Finding the best travel camera: a Ricoh GR ii review

Ever since I started traveling, I wanted to have a camera with me. In the beginning, I didn’t try to express myself through photography at all. I just kept a visual diary, images that would help me to revisit places somehow when memory failed me. Later on, I started separating writing and photography, and inevitably the urge to find the best travel camera appeared. Luckily enough, after a couple of years, I came across the Ricoh GR II.

Although I know that the term “best travel camera” is highly subjective, I will try to justify this statement in this article. What you are about to read here is partly an ode to the Ricoh GR II and partly a review of this beautiful camera. On the other hand, this post can be seen as a presentation of my mindset as a traveler. Choosing a camera (pretty much like picking whatever you’ll bring with you on a journey) betrays our preferences, our priorities, and our needs.

So, now that the introduction is over let’s see why the Ricoh GR II is for me the best travel camera.

*Some of the links are affiliate links. It means that if you buy any product I might earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. All links will redirect you to your closest Amazon store.

**My Ricoh GR ii Lightroom Presets are here! These are the same presets that I use for post-processing the photos of this website. You can buy the Ricoh GR ii Lightroom Presets here.

What I love in the Ricoh GR II

I have used several cameras in the past, and each one of them satisfied one or more of my priorities. However, none of them ticked all the boxes. Something was missing every time; hence I had to search for a new camera now and then. Here is what I’ve been searching for and why the Ricoh GR ii ticks all the boxes:

1. A lightweight travel camera

I carry a lot of gear in my backpack. In former times, I owned an old Toshiba laptop, a true dinosaur, both in resilience and weight. Then I had to carry a bunch of adapters, cables, memory cards, pens and notebooks, business cards, credit cards, and the list goes on forever. The thing is, I started having a backache. Walking around places with more than 12 kilos in your back might be okay for a few journeys. But if you do it for over a decade, well, this is another story.

Two years ago, I switched to a MacBook Pro, and this is one of the wisest things I’ve ever done. It’s lightweight, easy to transport and a fantastic laptop in its performance. But, I had to have a camera (or two or three as I wrote here) with me, too. DSLRs are bulky and heavy. Sure, their picture quality is excellent, but I didn’t want to travel anymore with a DSLR. The same goes for mirrorless cameras, even if they are significantly lighter. But I needed something light.

The Ricoh GR II weighs (together with the SD-Card and the battery) just 250 grams. This means that it’s 50 grams heavier than the iPhone and within the same weight range of most smartphones.

2. The sensor size of the Ricoh GR ii

Of course, everybody needs a camera with a good sensor. But by reducing the weight of the camera you’re willing to carry, you automatically reduce the possibility of finding a decent camera. What I mean here is that I ‘ve been searching for a camera with a sensor size that could stand next to DSLRs. I don’t want to go into technical depth here, but the sensor size is what really determines the image quality. Long story short, I could never say that I found the best travel camera if the sensor size was comparable with the ones in a basic point-and-shoot or a smartphone.

The Ricoh GR II comes with an APS-C sensor. The sensor’s size is 23.7 x 15.7mm, and that’s DSLR level. Only full frame cameras have a larger sensor, but most of them come at a high price. The image quality of the Ricoh GR II is genuinely outstanding.

3. A good 28mm lens

Quite obviously, a camera that has a lousy lens is no good camera. Please, do not confuse the quality of the lens with the megapixels (more on that later). On the other hand, the lens has to serve the photographer’s needs. I was looking for a camera with a relatively wide lens because I knew that I would use it for specific purposes. First of all, for travel photography: shooting landscapes and architecture were two of the things that I was interested in doing. Second, for street photography or reportage. Third, to be able to shoot decent portraits. Last but not least, to be as fast as possible.

The lens of the Ricoh GR II is a 28mm one, with f/2,8. I find the 28mm to be my favorite focal length: it’s wide enough for travel photography, it’s excellent for documenting life without your shots looking tight.

4. The boring style of the Ricoh GR ii

Yes, this is right. I spend a lot of hours on the road, and sometimes I walk in dodgy areas. But even when the areas aren’t dodgy, and I do street photography, I really want to have a camera that goes unnoticed. A big DSLR draws attention and people will definitely look at you. I wanted to have a camera that looks as boring as possible, and the truth is that the Ricoh GR II looks dull, almost like a toy camera. Exactly what I needed.

