Ricoh GR Digital IV review

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We’ve yet to see what might emerge from Ricoh’s acquisition of Pentax’s camera business, but in the meantime here’s something it made earlier. Review by Paul Burrows.

Until recently Ricoh was small fry in the digital camera business (although the company itself is huge), specialising mostly in higher-end compacts and forging its own way in the CSC sector with its unique GXR. Now it’s in charge of Pentax’s imaging operations which pretty much turns it into one of the major players so who knows what lies ahead given that two brands together have fingers in most pies.

However, the GR Digital IV is a distinctly Ricoh product with its roots back in the GR-series of high-end 35mm compacts that gained a cult following during the 1990s. The GRD-series models have also attracted small, but immensely loyal bands of users, particularly as these were pretty much the first fixed-lens digital compact cameras specifically targeted at professionals and enthusiasts.

Of course, now there’s quite a lot of competition in this area – not to mention the interchangeable lens compact camera offerings – but Ricoh has still stuck to the basic principles of the GR line with the Mark IV model. This means it’s exceptionally compact – much smaller than the GXR, for instance – and fitted with a very high quality prime lens rather than a zoom. Additionally, the sensor’s resolution remains pegged at 10 megapixels (effective) so the photosites still deliver a reasonable signal-to-noise ratio with the attendant benefits in terms of dynamic range.

There’s a new-generation processor – designated the GR Engine IV – designed to extract a little more performance from this sensor via, for example, new noise reduction algorithms which enable the sensitivity range to be extended to ISO 3200. The minimum sensitivity setting is now ISO 80 (up one-third of a stop from ISO 64).

A significant upgrade is the provision of image stabilisation via ultra- high speed sensor shifting using a design Ricoh says it has developed itself. The quoted ‘safety’ increase for hand-held shooting is a useful 3.2 stops which further enhances the camera’s low-light shooting capabilities given the 6.0mm prime lens has a super-fast maximum aperture of f1.9. The effective focal length in 35mm terms is 28mm which is very good ‘all rounder’ in terms of the applications to which it is suited.

Faster Focusing

Another significant upgrade is the adoption of Ricoh’s so-called ‘Hybrid AF’ autofocusing system which was introduced on the CX5. This system employs a dedicated area-type AF sensor which determines subject distances via the phase-difference detection method.

This sensor – which has 190 focusing points – is located on the front of the camera just adjacent to the lens so it obviously doesn’t make TTL measurements which precludes its use for macro focusing (due to the parallax error being too great). However, with the subjects that are within range it allows for much faster autofocusing than using the contrast-detection method (which is still used for fine-tuning). As with the CX5, Ricoh claims the autofocusing time with the Hybrid AF system is as short as 0.2 seconds. However, Ricoh says the GR Digital iv’s new processor also allows for much faster contrast-detection autofocusing.

The CCD-based AF now allows for subject tracking, and the camera has a number of other focusing functions, including ‘Full Press Snap’ which rapidly focuses the lens at a preset distance (1.0, 1.5, 2.5 or 5.0 metres, or infinity) when the shutter release button is fully depressed. If the ‘Auto’ setting is selected here, only the external AF sensor is used to ensure a rapid response and distance setting. AF operation during continuous shooting is also maintained by the external sensor which can, additionally, be set to generate a subject distance display – in the form of a scale – in the camera’s monitor screen.

The lens itself has an eight-element optical construction of which two are aspherical types to minimise chromatic aberrations and three are made from extra-low dispersion glass to correct for chromatic aberrations. Multi-coatings reduce flare and ghosting while a seven-bladed diaphragm is designed to deliver smoother, more rounded out-of-focus effects. The GVV-2 21mm conversion lens remains compatible with the Mark IV model (for those who want something approximating the highly-prized 35mm GR21) and there’s an optional optical viewfinder for the 28mm lens, but the new camera hasn’t been given compatibility with the GXR system’s VF-2 EVF… mainly, it would seem, because there’s no room for the connector.

Brighter View

The slim-line magnesium alloy bodyshell is pretty unchanged from the previous model in terms of both styling and size, but the GR Digital IV has a new LCD monitor screen. This employs an additional white pixel for every RGB grouping to increase brightness (by 1.7x claims Ricoh) for improved viewing, especially outdoors. Given there’s now four subpixels or dots per image point (i.e. RGB+W), the resolution increases to 1.23 million dots to give a VGA standard display.

