This is the new $1,067 Ricoh GR III HDF. It’s a pocket-sized point and shoot camera with a 24.2-megapixel APS-C sensor and a fixed super sharp 28mm f/2.8 lens. It is almost an exact copy of the GR III that came out in March of 2019. But what makes it worth talking about today is the new “HDF” part of its name. It stands for high diffusion filter. Where previous Ricoh cameras had a built in ND filter, which you can think of as sunglasses for your camera that minimize the amount of light hitting the sensor, the GR III HDF has a highlight diffusion filter instead.
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TechTranscript
00:00 The best way to think about Ricoh cameras is to remember what the company is actually best known for.
00:04 It's copiers and it's printers.
00:06 Because for better or for worse,
00:08 Ricoh is a company that has never been afraid to simply make a copy.
00:13 I'm Becca, welcome back to Full Frame.
00:15 Woo!
00:18 This is the new $1,067 Ricoh GR III HDF.
00:23 It's a pocket-sized point-and-shoot camera with a 24.2 megapixel APS-C sensor
00:28 and a fixed, super sharp 28mm f/2.8 lens.
00:33 It is almost an exact copy of the GR III that came out in March of 2019.
00:38 But what makes it worth talking about today is that new HDF part of its name.
00:42 It stands for Highlight Diffusion Filter.
00:44 Where previous GR III cameras had built-in ND filters,
00:48 which you can think of as like sunglasses for your camera,
00:51 they minimize the amount of light that's hitting the sensor,
00:54 the new GR III HDF has a diffusion filter.
00:58 And this is a Tiffen Black Pro Mist half, which is pretty high,
01:01 but I want to show you what it does.
01:03 When you put this in front of your sensor,
01:05 it makes for a softer image and it also spreads out the highlights.
01:09 You see that? It's pretty cool.
01:11 Here's what Ricoh's own diffusion filter looks like in the GR III HDF.
01:15 At night, bright lights like headlights or these stadium lights appear larger and softer.
01:21 During the day, a backlight on someone's head might cause a halo effect.
01:24 And in side-by-side photos with the filter on on the left and the filter off on the right,
01:29 it can be obvious that this filter makes photos more dreamy by spreading out those highlights.
01:34 But if you don't have ample highlights, like in this photo,
01:37 it can be difficult to see any diffusion or softening happening at all.
01:42 This is a highlight diffusion filter that needs a highlight in order to be seen.
01:46 But then when there are highlights, I don't always love the effect.
01:50 Like this photo of Viren. I mean, it looks like he's coming from the heavens.
01:53 But then there are other times, like in this high-contrast black and white scene,
01:57 where the filter added a really elegant sort of glow to the whites.
02:01 I love this.
02:02 So much like GR camera systems as a whole, you're going to have to get to know this filter.
02:07 It can be really unpredictable in what highlights it makes pop.
02:11 But I think that Ricoh's decision to swap the ND filter for something else is really smart
02:15 because in my use of Ricoh GR III cameras, I rarely put the ND filter on
02:19 because I rarely had a need to stop the shutter speed down,
02:22 which is usually what you're trying to do when you put an ND on.
02:25 So having a filter that I use some of the time is much more beneficial
02:29 than having a filter that I was using none of the time.
02:32 The problem is, outside of the filter, this brand new HDF version of this camera
02:38 is the same camera that came out in 2019.
02:41 And it brings the total number of GR III cameras to seven.
02:46 There are seven versions of this camera,
02:48 which means that Ricoh's been making a lot of recopies.
02:51 Per Ricoh's website, when the company launched its very first copier, the ReCopy 101,
02:55 the product's popularity sparked a term.
02:58 Supposedly, folks would say, "Make a recopy" instead of "Make a copy."
03:01 And with the GR III lineup, they've made a lot of recopies.
03:04 Let me show you.
03:05 First, there was the GR III in 2019, which set the core hardware and internal specs for everything to come.
03:10 Then in 2020, Ricoh launched the GR III Street Edition,
03:13 which had the same internals of GR III, but with a gray body and orange lens ring.
03:17 In 2021 came the GR III X.
03:20 That had a slightly tighter 40mm lens, but otherwise, the same internals as the GR III.
03:25 It was followed up with the GR III X Urban Edition in 2020.
03:28 Same camera as the GR III X, but gray body and blue lens ring.
03:32 Then in 2023, Ricoh released the GR III Diary Edition.
03:35 Same camera as the III, but with a light gray finish and a silver lens ring.
03:39 And now we have the GR III and 3X HDF, with the diffusion filter instead of the ND.
03:45 For a company whose camera department is on the smaller side,
03:48 this is a great way to keep folks talking about your camera and to keep selling cameras.
03:52 You know, you can make small changes to the lens, now the filter, and the colors,
03:57 without having to overhaul the entire system.
03:59 But as a consumer, it starts to feel like one of those games where you're looking at two photos
04:04 and trying to find the smallest differences between them.
04:07 It's great for passing time, but it's really annoying when you're trying to drop $1,000 on a camera.
04:12 The other problem with this approach is that hardware starts to feel really dated.
04:16 The back screen of this camera makes your photos look relatively low-res,
04:21 and you really can't see how great of a photo this camera can take by just looking at it.
04:26 You have to transfer it to a phone or to a computer first.
04:30 This obviously isn't an issue for photographers who are going to transfer their images anyway,
04:35 but I worry for a lot of folks who are picking up a point-and-shoot camera just to use for fun
04:39 or to get better at photography with.
04:42 They're going to look down, not see the results they want,
04:44 and then they're not going to pick up the camera again, or they're going to return it.
04:47 And they should hold on to it.
04:49 I mean, it's really such a great camera, but increasingly it needs convincing
04:55 for someone else to believe that.
04:57 So that's the Ricoh GR III HDF.
05:01 It is, in many ways, a recopy, but that doesn't make it any less of a great camera.
05:07 That being said, if you're looking to save a couple bucks,
05:10 see if you can't get a Ricoh GR III used and then just buy a diffusion filter to put on the front.
05:15 Or just wait till the Ricoh GR IV, which, oh man, I'm so damn excited for that camera.
05:23 And I know a lot of other folks are too.
05:26 I'm Becca. Thank you so much for joining me.
05:28 I wanted to make this video because Ricoh is a fascinating company.
05:33 They make printers and copiers, as you now know.
05:37 But they also have the Ricoh Theta, which was one of the very first consumer 360-degree cameras.
05:44 I had one. It was awesome.
05:47 They have a stadium somewhere, I think in England.
05:50 They're just this huge company that has a lot of small teams working on products.
05:55 They also own Pentax, which, oh my god, the rumors on that film camera that they might be having come out
06:01 are getting me stoked.
06:04 So I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you learned something.
06:06 I appreciate you so much. We'll see you on the next one. Thanks, bud.
06:10 [wind howling]