As you may know from my previous post, I didn’t exactly enjoy the GR III, and I ended up sending it back — all this while being enamoured with the GR II and using it for pleasure and for job since many years, as narrated in this other post.
In last months I kept noticing a discrepancy between what seems to be a common experience with the camera and the image of it that is being presented by YouTube influencers.
I am close to many GR users — in person and online — and almost everyone that used the camera lamented the fact that the GR III becomes very warm or even hot after being turned on for few time.
Forums threads present the issue as well, with users often being in my same situation — fans that could not enjoy a camera they longed for — and they could not because of the heating.
Places like eBay are periodically showing offers selling the camera almost new, with few shots, and my speculation is that’s because of the heating issue. It’s unlikely someone buys a niche product as a Ricoh GR not knowing what it is: if they sell it so fast it’s because something in the experience was wrong and unexpected.
It still puzzles me that YouTube influencers keep saying how great the camera is and denying or playing down the heating issue.
So, what is going on? My idea is that Ricoh quality control on the GR III wasn’t consistent — and this is especially problematic with a small camera that has design issues connected to heat dissipation.
As I mentioned in my previous post, no firmware update can fix the heating problem, because the issue lies in design choices, not in software.
Believe me, I am disappointed because of this and I wish at any time I could say: I was wrong! They fixed the camera! I will buy it again right now!
Another thing that is bothering me about the GR III is that some users are willing to justify this situation, proposing to turn off IBIS and to keep the camera off as much as possible, letting it rest between shots, and so on… a camera that costs 800-1000 euros. People can become so much loyal to a brand and live in denial. And beside that, these actions won’t change much: my GR IIIs were heating up after just few minutes browsing the gallery or menus.
I cringe whenever I see a new YouTube influencer video, openly or secretly sponsored, where the host talks of the GR III as a “perfect camera”, “the best compact” and so on, ignoring its issues.
Such a lack of ethics is at the heart of nowadays photography content on YouTube: channels that are existing only for becoming popular, earning with sponsorships and with affiliate links, selling presets and so on. The goal is not honesty, it’s attracting Squarespace as a sponsor.
The Ricoh GR III has some inherent design issues, it won’t get fixed and as lovers of Ricoh GR line (as I truly am) we can only enjoy the previous GR models and hope Ricoh will produce a better GR soon. I don’t see them being very motivated in producing a better camera if people keep praising a product like the GR III.
For years users asked for some degree of weather sealing and a modern sensor, and Ricoh instead of just fixing these two old issues added new ones — like the heating and a confusionary revision of the effects that leaved many users disappointed, me included.
The effects on the GR II are perfect. The Positive Film and Hi-Contrast B&W are working like magic. What’s the point of removing something so easy and perfect and put instead a more complex system, with countless options and, what’s worse, mostly unable of reproducing the filters Ricoh GR fans loved? You may check my other article about the Ricoh GR III for more infor on this topic.
Of course if you are a popular YouTube influencer living in Sweden or Canada you will notice the heating much less, especially if you are willing to ignore it, and even more if Ricoh sent you a pre-production GR III or invited you to a trip event so that you could do your video about how great the GR III is.
This post is an update on the situation concerning the GR III and unless there will be unexpected news it will also be the last one about this topic.
I love the Ricoh GR line and I keep working with it and promoting it (for free, mind you!). I lost the count of how many I helped falling in love with the camera and buying it, over the years!
Popular YouTubers talk about products because they are looking for a personal economic advantage. They want to attract sponsorships, to grow the channel and earn with ads. Dear Ricoh, how can you trust them? They will start praising Sony or Fuji as soon as a better offer will come.
I saw this happening over and over again, with “professional photographers” saying they love to shoot with Olympus, and then they suddenly say they can’t live without Fuji, and then they convert to Sony. I find this quite pathetic. I can’t stand most YouTubers anymore. I will write about this at some point.
I think Ricoh should focus on their real fans, listeing to them, giving them a product that can be used and loved, supporting them in creating and sharing. The GR is a unique camera and deserves a unique attention.
If you want to enjoy this marvellous line of cameras, pick up a GR or a GR II (or even an old GR IV!), buy spare batteries, memory cards, maybe the 21mm adapter, and go out and shoot and have fun.
My idea is that if we keep the GR line popular and at the same time we refuse to accept a camera like the GR III, Ricoh will have incentives for creating a better iteration next time.
I believe the GR can have a future, a bright one, something new smartphones with pseudo AI can’t touch. It all depends on what Ricoh will do next, but we can’t expect them to improve anything if we close our eyes in front of the issues.
