Why I Sold My Ricoh GR IIIx
After owning the Ricoh GR IIIx for a little over a year, and taking some of my favorite images on it, I decided to sell it a few weeks ago.
Now you might be thinking, “Why the f*ck would you do that? It’s a great camera.”
I totally agree. This camera came with me on trips to London, Portugal, Tokyo, and of course, my typical days in NYC.
But when I wasn’t using it for travel, I didn’t really reach for it. Let me elaborate.
It’s not the camera’s fault.
In the beginning, I was in a bit of a honeymoon phase with the camera, as many of us are when we get a new piece of gear. I used it as much as I could and I brought it to places I normally wouldn’t bring my Sony due to size. Without the lens hood and thumb grip, the Ricoh was actually pocketable — but that was the best thing about it. To have an APS-C sensor and a fixed 40mm F2.8 lens on a camera like that is pretty wild, and that was the main thing that drew me to it in the first place. I wanted to carry a camera with me at all times in hopes that it would make me a “better photographer” and help me take more photos, not only when I was in the city doing street photography or on some big trip. And over time, I realized that it wasn’t the camera itself that made me sell it — it was the fact that I don’t love having a camera with me everywhere I go.
You see, when it comes to doing photography/social media full-time, you want to be able to unplug from cameras and photography occasionally. I bought this camera to help me take photos of my daily life, like running errands or taking my dog on walks or hanging out with my friends. And I did that in the beginning, but then I realized that kind of photography isn’t exactly for me.
Even when I brought it out with me, it wasn’t very often that I took photos that I ended up doing something with. They kind of just took up space on my hard drives, and they were the types of moments that would’ve been much easier to just take on my phone. So for that reason, I just found my phone to be more useful in scenarios like that.
When it came to using the camera on international trips, I sometimes had to force myself to use it, and this was because I always had my Sony on those trips too. Now this wasn’t the case every single time of course, but overall my A7IV is just more versatile and reliable. I can shoot with different lenses and focal lengths, and because I rely on a hybrid photo/video workflow with Youtube in the mix, my hands were a bit tied when the Ricoh was the only camera I brought out. There were days where the Ricoh made more sense, like on slower days where I knew I didn’t need to film anything or when I just didn’t want to carry the Sony, but for the most part, it was hard NOT to use the better camera in places I didn’t know when I would revisit.
The wrong focal length?
I sometimes wonder if my decision to get the 40mm version instead of the 28mm one was the wrong choice for what I thought I wanted to use the camera for. I chose 40mm because my favorite focal lengths are 35mm and 50mm, so 40mm felt like a good middle ground. However, I liked those focal lengths for street photography, but that wasn’t the main thing I originally wanted the camera for. I realized that at times, 28mm wasn’t exactly an ideal focal length for photographing certain things in my day-to-day. 28mm is easier to just point-and-shoot with, a lot more similar to the standard focal length on an iPhone. That also begs the question that if I DID get the 28mm version, would I even use it if I had my phone with me? No clue.
Overall, 40mm is more ideal for me when I’m doing my “typical” street photography, but it’s not exactly the reason I wanted this camera in the first place.
I needed to fund another camera.
Another big reason I sold it was because I needed the money to fund a different camera purchase (Leica M6). Between my lack of using the Ricoh, and knowing that I could sell it easily for about the same price I bought it for a year ago, it just kind of made sense to move on from it. Even though shooting film is much more expensive than shooting digital, when it comes to photographing daily life things, I feel more of a pull to do so with a film camera. It probably doesn’t make much sense financially, but oh well.
Do I miss the Ricoh?
I haven’t really been in a scenario since I sold it where I thought “I wish I had the Ricoh right now.” Over time, I’m sure those moments may come, but as I write this, I don’t regret my decision. If I want a camera in my pocket, I have my phone — and the video capabilities are much better.
Now that the GRIV is available, I could always consider getting that in the future if I feel compelled and see if the 28mm lens would suit me better. For the foreseeable future however, I don’t feel a need to buy another one.
Overall though, I enjoyed my time with the Ricoh but it got less use the longer I owned it, so it found a new home.