The control layout is also unchanged with a main mode dial with an input wheel on the top panel (along with a hotshoe) and a four-way navigator pad on the rear panel, plus a rocker switch called the ‘Adjust Lever’ which can be customised by being assigned up to five frequently-used functions. These include the white balance settings, ISO settings, exposure compensation, bracketing modes and focus modes. Additionally, the navigator pad has a ‘Function V quadrant and there’s a ‘Function 2′ button, both of which can be customised from the full list of the Ricoh’s capture functions. Operation is not without a few Ricoh-esque idiosyncrasies and the menu system continues with a small, super-fine typestyle and some curious anomalies such as having the exposure compensation, white balance settings and ISO settings on the last page of the shooting menu (all the more reason, then, to assign these to the customisable hard keys).

The exposure control options remain solely ‘PASM’ with essentially no subject or scene modes. Instead, the ‘SCENE’ position on the main mode dial accesses some different capture options, including an HDR mode which takes two shots with different exposures which are subsequently combined to deliver more detail in both the highlights and shadows. New is a scene mode called ‘Interval Composite’ which combines multiple images taken at intervals, retaining the brightest value for each pixel. The main application here is capturing star trails at night. Ricoh puts the GRD iv’s movie recording into the scene modes menu, but this really is a token effort as VGA is the best image quality available (even though the camera now has an HDMi connector). With some justification Ricoh doesn’t think people who will buy this camera (and, indeed, the GXR) have video recording high on their list of priorities.

Not much changes in the exposure control department accept for the addition of ‘B’ and T settings for making exposures longer than the timed maximum of 180 seconds or three minutes.

The rear panel controls allow for considerable customisation of the 'Adj' level the 'Fn1' pad and the 'Fn2' button.

The high-quality 6.0mm f1.9 lens is equivalent to 28mm in 35mm format terms. The GRD IV now has sensor-shift type image stabilisation.

Although the main mode dial has a setting marked 'Scene', what's actually found here are alternative capture modes including HDR, movie and a new one called 'Interval Composite'.

Picture Processing

The GR Digital IV retains a set of ‘Image Setting’ picture modes to which is added two more called Positive Film and Bleach Bypass, bringing the total to eight. The standard options of Vivid, Standard, B&W and B&W (TE) remain unchanged. The latter gives access to a set of B&W toning effects – sepia, red, green, blue or purple.

Most of the ‘Image Settings’ – including some of the special effects – are adjustable for vividness (i.e. saturation), contrast and sharpness. The two user-definable settings have additional sub-menus for colour-based adjustments of hue and vividness while effects such as Cross Process and Positive Film have an adjustment for vignetting.

While the HDR capture mode isn’t adjustable, the GRD IV’s dynamic range expansion processing is and has settings for Weak, Medium and Strong. Additionally, there’s a dynamic range bracketing mode which records three frames at the Off, Weak and Strong settings. There’s also a contrast bracketing mode which allows for the contrast in each of the three frames to be individually set from a range of plus/minus four steps. Of course, bracketing modes are available for both exposure and white balance plus different image quality settings.

The GRD IV has Ricoh’s pixel interpolation processing – first introduced on the CX1 – to minimise overexposure by employing information from the surrounding red and blue pixels to interpolate any green pixels that have become oversaturated in high contrast situations. This ensures some extra detail is retained in the brighter highlights without resorting to the HDR capture mode or the dynamic range expansion settings.

Straight And Level

As expected on a compact camera at this level, the noise reduction processing has manually selectable levels. Ricoh has added a couple of extra image size/quality setting options, most notably a RAW-only mode. Previously, only RAW+JPEG capture was provided (as is still the case with the GXR) which frustrated users who didn’t want the compressed file unnecessarily taking up storage capacity. There is now also a 16:9 aspect ratio setting (which delivers a 3648×2048 pixels image) to join the 4:3,3:2 and 1:1 options.

The continuous shooting speed at full resolution remains at a modest 1.5 fps, but there are a couple of higher-speed modes which combine the multiple frames into a single image.

Ricoh was one of the first to provide an electronic level display in its compact cameras and this has been upgraded on the GRD IV to indicate both roll and pitch. As before, a selection of three grid overlays is also available to help with levelling and composition. Other notable features include a multiple exposure facility (which overlays up to five images with the option of auto exposure adjustment), a customisable self-timer (number of frames and delay time), an intervalometer and manual adjustment of the built-in flash unit’s output down to 1/64 which is handy for fill-in purposes.

