-to-day shooting. Time-to-first-shot (time taken to capture the first shot upon powering on) was clocked at 3.4 seconds which is a tad slow compared to the PowerShot S100 which clocked 2.1 seconds. Shot-to-shot time (how long it takes to shoot one frame after another) was 2 seconds and it had a shutter lag of 0.85 second--which could make capturing active kids or running pets a hit-or-miss affair.
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