Ricoh My new (to me) 11-year-old Ricoh GRD iii

Yesterday, in the late afternoon, I saw this abandoned bus. The nice thing about having a smallish camera is that you almost don't remember it's in your pocket....until you take it out.

GRD_Abandoned_Bus.jpg
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A few more GRD3 shots squeezed off quickly, this afternoon, in an ongoing attempt to see what this little camera can - and can't - do. The first was taken out of doors, obviously --

GRD_PeeWee_In_the_road.jpg
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-- and my PeeWee doll is clearly practicing his form of 'Social Distancing' ;)

The second was taken indoors, in close-up (Macro) mode, in a series of attempts to see if the tiny pop-up flash is usable. This original was a RAW negative, that I then converted to monochrome--

GRD_Dali_candle_monochrome.jpg
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The flash itself is both strong and harsh and used for close-ups, results in extreme overexposure. This was taken with a tiny (and cleverly desgined) 'Puffer' diffuser (which clips into the hot-shoe) which initially was also overexposed until I monkeyed around and tried different modifications....until finding one that actually works 😊
 
More discoveries about the little GRD--

1. It does high contrast B & W nicely:

GRD_Speed45_HiCB&Wek.jpg
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2. The digital negatives aren't the most detailed in the world, but the (lightly tweaked in Nik's Analog Efex) colours which this camera's CCD sensor produce, are both malleable and rich:

GRD_shoes_Rapp_Road(AnalEfex).jpg
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To my surprise, the tiny built-in GRD flash works well....once one figures out how to diffuse it.

GRD_Dino_Biker_Bookshelf_TokioChroma.jpg
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It would probably help, too, with flash-aided photography, to pick a slower (and thus finer-grained) ISO, instead of leaving it on Auto-ISO. But I think the graininess is part of the charm ;)
 
A smaller-sensor camera tends to have more more graininess or noise than a lmore modern camera with a larger, more state-of-the-art sensor.
But I don't mind the effect sometimes.

And though I have no objective or scientific proof that CCD sensors occasionally create more interesting colours....sometimes it sure seems that way. It was true of my older Pentax K200d - and I think it also is of this Ricoh GRDiii.

GRD_May5_Tintin&Snowy_Teacup(ekRP800).jpg
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When I bought this little GRD, I was hoping that the combination of its small sensor, with its closer-focusing lens, would let me do some of the kinds of semi-closeup-but-not-quite-macro shots that I used to be able to get, sometimes, with my former little Lumix LX7. And...it actually seems to be doing the trick ;)

GRD_May12_Balinese_puppet_head.jpg
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Figuring out how to diffuse the built-in flash is an ongoing adventure, however....but I'm getting the hang of it.
 
This was taken in the last waning daylight hours of a gray, rainy Oregon afternoon. The original was a digital negative (DNG), which I processed very lightly in Nik (ColorEfexPro4), mainly adjusting contrast---

GRD_May17_Bee_Crossing.jpg
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That little CCD sensor really has its own way of interpreting colors - definitely different than the CMOS sensor on my old LX7.
 
I processed the same original photograph taken with my little GRDiii in two different monochrome methods - and am trying to make up my mind which I prefer, and why. Both were processed in the standalone (non-subscription) version of Lightroom I use (LR6), and in each I used a different tool from the old (freeware) Nik processing suite of plug-ins.

This first was processed using the Analog Efex plug-in---

GRDii_May26_Trump_mailbox(AnalEfex).jpg
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The second was processed using Silver Efex---

GRDii_May26_Trump_mailbox(SilverEfex).jpg
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I'm curious what other people think...?
 
I processed the same original photograph taken with my little GRDiii in two different monochrome methods - and am trying to make up my mind which I prefer, and why. Both were processed in the standalone (non-subscription) version of Lightroom I use (LR6), and in each I used a different tool from the old (freeware) Nik processing suite of plug-ins.

This first was processed using the Analog Efex plug-in---

View attachment 224036

The second was processed using Silver Efex---

View attachment 224037

I'm curious what other people think...?
What I learned about the GRII and prior models was that the mono files out of camera were fantastic but still fantastic after applying PP.
 
I prefer the first one, mainly because it reminds me more of Ilford HP5 whereas the second has the brighter highlights of Tri-X, that's just a personal preference however.

That's a good analysis, Andrew - thank you.
I think I agree with you too - about preferring the first one - but possibly for a different reason. I processed the 2nd one with more contrast - more shadow detail - and more of what Lightroom calls 'clarity' - all of which creates a harsher and brighter look. The first one I intentionally left darker - with less detail, less bright highlights - and the darker look works better for me, at least on this particular picture.

I took a few other pictures in the same series, and this following one - which I processed for color, using a VSCO plugin which tries to simulate the look of a higher ISO Portra color negative, with push-processing - has a totally different look and feel: it's simultaneously more exaggerated and also a little bit theatrical, an effect which, given the admittedly slightly theatrical nature of the composition, seemed to work--

GRDii_May26_head_mailbox(VSCOportra800).jpg
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I know that a great many professional photographers who shoot hundreds and thousands of images on a daily and weekly basis, often settle on certain kinds of batch processing simply because to do otherwise would be insanely time-consuming. With my own photography, it's limited enough so that I try to find the right solution for each image. Which sounds almost like I'm organized and know what I'm doing - but the truth is, more than half the time, it's hit-and-miss experimentation. Sigh.
 
What I learned about the GRII and prior models was that the mono files out of camera were fantastic but still fantastic after applying PP.

I totally agree with you about some of the in-camera effects - mono as well as 'positive film' - from my GRii. They are fantastic starting points. With the GRDiii, it's not quite as simple for me - although some of my favorite photographers have used the GRD's in-camera hi-contrast B&W mode with brilliant results, I still haven't gotten the hang of it yet - so most of what I've been doing with it has been starting with a RAW negative. But it's a process.... :)
 
This shot began life as a DNG - digital RAW negative - and was surprisingly (and disappointingly, to me, at least) flat - much flatter than what I had in the back of my mind at the moment I pressed the shutter.

But one of Erik Kim's 'chroma' Lightroom presets, which he generously made available for free, some years ago, gave my image some of the life - and the harshness of almost blindingly bright summer colors - that I was hoping for.

GRDiii_May27_Diner(EKchr).jpg
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I processed the same original photograph taken with my little GRDiii in two different monochrome methods - and am trying to make up my mind which I prefer, and why. Both were processed in the standalone (non-subscription) version of Lightroom I use (LR6), and in each I used a different tool from the old (freeware) Nik processing suite of plug-ins.

This first was processed using the Analog Efex plug-in---

View attachment 224036

The second was processed using Silver Efex---

View attachment 224037

I'm curious what other people think...?
I prefer the second one. Primarily because there is less vignetting.
 
Two colour shots, using the in-camera color jpeg setting.

The first, a detail behind a Taquería whose owner has a set of fine wheels--

GRDiii_May29_Aiberto's_Cadillac.jpg
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The second, your standard industrial urban landscape--

GRDiii_May29_Millersburg_Oregon.jpg
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I can't help thinking, again, that there may be something to the old semi-superstitious concept that old-school CCD sensors....have a special way of doing color. Or maybe the Ricoh engineers got lucky with the color-pixie-dust ;)
 
The fun thing about having a camera this small - and, literally, this 'pocketable' - is that wherever you go, it's easy just to pull it out of your pocket and take a picture. Which I did this morning, when I saw this 'puffball' flower by the side of the road.

GRDiii_June15_roadside_Puffball.jpg
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