Ricoh New GRIII "Diary Edition" Brings Silver Camera and New Negative Film Mode

[agentlossing]

GR III Diary Edition / RICOH GR III / GR IIIx / デジタルカメラ / 製品 | RICOH IMAGING

コンパクトデジタルカメラ「RICOH GR III」にメタリックウォームグレーの特別塗装と専用アクセサリーをセットにした数量限定モデル。

www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp

(Google/Bing etc. translate the page well)

There's a little more info now on the China-special limited edition (which sounds like it will make its way to other markets). Personally I think it's a very handsome camera, probably my favorite edition to come out so far in the GRIII line. The kit comes with a rather high-end strap and case, but is somewhat expensive.

The bigger value to me, and something that will be added to other III/IIIx models is a new JPEG color mode, Negative Film tone. There are some examples on the link, and I think they look great. Striking that balance of faded, but saturated, colors which is all the rage. In conjunction with the parameters which can be edited within the JPEG profile I think I'm going to be able to get some great looks out of it. This is exciting to me as I love utilizing the JPEG modes on the GR, and have recently started using a more punchy and saturated take on my favorite Positive Film mode, so this new one may be a great companion mode for that one.

I won't buy the new camera edition but I'll upgrade the heck out of that firmware when it releases.

 

[JensM]

Oh, that looks rather lush.

And I am not a fan of silver cameras at all.

 

[gryphon1911]

Just FYI. Ricoh announced that the new film mode will be available via firmware to all GR III bodies the day the the new body launches.

Curious to see how that works out.

 

[MountainMan79]

I’m waiting for the white “dairy” edition.

 

[rrybicki]

New firmware is out today (Jan 20).

• Negative film
• Some customization of the power off screen
• Remote power-off via app
• Plus the usual vague improvements.

Russ

 

[agentlossing]

Updated! The power off screen now shows how many total images you've taken with the camera. I'm apparently only at 3545 images with my GR IIIx. Here are some examples of negative film mode:

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[agentlossing]

Here are a couple of comparisons with positive film:

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The above is an extra-saturated positive film file compared to the standard saturation negative film one. As you can see blues are very faded.

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If anything the negative film images go to show just how good positive film looks, at first blush. But I do like the looks of negative film more than some of the other profiles on the GR, and I'll definitely tweak this one to see just what I can get out of it.

I think this will reinforce my recent habit of amping up the saturation and contrast on positive film, and possibly provide an alternative when I don't want the colors to smack the viewer in the face.

 

[agentlossing]

Compare the above (slightly boosted) negative film file to this one, with saturation amped all the way up.

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[rayvonn]

Ok, well after downloading the update I had a very brief go on the Negative Film Mode. I'm glad @agentlossing is having a proper session with it as my short experience showed only an ever so subtle difference in rendering, below is the output of the camera's Standard and Negative Film modes without editing. But that's just subjectively me; maybe you can see a more tangible difference?

Standard Mode:

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Negative Film Mode:

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[agentlossing]

@rayvonn Shadows are a bit more open and the primary colors are definitely lower saturation, while contrast remains fairly strong.

 

[Lightmancer]

I'm no fan of blingy special editions but I do recognise they shift the expensive bits - lens and innards - with a bit of a boost to sales. This is far too shouty for me but I can see it will appeal to other demographics. The firmware is interesting but I'll wait a month.

 

[gryphon1911]

Ok, well after downloading the update I had a very brief go on the Negative Film Mode. I'm glad @agentlossing is having a proper session with it as my short experience showed only an ever so subtle difference in rendering, below is the output of the camera's Standard and Negative Film modes without editing. But that's just subjectively me; maybe you can see a more tangible difference?

Standard Mode:
View attachment 359578
Negative Film Mode:
View attachment 359580

Looks moer "kodachrome" out of the box, so to speak...I'm sure it will be popular.

 

[rayvonn]

Looks moer "kodachrome" out of the box, so to speak...I'm sure it will be popular.

Another Pro Neg image, just a random snap focus one in P mode. Not an instant thing for me, it'll take a while to get used to it until I can form a more full opinion. I note you and @agentlossing can see it and in time I'm thinking I will.

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[agentlossing]

Another Pro Neg image, just a random snap focus one in P mode. Not an instant thing for me, it'll take a while to get used to it until I can form a more full opinion. I note you and @agentlossing can see it and in time I'm thinking I will.
View attachment 360492

Look at the somewhat faded blue, green and yellow, and overall how the image is contrasty while still having open shadows. That's kind of how I'd describe it with the short time I've had with it. I recommend upping the saturation if you want to be able to discern what the color shifts look like, it will emphasize the differences. Personally I am finding I like upping saturation and contrast, this profile is a little bit like the retro (or whatever it's called) profile in that it is trying to look a bit like an older print. Bumping it a little takes away that fadedness and gets it a little closer to what Saul Leiter or Fred Herzog's work would look like.

 

[agentlossing]

About GR III Diary Edition [Part 2] （OKUBO） | GR official | RICOH official community site

www.grblog.jp

This article on the excellent GR Blog goes over the new mode in a bit more detail. The inspiration behind the mode was the "new color" movement of the 1970s, which includes such heavyweights as Eggleston, Meyerowitz, Stephen Shore and others, but I'd personally argue that there's a lot of the 1950s Saul Leiter to be found in this color mode as well (especially by upping contrast and saturation a bit). The article mentions you can tweak the profile to get something more like Shore's positive film images as well. The lifted shadows I mentioned before are due to generally raised midtones, which is one of the main things I've heard it said that film has over digital (and a good way to start to approximate film tones in digital).

 

[CraigC]

Here's a video showing the differences between the standard DNG profile vs the new Negative Film one:

 

[drd1135]

Neat. I need to figure out how to upgrade my GRiiix software. I do like the new GR. Too bad I can’t download a new color scheme.

 

[agentlossing]

Neat. I need to figure out how to upgrade my GRiiix software. I do like the new GR. Too bad I can’t download a new color scheme.

Format the card, download and unzip the file and put it inside the root (first) folder on the sd card. Then put it in the camera, hit the power button while holding down menu, and flow the prompt.

... Maybe double check me, that's from memory.

 

[rayvonn]

Another Pro Neg Image c/o the software update/ new model, no editing.