Ricoh GR1v

Bodster

Bodster

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Kyle B
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Apologies if there is already a thread about this camera, I used the search tool, but nothing came up.

I have been looking at the Ricoh GR1 series of camera for a couple of weeks now and have heard amazing things about it, that I am now very tempted to buy one in around a months time.

I currently shoot mainly with my Canon 550D, which I love! I also shoot film with either my Nikon EM or my Ricoh KR-10x, both of which are great! The GR1v (or GR1s) seem to really appeal to me, there just seems something about that that I think would really help me with my street photography, especially in terms of size/portability and quality of lens.

I am expecting a big pay coming from work in the next few weeks and have decided to put it all towards a good film camera for my street photography.

My questions are:

1. Has anyone used the Ricoh GR1v (Or GR1s)? If so, what did you think? Would love to hear personal experiences on here :)

2. Where can I buy such a camera? Ebay seems to have a couple of users selling them, but tbh I have never really liked Ebay/Paypal and would prefer to buy one elsewhere.

3. Just putting this here too, are there any other similar cameras in the same price point you would rather recommend?

Thank you all in advance, this is a big decision and I hope that you can all help :)
 
Aside from the size, what in the GR1 series specifically appeals to you? Because if the autofocus isn't a key requirement, there were many very highly regarded compact cameras - often rangefinders - with stellar reputations. The Olympus XA being the classic example, but there were many others (many of them also the work of Olympus).
 
The appeal mostly is from image quality, I follow a lot of street photographers online and a few of them have a Ricoh GR1 in some form and all can't seem to praise them enough in terms of quality. I have to admit, it's kinda of hard to explain my appeal for the camera, it just seemed to pop out at me, before I had even realised that some of the photographers I follow use it.

Autofocus isn't a key requirement for me, shooting with manual only on say my Ricoh KR-10x has been great and I would definitely want to continue to use Manual focus, which was why I was thinking specifically the Gr1v model due to it having the option to use manual focus at 1m, 2m, 3m, 5m and infinity.

I was also looking into rangefinders I have to say (not into too much detail yet however), again many photographers I follow online praise them for shooting street.
 
Okay - first thing, needless to say, emulating the work of people you admire by buying the same equipment won't always pay off that well. Secondly, I bought a Rolleiflex partly on that basis so take everything I say with a pinch of salt :bonk:

There are many alternatives - good performing rangefinders like the Canon QL17 GIII, several Yashica models (the Electro 35 - although it is a lot bigger than say the Ricoh), Olympus 35RD/RC/SP all come to mind - as well as many more modern compacts, say the Contax G1/G2.

However, if you buy them, the bug to try the Ricoh might never go away - so if you do have the money to spend...
 
Haha, thank you for the 'warning' :D if I'm honest I don't thinking am looking into this camera to try and emulate photographers i follow or to just have the same equipment, I think it just so happens that some have this camera and have encouraged me to edge more towards it :)

I will have a look at your recommendations, thank you :)

Well my budget will depend just how much I will be getting from work, but I am hoping to earn more than what a Ricoh GR1v is worth. :)
 
Mmmmm rangefinders........


Voigtlander by andysnapper1, on Flickr

Tiny, discreet and lovely, just the opposite of me in fact.

Andy
 
Every photographer should blow a lot of money on a camera that they really want at least once in their life. I have never regretted forking out a year's bonus on a brand new Canon A1 in 1981. It's still going strong. I've never handled a GR1 but it certainly looks nice and and should have a great build quality, so go for it!

I've got both a Yashica Electro 35 and an Olympus XA which are both extremely quiet and produce good results. The noise of autofocus and motorised film advance would be my only concern if I was into street photography, so it might be worth checking that out if it's a factor for you.
 
joxby said:
I had a GR1, the thing was a stella performer but it bordered on fiddly because of its size and sensitivity of controls.
I could have lived with that but I found 28mm to be a bit too wide for my purposes..

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=297921


.
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Don't have access to whatever section that is yet Joxby. :(

The size im fine with, my hands are pretty small anyway :)

NickT, thank you for your comment! I totally agree! haha, thats if the £550 odd I spent on my canon doesn't count! :D

I did hear that the noise on them from those 2 factor isn't the best, but its something I could deal with after using the noisy 50mm f1.8 on my canon :p
 
first thing to do if u want to shoot street - move to NY :D

as for the camera - hexar af is phenomenal . compacts are too slow no matter how high is the quality.
 
Starastin said:
first thing to do if u want to shoot street - move to NY :D

as for the camera - hexar af is phenomenal . compacts are too slow no matter how high is the quality.
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haha, im planning on going to New York next year actually :) Just for a holiday with friends though :(

The Konica Hexar AF does look nice I have to say, but still Ricoh for me I think :p


So does anyone know where I would actually be able to find a Ricoh GR1v to buy? I am assuming it would be near on impossible to find one new (Due to the fact they arent made anymore)?
 
The GR1 is pretty fast in snap/mf mode though. I have a GRDIII and it's pretty much stuck in that mode. Agree on the Hexar, but it comparatively quite large and not really wallet sized like the GR.

Best bet to get one would be eBay, or classifieds. There is Japan Camera Hunter, great service but it'll cost more plus there'll be import tax.
 
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Don't have access to the buy and sell section here yet, but will check it out when I do. Ebay UK doesn't seem to have too many up at the moment, but I will keep checking back. I did have a look at JCH too, although he just sold one for $675 which is a little more than I was willing to pay, im kinda looking at between £200 and £350 at the max.
 