5. Price

No talk about the best travel camera is complete without a mention in the price. Sure, everybody would love to have a Leica (myself included), but if the price is 4,000 euros it’s not that tempting, right? If you would like to have a good camera, you have to invest at least some money. How much? It depends on your budget, of course. I couldn’t spend more than 1,000 euros, and the Ricoh GR II also ticked this box. I have bought it for 620 euros. The price is slightly lower nowadays because a new model, the Ricoh GR III, will be released within 2019 (more about this later). You can check the current price of the Ricoh GR II here.

What doesn’t bother me in the Ricoh GR II

Let me be clear. What you’ll read in this section doesn’t mean that it’s unimportant. On the contrary, some of the features are useful. But as the subtitle here says, these are things that don’t bother me in my selection while searching for the best travel camera.

1. Megapixels

For me, the number of Megapixels is an overrated camera aspect. It’s partly a marketing trick of the industry, in which lately there seems to be a megapixel rally. I don’t care at all. Every single camera that is produced nowadays has more than an adequate number of megapixels. Unless if you are a pro or a pixel-peeper, the MP shouldn’t bother you either. You can get decent prints of your photos for your family album with almost any contemporary camera. You should care about the MP only if you plan to print huge posters or billboards. I know, it’s nice to have the option, but let’s face it: you probably won’t print billboards for personal use, right? As I wrote above, the sensor size is much more important.

The Ricoh GR II has 16 MP. I have printed 40×60 cm photos that look wonderful.

2. Filters

I never pay attention to in-camera filters. The reason is that I prefer to post-process my photos in Lightroom or similar software. I find them useless, and I never use them.

The Ricoh GR II has a bunch of filters, of course. Lots of people say that the black and white ones are excellent, but I didn’t use them so far.

3. Zoom

This is a personal thing, and I truly understand people who like to zoom all the time. The Ricoh GR II has a prime 28mm lens; therefore it doesn’t have a zoom. If you would like to go on a safari or take photos of football, the camera won’t help you. There is an inside setting in the camera though that crops the picture as a 35mm or 47mm photo. This, however, reduces the image quality significantly; therefore I never use it.

So, what do you do if you want to zoom? Well, the zoom of the Ricoh GR II is…your legs. You have to come closer to your subject and work your scene to take the photo that you want. This might sound like a hassle to some, but the truth is that prime lenses will help you to evolve rapidly in photography. Shooting with one focal length helps you to master your skills. Of course, you can’t always step closer: approaching a lion in a one-meter distance or interrupting a football match because you want to be close to the action aren’t good ideas at all. 🙂

4. Battery life

Long battery life is always a nice add-on, but when it comes to cameras, it’s something I don’t care about. The reason is that I don’t want to sacrifice any of the features I need for having a better battery. Apart from that, I’m used to charging overnight all the devices I carry with me during the day (smartphone, iqos, mp3) and charging one more is okay.

The battery of the Ricoh GR II is not bad at all. With a fully charged battery, you will get approx. three hundred shots, usually 20-30 more. I never found myself in a situation that I needed more than 300 shots during one day. If you, however, shoot 400-500 photos per day, you can consider buying an extra battery. As I said, I never needed one.

5. Bokeh & the Ricoh GR ii

I find the bokeh to be overrated and (for my taste) cheesy. Bokeh is the word used for the blurry background; in other words, for the area behind your main subject. Nine out of ten photos I see online and have bokeh are boring for me; people think that by blurring the background they have an awesome photo automatically. That’s not true of course.

With a 28mm lens of f/2,8, achieving bokeh with the Ricoh GR II is not impossible of course but it’s not outstanding either. If you are interested in this shallow background in every photo you take, well, this is probably not the right camera.

What is missing in the Ricoh GR II

The perfect camera exists only in our minds, and of course, the Ricoh GR II is missing some features. Given its price range and the portability factor that is the camera’s biggest advantage, most of the below-mentioned features would have added either extra weight in the device or extra euros in its price. However, since this is a user’s review, I thought of adding them here.

