Ricoh GRD IV,  f1.9, 1/150s, ISO 80, JPG, 6mm, B/W high contrast

Ricoh GRD IV,  f1.9, 1/180s, ISO 80, JPG, 6mm, B/W high contrast

Ricoh GRD IV,  f7.1, 1/1000s, ISO 80, JPG, 6mm

tamed river

Ricoh GRD IV,  f9,0 1/3s, ISO 80, JPG, 6mm

Ricoh GRD IV,  f4, 0/400, ISO 80, JPG, 6mm, Black and White

Ricoh GRD IV,  f4, 5/400, ISO 80, JPG, 6mm, Black and White

floe

Ricoh GRD IV,  f4, 1/320, ISO 80, JPG, 6mm, Bleach Bypass

Last weekend I compared my Ricoh GRD III with the new GRD IV. You can download the DNGs to form your own opinion, I don’t judge the pictures here. The .jpgs shown here are scaled down, so they are no benchmark for the cameras.

Ricoh GRD IV, f2.2, 1/60, ISO 259, JPG

Download the DNG

Ricoh GRD III, f2.2, 1/60, ISO 100, JPG

Download the DNG

First time I worked with the GRD IV, there was no big difference to the GRD III. But when you switch back from the new IV to the III you see the huge advantage: The new Ricoh GRD IV is really fast and the resolution of the monitor is a lot better. These are the most important facts for now.

Ricoh GRD IV, f4.5, 1/320, ISO 80, JPG

Download the DNG

Ricoh GRD III, f4.5, 1/320, ISO 64, JPG

Download the DNG

I didn’t think that the menu would be much different, but you have to rethink some functions and your workflows. Some details are a little bit disturbing: When using the Adj.-Button to select the Move Target Setting you usually can select between AF, AE/AF and AE. After pushing Adj. again you select the focus point and after pushing it again you are back to the AF, AE/AF and AE-selection. With the GRD III this switching works, with the GRD IV not. Don’t ask me why. With the IV you can’t leave the „cross-hairs“-view. I’m not sure, but I think at the beginning it also worked with the IV, but after playing a little bit with the camera this feature got „lost“.

Ricoh GRD IV, f2.5, 1/500, ISO 80, JPG

Download the DNG

Ricoh GRD III, f2.5, 1/500, ISO 64, JPG

Download the DNG

The handling with both cameras is nearly perfect. I wrote about the huge difference in speed and resolution. The worst fact during my foto-safari were three system crashs with the new GRD IV. Three times the new camera was freezing and the only solution was reassembling the batteries. The camera always crashed when watching the DNGs very quickly after taking the foto. First time with a black screen, second time freezing during the playback view and the last time I finally had an Errormessage (see the picture on top of the article). I’m not sure, but with the IV I was using an Eye-Fi SD-Card and perhaps this WLAN-SD-Card is the error source. I don’t trust the Eye-Fi cards cause I’m not very happy with the slow and unpredictable transfer and the very poor Eye-Fi Center on OSX, but this is another story.

Ricoh GRD IV, f2.5, 1/800, ISO 100, JPG

Download the DNG

Ricoh GRD III, f2.5, 1/800, ISO 100, JPG

Download the DNG

Ok, a detailed report of the GRD IV is coming soon. For now have fun with the DNGs

Ricoh GRD IV,  f1.9, 1/40, ISO 80, JPG, 6mm, Bleach Bypass

Ricoh GRD IV,  f2.5, 1/190, ISO 80, JPG, 6mm, Cross Process

First Day with my new GRD IV