I wish Ricoh could forget the GR III and go back to the GR II project, improving it where it is needed: protection against dust, better ISO. Keep the GR II effects, the size, the rendering quality. That’s all. Fans would adore that camera. A GR II without dust issues would sell very good.
Dear Ricoh, everyone can make a mistake, but now we expect a proper follow up to the GR II. You know what you have to do!
I have the GRIII I live in England so perhaps the over heating idea will always remain a mystery to me.
It’s a superb camera, image quality is great and the image stability system is great.
The only explanation I find is a mix of the following:
– different people have different tolerances for the issue
– different copies of the GR III show different strength of the issue (bad quality control)
– the local average temp influences the perpection of the issue
The issue does exist for a lot of users and it keeps being reported. I am glad you enjoy the camera though!
Hi Andrea,
You claim that Ricoh quality control has been bad on the GR III, and that it has some (i.e. more than one) design faults. Apart from the heating issue, where else do you find fault with the camera?
In my opinion, and echoing Pete Gleeson, I consider the GR III to be a superb camera: brilliant image quality, good dynamic range, and a very beneficial IS system.
Regarding the heating issue, which is your major bone of contention: i have had the GR III for a year now and have never experienced the heating issue, but then I’m only an amateur photographer (albeit a keen one) and I don’t take lots of photos in one continuous session. I might take 10-20 pictures in 2-3 hours, not in 10-20 minutes, which I suspect might be the case with professional photographers (mega-snappers). Naturally, if you embark on long concentrated photo sessions you are much more likely to experience a heating prblem.
My only issue with the GR III is that (unlike the GR II) there is no film simulation bracketing: otherwise its a great camera.
Hi Peter, my reasoning is that if different models present different intensity of heating, then it depends on quality control. I personally tried 3 different models of GR III and they all had the heating issue though with different levels of severity. Believe me I gave the camera all the chances 🙂 Talking about quality, the heating was the only major fault I found.
The severe heating I experienced was starting to happen even with low volume shooting — in one model it was happening after just keeping the camera on for some time and casually browsing the menus and gallery, which was not acceptable for such an expensive camera. And I don’t mean “slightly warm”, I mean so hot it becomes not comfortable.
That being said, I am glad you enjoy the GR III 🙂
Ciao Andrea, sono possessore della GR3 da un anno e non avevo mai avuto una GR prima. Sarà che scatto e poi spengo (più che altro per risparmiare le batterie), che non mi sono mai accorto del riscaldamento. Certo, resistente alle intemperie sarebbe il top. Come una durata più lunga delle batterie.
Ti dirò che essendo estremamente portabile e che produce file di alta qualità, l’ho sempre con me e così facendo scatto foto che non avrei mai scattato prima, visto che quando porto i figli a scuola o esco a fare spesa, non mi porto la reflex.
Secondo me è una macchina eccezionale, con qualche miglioria ancora da apportare.
Ciao Fabrizio, sono contento che ti stia godendo la tua GR! Alcune persone non notano o non hanno il problema del surriscaldamento. Io ho testato tre GR III da negozi diversi, con vari firmware, e tutte avevano il problema. Non parlo di un leggero calore, parlo proprio di una macchina tanto calda da risultare spiacevole da tenere in mano. Peccato, speriamo nella prossima GR, ammesso ce ne sia un’altra. Come dici bene, un certo livello di resistenza alle intemperie sarebbe estremamente benvenuto.
I happened upon your work and blog today while doing research on perhaps purchasing a GR series camera. You are a phenomenal photographer with a unique eye, and you’re also an excellent writer. Am subscribing for updates, and I look forward to reading more of your work. In the meantime, I am still debating getting a GR series…but I know I will never be able to take pics the way you do. Superb!
Hey Robert! Thanks so much for your words and for subscribing. I have so many articles ready to be published, but I am imrpoving them as an attempt at keeping the blog very personal and not turning it into another gear reviews place. We will see if I will manage!
The GR once properly set is already providing its typical look: I gave mine to various people for a couple of tests and they all came back with very “GR like” photos 🙂 In the end, after many years of usage, I think the only issue I find with the GR II is the quality control and the lack of sealing. I recently got my first dust on sensor (quite big and sometimes hard to remove in Photoshop) and my copy started having another documented issue, that causes the camera to think you are pressing buttons even if you are not. It must be some electric contact, I don’t know. The issue comes and goes alone and I think I could open the camera and try to fix it, if I will do it I will document it. For now the issue is rare enough not to bother me as much as the dust. But it is a shame this camera is not built a bit better, because in every other way it is really legendary. I hope Ricoh will give us a GR IV soon, something that will bring back the GR line to the GR II level after the mild disaster the GR III was!
See you on the blog and thanks again for you comment!
