Oh our beloved GRIII! Let’s get the obvious things out of the way first. Yes, its tiny, it’s about half the scale of a Fuji X100V and much, much lighter. It has an INCREDIBLE fixed 28mm f2.8 lens, fantastic all metal build and it looks almost exactly like the original analog film versions from its past iterations. It’s an excellent camera for a photographer enthusiast.. but that’s where its strengths and weaknesses lay.
The GRIII is overly capable, so much so that the casual all “automatic” type of shooter will be left hating the small buttons, horrible battery life, the small size and that it’s a fixed 28mm lens versus a more traditional 35mm. Those are truly better-off with a more conventional Sony RX100, Fujifilm X100V or even a small interchangeable mirrorless setup. It’s only the more eclectic shooter, one that loves to takes control of the camera, geek-out and uses its strengths to make images will love the GRIII and accept its shortcomings. Because one can operate the camera using the fingers and thumbs on just your right hand while holding it securely, it’s something only photography lovers will realize they love and have always needed in a small point and shoot. The only time you have to loosen your grip is to turn it off; that’s fantastic. The sensor is now stabilized and uses a 24mp, very likely Sony, sensor with great dynamic range, sharpness (no AA filter) is off the charts good and this point and shoot finally gets the high ISO performance its always deserved. So feel free to handhold that street scene at 1/15th Sec shutter at 3200 ISO in the dark, its not a problem! Now while I can’t guarantee it’s the “same” sensor as Sony’s A6500 generation of APS-C cameras, it sure fits the mold and performs like it except in one regard; AF. Autofocus accuracy isn’t great, but that has less to do with the sensor as much as the AF algorithm and tech from Ricoh. Though now with phase detect, Autofocus in many instances’ surprises with its speed and you leave the scene happy only to revisit the photos on your home computer and discover the images are blurry. The face you thought you had locked-onto with face-detect was not in fact in focus. And that friends is my biggest complaint with the camera, its AF performance is still not there even after a decent firmware update. Luckily the camera when used for street photography or documentary in general has the Snap-Focus option!
The instantaneous action of this mode of focusing is its saving grace. Its instant because the camera is actually not performing a focus action at all and simply letting you zone-focus and that is just perfect for street when shooting at f8 and above. And makes the camera a perfect pairing for a day of shooting with an Olympus XA or Leica M6 in one hand while having the GRIII as a digital option in your front pocket to capture images less worthy of one of your precious 36 frames. In conclusion, with the GRIII you get a camera that is half the size of a Fuji X100 series, has an epic 28mm lens, the same general IQ as the latest Sony APS-C cameras (which is amazing) all combined into a camera actually designed for a photographer in mind! That the camera provides image stabilization, instant turn-on, touch screen (helps with focusing too), WiFi image transfers and software to allow you in camera RAW processing just takes the camera over the top in terms of ranking for point and shoots in its class. But truly, the camera stands alone in its own class; it’s why it’s a cult classic after all there is no true alternative to the GR/GRII/GRIII. Sweet.