7 Reasons Why The Ricoh GR II Is Still Worth It | My Favorite Everyday Carry Camera

let's get straight to the point the first reason why the ricoh gr2 is worth it is the image quality yes you might think that the compact size is the most important feature of this camera but if it doesn't take photos that you think are good there's not much point carrying the camera just because it is small and compact yes the gr2 only has a 16 megapixel sensor that was used even on the gr1 but the images coming out of this camera is unbelievably sharp and impressive that is because the gr2 doesn't have an anti-aliasing filter that a lot of newer cameras have to avoid moire on certain patterns especially during video recording if you're taking photos of something with a repeating and type pattern you will see some weird waves when using the gr2 and that's why newer cameras usually have the aa filter but on the other side you are getting some extremely sharp images out of the gr2 that i'm very comfortable cropping to up to around 30 percent i know 16 megapixels might not be enough for you to print a wall size photo but it is definitely good enough for something like a poster size to me i don't really like the sharpness of the newer 24 30 50 100 megapixels newer sensors because they just look too clinically sharp and realistic and i kind of prefer the older more artistic lower megapixels look 16 megapixels is definitely more than enough for people to view their images on smartphones tablets or even on the tv even after i crop the image and that is exactly what i need this camera to do also you're saving a lot of space compared to higher megapixels photos trust me it is not fun when you have to transfer and store photos that are over 100 megabytes each that also means you can take and store a lot of photos on one single sd card when i put my sd card and the gr2 and it was not an empty card the camera says i can still take over 1500 photos in full resolution i was like what and i've been having so much fun just snapping photos every day because of the small size files yes the dynamic range is definitely not as impressive on the gr2 compared to newer cameras a lot of times you will have to decide if you want to protect the highlights or to prevent the shadows from crushing especially when you don't want to edit the photos in post and just want to take jpegs but again that is the flaw that i really like when using older cameras when you are blowing out your highlights or crushing the shadows on purpose it gives you a very unique vintage film look that i really enjoy and a lot of people are actually trying to mimic that on newer cameras remember photography is also an art you just need to decide how you want to express it don't get me wrong if you want to have the cleanest and sharpest images the newer cameras will definitely do a better job liking the artistic film look it's just something for me when i'm taking photos i think i really enjoy the moment of embracing the flaws and finding surprises when i review the gr2 images the second reason is of course the compact size i have used so many dslrs and mirrorless cameras before although mainly for videos i can confidently tell you that i appreciate the compact size of the gr2 so much that i carry it every single day just to take photos this has never happened to me when i was using other bigger cameras and i'm really enjoying it since it is so compact i can easily fit it in my jacket pocket and take it out to start taking photos within literally two seconds that's what happened when i saw a group of birds taking off in front of me and i took the gr2 out of my pocket turn it on didn't even care if it is in focus didn't use the snap focus took the photo and it turns out to be one of my favorite photos speed is especially important when it comes to street photography because things happen so fast and if you missed it you missed it and it is almost always impossible to wait for it to happen again i'm still trying to get used to the snap focus feature on the gr2 i'm sure it will be even faster if i can master that besides being so compact it is also super light like unbelievably light it is about the same way as my iphone 11 pro max to me weight is a very important factor because the lighter the setup the more i can physically carry it and want to carry it all the time if you feel tired just carrying your camera around that might means your setup is just too heavy to make you happy using it but that's a very personal preference some people are happy carrying and using let's say a canon r3 or a nikon z9 with a 70 to 200 lens every day just because those setups give them the images they want so just try to balance the size and weight and image quality if that makes sense i really really enjoy using the light and compact gr2 the third reason is ease of use i'm able to control and adjust 99 of the camera settings on the gr2 with one hand that makes it super quick and easy to use when you are taking photos on the street sometimes you might be carrying something or an umbrella with the other hand and the gr2 button layout makes my life a lot easier the menu of the gr2 is also very simple and easy to navigate to be honest with you once you