Compact Camera News

Ricoh Imaging Americas just unveiled the Ricoh GR II Silver Edition compact camera to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the founding of Ricoh Company, Ltd. This exclusive package consists of a silver-color edition of the GR II premium digital compact camera (launched in July 2015) and an exclusively designed camera case.

Ricoh’s powerful GR series compact digital cameras have always had a cult following among travel photographers and street shooters who appreciate pocketable cameras with high-end optics, relatively large sensors, great build quality, and a full range of manual controls. The excitement is sure to grow, with today’s Photokina announcement of the Ricoh GR III, the latest model in the line.

Ricoh just officially launched the GR III, the latest model in the company’s cult classic compact camera series. The Ricoh GR III is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand or a pants pocket but sports a large, 24.24MP APS-C size CMOS sensor comparable to what you’d find in some DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.

Ricoh just announced two new models in their popular GR lineup of streetwise cameras. The new GR III HDF and GR IIIx HDF compacts feature a Highlight Diffusion Filter shooting mode that diffuses highlights, adding a softened halo effect to point sources of light and an overall soft blur to the edges of other highlight areas. Other enhancements include…

I recently received a ruggedized WG-50 compact camera from Ricoh and immediately embarked upon a challenging, thorny photographic adventure—the likes of which you can’t imagine. I emerged with just a few scratches—although it does look like I’ve lost some blood. I can’t reveal the location of this treacherous place for fear that others might be tempted to defy this danger—but I can tell you this much: it’s no bed of roses.

Ricoh GR cameras have long been celebrated as elite street photography tools, with the latest Ricoh GR III and GR IIIx considered the finest of the bunch. Now both are available with the HDF designation indicating they feature a built-in Highlight Diffusion Filter that can be summoned with a single button press. Here’s an image gallery that examines the HDF feature in detail.

“Happy trails to you, keep smilin’ until then.”—Roy Rogers & Dale Evans

A growing trend in the world of compact digicams is “rugged” cameras that are capable of taking a modest beating as well as splashing in the surf or playing in the snow. Many of these cameras are festooned in bright colors and lest you think that’s just a fashion statement...