Review In October 1996, the Ricoh GR series of 35mm film cameras was born. They were some of the company's first compact cameras aimed at the enthusiast and pro snapper where image quality and the resolving power of the lens were the paramount considerations, and not just a tiny package. A digital GR that aims to follow those illustrious forbears in terms of image quality, usability and sheer panache has its work cut out...

The Ricoh GR Digital certainly looks the part of a GR of yore - its 2.5cm "thin" body with slightly bulging handgrip-cum-battery-and-memory-card housing are key traits. Its fixed focal length 28mm (35mm equivalent) lens has a bright F2.4 maximum aperture and as a prime lens, it's the key to preserving the GR's reputation. It provides the same unparalleled sharpness and lack of distortion synonymous with the GR name.

Those familiar with GR film cameras know they were not simply point-and-shoot cameras, and the GR Digital is no different. It provides a comprehensive set of controls, full manual shooting settings and a range of fine-tuning options that will satisfy the most demanding professional or enthusiast.

There are also a set of accessories including wide-angle lens adaptors, matched optical viewfinders - disappointingly there is no built-in optical viewfinder - and Sigma-made external flashguns that allow you to expand the camera and its versatility.

In use, the camera sits snuggly in the hand with the shutter release and dual control dials - one front and one on the back, a la digital SLRs - making the camera feel every inch a camera within your complete control. A mode dial with the manual, aperture priority and program settings includes a green-coloured point-and-shoot setting; a 320 x 240-pixel, 30fps movie mode; and a single scene mode, a black and white text setting for snapping documents.

The large 2.5in screen dominates the back plate and provides comprehensive display options, including composition frame lines, an active histogram, or nothing but the image through the lens. The screen is sadly quite difficult to use in brighter conditions and although it is very sharp, I found that shadows and highlight areas in a shot were not displayed particularly well even when adjusting the screen's brightness. The result is a lack of detail that belied the true quality of the shots.

Other controls on the back include the main Menu and OK button; a four-way control set-up that surrounds the Menu button providing flash, replay and the camera's excellent 1.5cm macro settings. These buttons also double as jog-style buttons that assist in scrolling the many menus the GR has to offer or to run through shots you've taken.

The menus include the usual array of set-up options and access to the more advanced settings such as the completely customisable image parameters - sharpness, contrast and colour depth can all be tweaked and saved as custom settings. There is also auto exposure bracketing and white-balance bracketing built-in, along with the ability to shoot with the AdobeRGB colour space embedded into the shots.

You can shoot JPEG, TIF, RAW and RAW/JPEG combo files, and save them on either the internal 26MB storage or an MMC or SD card. You get comprehensive ISO control, from ISO 64 to ISO 1600, with the noise controlled fairly well up to ISO 400, mediocre at ISO 800 but suffering more beyond that.

A fast shutter response of around a tenth of a second makes the camera responsive to use but writing larger TIF or RAW files to any storage is disappointingly slow. In terms of image quality, the 256-zone metering and AF work a treat, macro focusing is excellent too, and the sheer level of detail that GR lens captures - including the GW-1 0.75x wide-angle adaptor lens I also got to play with on this test - allows those eight million pixels on the sensor to do their job well. Distortion is minimal at worst and negligible at best.

Verdict

While the Ricoh GR Digital is not without flaws and notwithstanding its £400 price tag, which may make some swallow hard before parting with any cash for it, it is also a very accomplished compact camera. The new GR would be ideal as a professional's back up, or perhaps the weapon of choice for enthusiasts.

In either case, they'd be safe in the knowledge the camera boasts a superb specification, lacking nothing but a built-in optical viewfinder. Moreover, the image quality and versatility will not let them down. In short, it is worth every penny.

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