have set up the camera with the settings you use the most especially with the three custom modes that literally save every single setting separately you don't really need to use the manual that much in the future another reason why i really enjoy using the gr2 is the wi-fi photo transfer feature using the ricoh app i'm not too sure if the previous versions were really that bad but it works every time when i want to transfer either the jpegs or the raw photos from the gr2 to my iphone wirelessly and i absolutely love it since i already love the images coming straight out of the gr2 a lot of times i just want to transfer the jpegs and save them on my phone with the wi-fi photo transfer feature i don't even have to take the sd card out and try to transfer the photos to my devices using an adapter that makes the whole experience a lot more enjoyable if i want to edit the raw files i can literally do the same thing to transfer the photos using the app to my iphone or ipad open them in lightroom mobile and start editing them it is just that simple since the gr2's raw files are in dng format you can even use just the ios photos app to edit the raw files for free talking about editing photos the built-in positive film and high contrast black and white effects on the gr2 are just so good that most of the time i don't even bother editing the photos in lightroom anymore i can use the straight out of the camera jpegs because they look absolutely fantastic already you can tell that i'm all about saving time and conveniences another great feature that the gr2 has is the ability to edit the photos in camera when you are taking raw photos although the adjustments you can do are not as much compared to the gr3 and the fujifilm cameras i think you can get some very amazing results from the raw developer and the gr2 already that is literally what i do every time when i'm on my way home i'll be editing the photos in the gr2 while i'm on transit by the time i'm home i just need to wi-fi transfer photos that i edit to my phone and they are ready to be post or saved the battery life of the gr2 is also very impressive i can take more than 300 photos in one charge and that includes me checking the photos and editing the photos multiple times in the camera i don't know about other people but i really enjoy looking at the photos that i took when i'm out talking about viewing the photos one super big and also minimal feature that i wish every single digital camera has is the ability to play back your photos without waking up the entire camera on the gr2 you can just press and hold the play button and it will let you play back your photos without waking up the lens and the sensors and i think that is brilliant the playback feature really helps when it comes to saving battery life and also because the lens on the gr2 comes out when the camera is on it makes me feel much safer not to have the lens sticking out when i just want to look at the photos also if something happens and you want to quickly take a photo while you are in the playback only mode just press the shutter button and the whole camera will wake up those are the reasons why i think the gr2 is worth it you might notice that i didn't mention price as one of the reasons that is because this camera is not selling that cheap considering how long this camera has been out since 2015 they are pretty much the same price as when it first came out so you might have to be patient to find one with a good price you can tell that i really like using the gr2 but there are definitely some weaknesses that i don't enjoy the first one is definitely low light performance it is pretty bad i would not use this camera for low light photography and the maximum iso i would use on the gr2 is 3200 if you want a better low-light compact camera consider the gr3 or any fujifilm cameras also don't expect to get too much subject isolation or background blur from the gr2 because it has a 28 millimeter equivalent lens with the maximum aperture of f 2.8 a lot of things will be in focus but as i mentioned in my other videos you don't have to blur everything out in the background all the time it is just a creative choice that said the gr2 is definitely my favorite everyday camera right now and i can't wait to take more photos with it i'll try to make another video talking about why i didn't get the gr3 the gr3x or even the leica q2 instead hopefully you'll be interested stay tuned let us know what you think in the comment section below what is your everyday carry camera thank you so much for watching and i'll see you in the next one

Channel: Henry Media Group

Views: 43,180

Keywords: Ricoh GRII, Ricoh, Ricoh GR, Ricoh GRIII, Ricoh GRIIIX, GR, GRII, GRIII, GRIIIX, Ricoh camera, Ricoh digital camera, camera, everyday camera, everyday carry camera, travel camera, EDC, EDC camera, camera gear, photography, photo, photograph, photographer, film, film photography, Fujifilm, Fujifilm camera, Fuji camera, simple camera, minimalistic, minimalist camera, minimal camera, minimalist photography, minimalist photo, street photography, street photo, street photographer

Id: NO_e_7PfIto

Length: 9min 45sec (585 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 03 2022