1. Viewfinder

The Ricoh GR II doesn’t have a viewfinder; therefore you depend solely on the LCD screen. The screen is wide enough and bright, too. I know that a viewfinder would affect both the camera’s weight and size; however, it would have been a nice addition. You can buy an external viewfinder that gets attached in the hot shoe, but the camera looks significantly bigger. I never bought one.

2. Better video quality

The Ricoh GR II can shoot 1080 p; however, the quality of the video is below average. Since videography is probably the next big thing, maybe the new edition will improve the video capabilities of the Ricoh GR series. The lack of image stabilization makes things even worse in this field.

3. Image stabilization

This is useful both for photography and videography. Most contemporary cameras do have a certain technology for image stabilization, but the Ricoh GR II doesn’t. This is not a must for me, but I guess I wouldn’t complain if there were one.

4. Low light autofocus

This is one of the drawbacks of the camera: the autofocus in low light situations (night, dark interior) is really slow. It doesn’t mean that it won’t focus, but it will take a couple of attempts. In such cases, there is a workaround: the focus assist lamp. Practically, this is a green lamp that fires briefly and helps the camera to focus. If you use the focus assist lamp though, you go from unnoticed to fully noticed.

The Ricoh GR II as a travel camera

When I bought the Ricoh GR II, I wasn’t quite sure if I ‘ll ever use it. As I wrote above, it looks like a toy camera and the truth is that I could never imagine traveling just with the small Ricoh.

Then I took a long walk in Berlin, and I started taking random photos. I didn’t want to focus on one subgenre of photography during this initial Ricoh-walk. I preferred to shoot everything that came on my way. Later that night, I checked the photos on my laptop, and I got impressed. The images were sharp and the colors beautiful. Soon, the Ricoh GR II motivated me to leave my flat and walk around the city for photos.

A month later, I planned my first journey with the Ricoh. I traveled to Chisinau in Moldova, and I thought that I should use just this camera. I felt a bit insecure, but I was so fascinated both by the quality of the photos and the weight that I decided not to bring a second camera with me. And I never regretted it!

From then on, I only travel with the Ricoh GR II. More than 90% of the photos that you see on this website are taken with the Ricoh. I never missed a shot, and I never thought that I ‘d like to have a better camera with me. To this day, whenever people ask me which is the best travel camera, I always reply “my little Ricoh.”

Pros & Cons of the Ricoh GR II

Here is a short list of the pros and cons of the Ricoh GR II.

Pros Lightweight Compact size, fits in the pocket APS-C sensor Very sharp 28mm f/2,8 prime lens Fast autofocus in daylight Full manual control, shoots both RAW and JPEG Turns on/off insanely fast Snap focus mode A true bargain for the price Cons No Image Stabilization Average video quality Slow autofocus in low light No viewfinder (you have to buy it as an extra)

For whom the Ricoh GR II is

For me, the Ricoh GR II is an artist’s camera. The 28mm is a focal length that will make you more thoughtful as a photographer. You will search for the best spot, you will work the scene, and you will learn to compose. The possibilities of the 28mm lens are endless. While zoom lenses are easier for a variety of shots, the truth is that they can make us lazy. Photography, pretty much as every kind of self-expression, needs to be thoughtful.

Apart from that, this is the best travel camera because it’s versatile, fits in your pocket and doesn’t add any extra weight. We are so used to carry many things with us and having a small camera with great capabilities is refreshing. I take the Ricoh with me almost every time I leave home, and I definitely have it with me when traveling.

If you are a street photographer, this is one of the best cameras. The Ricoh has already a “cult” status, due to its small size and its ability to seem like a no-camera. On the other hand, it has something called Snap Focus: this is a mode that allows you to set up quickly the area that you’d like to have sharp in your photo. This comes extremely handy when you plan to take pictures of your subject from 1, or 2 or 5 meters away. You just set up the Snap Focus distance, and all you have to do is hit the button.

On the other hand, there are certain things that the Ricoh can’t do. If you are a professional photographer and you need several shots with different lenses, you can’t rely on the Ricoh. If for whatever reason you need the Megapixels, the Ricoh might not be for you either.

But, for the advanced photographer, who likes to shoot in manual mode and needs a camera with him/her at all times, the Ricoh is probably one of the best cameras that you will ever come across. I honestly can’t recommend the Ricoh GR II enough. For me, this is the best travel camera I ever owned. Plus, the Ricoh GR II is also perfect for running a blog.