My Ricoh gr3 has never had any issues and is hands down a million times better than my gr2. I’ve used this camera since it came out in March 2019 in all sorts of conditions.
Good for you, Matt 🙂 It’s nice someone is enjoying the camera.
Thanks for writing this, Andrea. I’ve been thinking about upgrading from the GR2 to the GR3. My Ricohs go all the way back to the Caplio GX 100 100 so I’m obviously a fan. Your write-up has given me something to think about before I make any change.
You’re welcome, and thanks for reading and commenting!
I have owned and used GR I, GR II and GR III. I prefer 1 and II over III. The positive film, a favorite of GR users, is better on the earlier versions. I felt like image quality was better and I prefer the larger size. This is not to say I dislike GR III. It’s still my favorite camera. GR’s are great for travel, street and documentary.
I agree, GR I and II are special cameras. Let’s hope in 2022-2023 Ricoh will produce a new GR that is more in line with the earlier models. Have a good day!
Hi Andrea,a difficult topic: to say that the one you love has shortcomings….I experienced the heating issue while I visited Marrakech. Not a place i come every day,so i wanted a reliable camera. I had to shut the camera down several times. Had to change batteries 5 times in 10 hours. But ( and there it comes) i was so glad i had the griii with me in the narrow streets,no angry locals. Great shots. So i weigh the advantages over the disadvantages. I live in the Netherlands and before the climate change there was almost no heating issue….I shoot for hours on a row,and batterielife stinks. I carry more weight on batteries then the GRiii alone weighs …I wished for a tilting screen,sure. But i am glad you spoke yourself out,TheYoutubers that are selling a GreatCamera without criticism and change brand every 6 months ..i am with you in that terrain. Great photowork by the way. And still loving the GR😊👍🏼
Thank you for your comment Peter! No camera is perfect and what matters is how we feel when using them, yes. For this reason, a deal breaker issue for me can be a minor issue for you, and this is all understandable and good 🙂 Here in Sardinia we have quite warm weather all year long and it can become very hot during spring and summer, that also determines my little tolerance for overheating cameras I guess!
You read my mind when you talk of YouTubers changing brand every 6 months…
Thanks again for reading and commenting! 🙂
thank you for your post. I need to replace my long-time main user pocket camera nikon p340, there’s not much out there, narrowed down to rx 100 VA and GR iii. I was leaning toward gr III but for a camera that will be the one I take with me, something that shuts down for overheating after a little use is unacceptably unreliable. I am an amateur but I can shoot easily 60 photos in 15 minutes of a sunrise or sunset, in fact did that twice today once in the morning, again at evening. I have never had an overheating problem with any other camera. I had thought overheating was a problem for small cameras shooting 4k video, which doesn’t bother me b/c I don’t shoot much video. obviously the problem is worse than that.
Hello Stephen! If you are interested in the GR III, my advice is to get a copy and see if it is working fine for you, if you can return it to the shop without expenses. Some copies have less overheating, and different people have different tolerance for it. I had two GR III and they never turned off for overheating, but they were becoming too hot for me to enjoy using them. So I sent them back. The Sony RX100 is more versatile than the GR, thanks to its zoom, but it has worse image quality and I find it less pleasant to use, because of its ergonomics, but that’s subjective. Have a great day!
Hello Andrea,
unfortunately I only found your article about the Ricoh GR 3 now.
I was looking for a Ricoh GR 3 for a long time, I thought it would be the latest version.
I saw a lot of videos about the camera on the internet and read a lot of articles.
And to be honest, nobody mentioned the problem with the heat, no, the alleged problem with the battery that didn’t last that long was always mentioned.
After reading your post I just left the camera on longer than usual. The previous owner set the camera to turn off after 1 minute.
It really didn’t take long and the camera got warm after about 3 minutes, especially in the top right of the display.
You can see how something is hyped again and the real problem is kept secret.
Well, I can’t return the camera because I bought it used, but thank you for writing about it and I’ll do a lot more research in the future.
Greetings from near Berlin
Adam
Hello Adam! I am sorry you had an unpleasant experience with your Ricoh GR III! As much as I enjoy the GR, I find it unacceptable that Ricoh sells a camera with obvious issues, and for a premium price. I really hope that the next GR (if there will be one) will solve these issues and give us a truly improved and pleasant camera. To this day, it seems popular YouTube influencers are still refusing to acknowledge the heating issue, and I suspect this has often something to do with their relationship with Ricoh. This does bad to the brand, because many are living what you lived, buying a camera because of great reviews and discovering the evident issues. I wish you manage to sell the GR III on the used market and get a GR II for a good price! Thanks for reading and commenting, greetings from Italy!