JCH seems to be more of an equipment sourcing for collectors than users sadly...
 
I have to agree, from what I have seen anyway.

Looking on EBay just now and noticed that there is a RIcoh GR1s for sale for £250, which isn't too bad. Hopefully similar prices will be up in a months time :)
 
Ohhh the GR1...fantastic little camera, one of my favs ever.

It's so easy for taking photos with, with infinite focus, hyperfocal, and snap (2m) focus settings, and a really nice lens. Makes it perfect for street and lanscape shooting. And it's absolutely tiny, perfect for long climbs.

Here's some scans from a trip to tibet absolutely ages ago with XP2 :).

jzhng-4facf7b710b0b7f.jpg


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jzhng-4fabde4310ae771.jpg


jzhng-4facf7de10b0b8e.jpg
 
Thank you Andy, that seems like a great price for the GR1, I will keep an eye on that, although I would prefer the GR1s or GR1v. Again though, much appreciated that you took the time to find that :)

I will send him an email, see if they have any other models in stock.
 
Bodster said:
Some really nice shots Joe! How did you go about acquiring such a camera? :p
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Thanks :).

eBay, got one for £100 probably 6-7 years ago. Sold it a last year for £200, which was a nice surprise. I think eBay is pretty trustworthy now for buyers as you get a lot of protection - and when I buy camera stuff I always look at their past feedback to see what other photography things they've sold.

Also, the GR1 is a really solid camera so buying second hand is usually safe. A friend dropped a GR1v off a small cliff - must have been some 3, 4 meters - onto hard ground. The lens was extended, but apart from a small scuff mark on the lens barrel, the camera was completely fine :).
 
That's a pretty nice profit haha! Yeh it is certainly a lot better now, still not too keen on Paypal, but if ebay turns out to be the only or the best place to buy one, then I will :)

That is good to hear, I am normally super careful with all of my equipment, haven't dropped anything yet (Touch wood!), but knowing that it is pretty sturdy is never a bad thing :)
 
Might be worth trying one of the cheaper Ricohs just to see how you get on with that size/type of camera?

The R10 and R1 are both available pretty cheaply and are quite close in form and function to the GR series.

The R10 is pretty plasticy but still a great camera, I had 2 and an R1 - which has a metal body and handy dual focal length lens - I ended up selling the R1 and one R10 but love the R10 I have left.
 
I got a GR10 for my dad from Dixons for 30 quid, think it was in a sale. They had about 5 of them in the shop, would have been a nice investment.

If you go for the GR1, check the lcd is still working, as a lot of them have a fault.

There's a Ricoh forum whch will have more info for you.

http://ricohforum.com/
 
boliston said:
That looks like a nice compact the way it has traditional controls for shutter, aperture and focus.
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Its very nice indeed, I have one myself complete with the original filters and it does produce some fantastic images.
 
Do a bit of street photography and have enjoyed doing it with my Olympus 35 RC too. Now I thought I was pretty brave and occasionally in your face but 28mm lens on the GR1 surely is too wide?!

I have of course used a variety of lenses, even down to a true 10mm on my digital kit, but generally 35-45mm seems about right for my street work.
 
At first I thought it would be too wide as well, but I am really wanting to try it out. If I am wanting to get more serious with my photography I kind of figured it would be good to step out of my comfort zone a bit :) I love wide shots, but so far haven't managed to take too many as I mainly just use my 50mm lens on my 550d.
 
A friend of mine is selling a beaten up black GR1s for £100 on the rangefinderforum classifieds. Should be a good shooter.
 
Would prefer one in mint condition if possible to be honest haha, im quite fussy with that. I spent over 2 hours cleaning my Ricoh KR-10x when I got that, and it wasn't even that dirty :D

I have actually tried bidding on a Ricoh R1s on ebay at the moment, whether I get it or not I don't know. Would like to try it something like that first as the internet seems to be scarce of GR1v's and GR1s' just now. I do have £250 put back ready for one though :)
 
I've got the Gr1s a few months ago (silver) for about £130 boxed with lens hood so I think around that price is reasonable! (black is more expensive, obviously:naughty:)

Been shooting with it recently and even though the shots are amazing I find it kind of boring to use? its really point and shoot, definitely good for street though since you don't need to focus etc.

Have you looked at the fujifilm Klasse S/W or the Natura Classica? The Klasse S/W has manual control and IMO a sharper lens and its 38mm if you don't like wide (The Klasse W is 28mm, obviously again:D)
Another good selling point is both the Klasse and Classica can take awesome night shots with no flash using fast film in the NP mode or using fast film speed up to 3200 (check out flickr).

Just saying for the price your willing to pay I think the Klasse would suit better plus it looks hotter than Ricoh :love:

AND one more thing to keep in mind :D The Gr1s breaks easily (mine hasn't but I do have a broken black one lying around) and it's not just the LCD thats faulty but the shutter jams up fairly easily, if you do a google search theres loads with the same problem and the worse part? It's not easily repaired since Ricoh doesn't do film anymore and parts are scarce. I've emailed Ricoh itself, no fix and a few photography repairs and the cheapest to fix the lens is around £150 by Japancamerahunter.:(
 
Thanks for your comment :) It's still the Ricoh that im desperate to get haha, totally out of money at the moment as I have been buying loads of equipment for my home music studio! (Not as impressive as it sounds!)

I will look into your recommendations thanks :)
 
Finally serious about buying one of these, bidding on ebay just now for a GR1v and a GR10. I have a decent amount of money to realistically be able to afford both, but im not wanting to be spending more than I should :)
 
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