The Ricoh GR II accessories

As I mentioned earlier, I don’t use any of the Ricoh GR II accessories. I only buy memory cards, and I have also purchased a hard case to store the camera whenever I don’t use it. Otherwise, I don’t use anything else.

My Ricoh GR II accessories

Memory cards . I always buy Sandisk Extreme Pro Class-10 memory cards with a writing speed of at least 95 MB/s. They seem to be the best performing memory cards for the Ricoh in terms of saving and storing. Go for the 64 GB one: it will last for quite a while, and it’s not that much more expensive than the 32 GB.

. I always buy Sandisk Extreme Pro Class-10 memory cards with a writing speed of at least 95 MB/s. They seem to be the best performing memory cards for the Ricoh in terms of saving and storing. Go for the 64 GB one: it will last for quite a while, and it’s not that much more expensive than the 32 GB. Camera case. Every hard case is good for the Ricoh GR II. I use this one, mainly for transportation or for keeping the camera safe. I never had a problem and I can highly recommend it.

Other Ricoh GR II accessories

External Viewfinder . If you miss having a viewfinder, you can buy an external one here or here.

. If you miss having a viewfinder, you can buy an external one here or here. Extra battery . In case you shoot more than 300 photos per day, you might consider buying a second battery. This one also comes with a handy charging dock.

. In case you shoot more than 300 photos per day, you might consider buying a second battery. This one also comes with a handy charging dock. Screen Protector. If you want to keep your LCD screen clean, you should consider buying a couple of screen protectors. They are very cheap (less than 10 euros), and they will protect your screen.

The future: the Ricoh GR III

There have been rumors all around the Internet about a new model. And indeed, the time has come. A new model, the Ricoh GR III has been released in 2019. It’s already out there, but I don’t have an overview of its performance. The initial price for the Ricoh GR III in the market will be 899 euros.

From what I read online, there are a couple of differences with the previous model. First of all, there is an Image Stabilization in the new model, which is a welcome addition. Second, the video capabilities of the new camera seem better. Third, the Ricoh GR III doesn’t have a flash (the GR II has one). For me, this is a drawback because I sometimes like to use the flash, even if it’s nothing special. But having to buy an extra flash (which means: more money, more weight) doesn’t sound very convincing.

Last but not least, there is an upgrade in the Megapixels. The Ricoh GR III has 24 MP (compared to the 16 MP of the GR II). The style of both cameras is pretty much the same, and the new Ricoh GR III is slightly smaller. That said, the Ricoh GR III offers some minor improvements, and it seems to be a more modern camera.

Am I tempted to buy one? So far, I’m not. I would like to see the Ricoh GR III first, touch it and take a couple of photos. The lack of an integrated flash is a drawback for me, and I wouldn’t sacrifice it for the extra Megapixels or for the Image Stabilization. Knowing that the GR II’s price will be reduced, I’m more tempted to buy another GR II at the moment.

An Epilogue: The Ricoh GR ii as a travel camera

I can’t imagine myself finding a travel camera that suits my needs better than the Ricoh GR II. As I mentioned in the beginning, the term “best travel camera” is highly subjective. But for me, carrying around a camera that doesn’t give me a backache, that fits in my pocket and goes unnoticed is something that I need. Apart from that, the Ricoh GR II delivers exceptionally sharp photos, you can use it literally with one-hand (all the dials are ideally placed), and it’s operating insanely fast.

Whenever I travel, I use to take photos during the same time of the day. When I have to post-process the photos, I will usually spend one evening creating two basic presets: one for sunny and one for cloudy days. Then I will apply those presets to all the photos from my journey. This saves me time in the long term plus I have lots of presets for future images. Sure, some improvements here and there are always needed. But the workflow is fast, especially when you have to use the photos within the next couple of hours.

My Ricoh GR II presets occupy a good part of my Lightroom library. And the photos from my Ricoh GR II, too. After almost two years of shooting with the Ricoh, I still look forward to its photos. The Ricoh GR II is not only the best travel camera for me; it is also a camera that never disappointed me.

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Last Updated on July 11, 2020 by George Pavlopoulos