Thanks for your very interesting articles. I’ve recently purchased my first GR (iiiX) and not had any problems so far. Something that helps battery life, reduces dust ingress & heating issues (for those that experience them) is to turn off the display between gaps in shooting (no need to go into the Menu, just multi press the Disp button) this leaves the lens out (so it’s not constantly going in & out) …. But still remains ready for shooting….once you know your GR, it’s easy to shoot with the display off too! I have also assigned IBIS to a function button, this means it’s easy to use it when required, very easily & as is probably the case with the majority of users, they probably only need it less than 10% of the time – this makes the battery last MUCH longer and is probably why I don’t experience heating issues. I hope this helps some new users & those thinking of buying – Peter
Thanks for reading the blog and sharing your feedback in a comment, Peter. I hope it helps new GR III users!
I don’t have the heat issue – love the sensor. I bought it ready to return after reading reviews such as this but fell in love with the camera. Maybe early units had an issue and should have been recalled.
I think a built in mist filter would do nicely – I have not once used the ND filter. Would like weather resistance. Wish they had a FF model high res model, even if it were bigger.
Hi Chris! Maybe you are right and it was a problem of first batches. I am glad you enjoy your GR 🙂
Hi Andrea,
I tried the GR III and didn’t like the menu system and the handling. Why did they have such a huge screen is a mystery to me? It makes the handling awful. Ibis is not necessary either and 16 MP was more than enough? My experience with Ricoh started with the GRD III up to the GR II. My favourite ones remain the GRD IV and the GXR with the 28mm module. Funny enough mint GR II are more expensive on the used market than the GR III, which says a lot about both cameras
Hi Jean, I basically agree with all you said, yes. Ricoh could have just really improved the GR II and have a legendary camera. And I mean really improve it, where it was badly needed: quality control and weather sealing, for instance. Maybe a slight improved sensor, why not, but staying in the 12-16 megapixels range and aiming for dynamic range and ISO performance more than resolution. They chose another path instead, something that was easier to do and to sell. We will see if a future GR model will change something for the better, but I don’t have much hope. I think in the end it will be a 33 megapixel model, with marginally better ibis, better touch, more film simulations, and no fixes for the practical issues (sealing from dust, over heating, missing features that were beloved by fans like the flash, etc). We will see. Greetings from Italy!
Hi, im from Argentina, nice writing and pics i love it!!, i came across your blog and i wanted to ask you something, im a Student and i dont have incomes, i wanted a griii or griiix for the 40mm but after i read all of those issues well.. i dont know if i want it now, and checked the grii in ebay and its about 300-400usd aprox., i want to know if its a good camera today as 2024, and will be in the future?, i mean, my country is very poor and thats a lot of money, 1000usd is too much also, i love photography and would love to have a tiny camera like this, it would be too much difference between the quality in images of the grii next to the griii if i need to crop or taking pics at night?, thanks and happy new year!!
Hi Joaquin! If there is enough light, and you can keep ISO reasonably low, let’s say 100-200-400, then the GR II is offering wonderful image quality and it is more than enough for pretty much any non specialised task. The GR III has a bit more resolution, stabilisation and better ISO performance, meaning you can probably get decent image quality at 800-1600 ISO, and you can crop a bit more.
The thing is, even the GR III is not especially great for night photography. If low light shooting without flash is something you care about, you should better look at other cameras, with better sensors and brighter lenses, but those will be bigger and cost more. My advice is you set a budget and then try to see what is the best comera you can get for what you need to do. So you need to know both the budget and the kind of camera you need. Maybe a small micro four thirds camera with a compact 1.8 lens can suit you better, and cost you (used) roughly what a GR would have costed you.
The GR II has an integrated flash, and that can be useful when there is few light, if you like that kind of look. Or you could buy a small Lightpix FlashQ Q20 II portable flash (around 100 euros), that allows you to do off-camera photography and open a whole world of possibilities. I use it a lot with my GR II. Keep also in mind that the Ricoh GR and the Ricoh GR II are the same camera, the GR II only adds wifi. So you can maybe find a GR that is a bit cheaper than the GR II.
So: neither the GR III and GR II are that great for night photography. The image quality of the GR / GR II is very good if there is decent light. The usage of a small external flash can give you lots of creative choice with low light. My advice is to spend as few as you can and learn how to get the best out of the camera you bought. Sometimes it is ok to accept there are situations you can’t shoot because it is too dark. Or maybe you can turn that limit into a reason to get creative, and use a flash or some other light and create something unusual you would have not thought of. There is no perfect camera that does everything in every situation, no matter how much we spend: at some point there are limits, and the beauty of photography is in my opinion also this, to deal with limits and do the best we can with what we have 🙂