The Verdict

In some areas the GR Digital IV is showing the age of its platform (no SDXC support, VGA video only and the 1.5 fps shooting speed), but the upgrades ensure it remains comfortably in the running for anybody looking for an enthusiast-level compact camera, it has some excellent new features (as well as those carried over from the GRD III) and is very much performance-orientated with the minimum of gimmicks and distractions from the main game. It looks and feels like a serious camera and, in most areas, works like one as well. The controllability is exceptional and our initial evaluation of the image quality is that it delivers superior sharpness, colour fidelity and dynamic range.

However, there are just so many options for tweaking all these parameters (and more) that the GR Digital IV can be really made to sing.

RICOH GR DIGITAL IV $599

Type: Fully automatic, fixed lens digital compact camera.

Lens: Ricoh 6.0mm f1.9 (equivalent to 28mm). 4.0x digital zoom.

Focusing Range: 30 cm to infinity; macro focusing down to 1.0 cm. Continuous AF, subject tracking and spot AF modes available. ‘Hybrid AF’ system uses both an external sensor and the imaging sensor.

Shutter Speeds: 180-1/2000 second plus ‘B’ and T.

Metering: Multi-zone (256 segments), centre-weighted average and spot.

Exposure Control: Program (with shift), shutter- and aperture-priority auto and manual. Plus auto exposure bracketing, AE lock and +/-2.0 EV compensation.

Sensitivity: ISO 80,100,200,400,800,1600 and 3200.

Sensor: 9.5 mm CCD, 10.4 million pixels total (10.00 MP effective).

Image Size: 4:3 aspect ratio = 3648×2736, 3264×2448,2592×1944, 2048×1536,1280×960 and 640×480 pixels. 3:2 – 3648×2432 pixels. 1:1 – 2736×2736 pixels, 16:9 – 3648×2048 pixels.

Continuous Shooting: Up to 1.54 fps and an unlimited burst length with JPEG/large/fine capture or five RAW files.

Video Recording: AVI Motion JPEG format at 640×480 or 320×240 pixels and 30 fps or 15 fps, 4:3 aspect ratio. WAVE format mono sound. Movie clips limited to 29 minutes in duration or 4.0 GB file size.

Formats: JPEG, RAW (Adobe DNG), Motion JPEG (AVI). PictBridge and DPOF compatible.

Flash: Built-in with auto, red-eye reduction, fill-in, slow sync and first/second curtain modes. Flash range = 20 cm to 3.0 metres (ISO auto). Manual output control down to 1/64. Hotshoe accepts an external flash.

White Balance: TTl measurement via image sensor. Auto, auto with multi-point measurement, five presets, one custom preset, correction (amber-to-blue and magenta-to-green) and WB bracketing.

Viewfinder: 7.62 cm LCD monitor (1.23 megapixels).

Storage: SD/SDHC cards plus 40 MB of internal memory.

Interface: USB 2.0 and HDMl.

Main Features: Sensor-shift image stabilisation, four scene modes (Dynamic Range, Interval Composite, Skew Correct and Movie), three dynamic range expansion settings (Weak, Medium and Strong), four dynamic range compensation settings (Off, Weak, Medium and Strong), noise reduction (Off, Weak, Strong and Max), high ISO noise reduction (with selectable threshold), multi-mode self-timer (delay and number of frames), intervalometer (five seconds to 60 minutes), auto bracketing (for exposure, white balance, image quality, contrast and dynamic range compensation), eight ‘image Settings’ (Vivid, Standard, B&W, B&W toned, High Contrast B&W, Cross Process, Positive Film and Bleach Bypass), two user-definable ‘Image Settings’ (adjustable for saturation, contrast, sharpness and colours – hue and vividness), multiple exposure capture, dual-axis electronic level display, real-time histogram display, three grid overlays, in-camera editing functions (Resize, Trim, Level Compensation – auto or manual, White Balance Compensation, Skew Correction), 20 or 81 frames thumbnail views, calendar thumbnail display, playback zoom (up to 16x), slide show replay.

Power: Rechargeable 3.7 volts lithium-ion battery pack or two AAA-size batteries (alkaline or NiMH).

Dimensions (WxHxD): 108.6×59.8×25.2 mm.

Weight: 190 grams (without battery or memory card).

Price: $599. Check availability at Amazon.

Tags: camera, review, Ricoh

Category: Gear