Farewell to my Ricoh GR ii

I never thought I’d have to write a farewell to my Ricoh GR ii. It’s more than six years since I first got it in my hands. And it’s four years since I wrote one of the most-read articles of this travel blog, where I explained why the Ricoh GR ii was the best travel camera. From the moment I held it in my hands, I knew it’d be a great companion. I enjoyed this journey and am grateful that the camera served me well.

You might wonder why I must say goodbye to the small Ricoh. Although I will explain the reasons in the following paragraphs, I can briefly tell you that the camera reached the end of its life. The issue it has makes it unusable, and the repair costs are too high to handle.

Therefore, this sentimental post about my favorite camera might resemble a love letter to a travel companion. You’ve probably seen my photos with the GR ii if you are constantly following the blog. If not, here you’ll see some of the images taken with the best camera I ever owned.

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Farewell to the Ricoh GR ii: the first years

The Ricoh GR ii never got on my nerves. And for the people knowing me, that’s a rare thing. How could such a fantastic camera be nerve-breaking? From day one, I loved everything about it: ergonomics, image quality, portability, and lens.

The fact that I could easily carry the camera in my jeans pocket meant that I practically had a camera wherever I went. There wasn’t a single day that I left home without having it with me. Sometimes it remained in my bag, other times, I had it constantly in hand. And always having a camera with you means you can continuously develop as a photographer.

But it was more than that. The tiny Ricoh GR ii taught me how to see the world through its 28 mm lens. After a few weeks of experimentation, I knew exactly what I’d get whenever I decided to shoot a photo. The camera’s lens became an extra eye, always presenting the world as it was.

For somebody like me, dedicated to traveling light (although I sometimes fail to do it), having a powerful camera that was identical in weight to my smartphone meant that my body wouldn’t suffer from extra weight. No heavy lenses, no bulky body, nothing at all. Nada. It was just the lightweight Ricoh GR ii and me.

Traveling with the tiny GR ii

Within the past five years, I traveled to plenty of places for travel writing. Most articles appeared on my travel blog, while others found a home in publications. I never had second thoughts if I should travel with a DSLR instead of my Ricoh. Its 16 MP seemed enough -and what mattered the most was the lens. Its APSC lens was truly exceptional.

I traveled to more than 20 countries with the Ricoh GR ii. I visited capitals and small towns, went to sandy beaches on Greek islands, and stopped at bizarre places full of stories. The Ricoh was always there to teach me how to see things and capture them. Yes, it often suffered in low light. And yes, it didn’t have a zoom lens. However, none of these was an issue. As if the camera had some magical abilities, I always managed to have the shots I wanted. To this day, I still can’t find one instance that I regretted not having another, more capable camera.

Indeed, this was the travel camera of my dreams: lightweight, a workhorse, and easy to handle with just your thumb due to its ergonomics. And yet, I’m now writing a farewell to my Ricoh GR ii, and I have to let it go.

The first cloud in our relationship: the dust issue

All the Ricoh GR cameras are known to have a dust issue. The lens is not weather sealed, and the camera is prone to collecting dust. Tiny particles find their way to the lens and stick to it. It is as if this travel camera helps dust to travel as well. The result was seeing black spots on the images.

For more than two years, I didn’t encounter any dust issues. In fact, I started being sure that other Ricoh GR users were exaggerating. I took the Ricoh on the beaches of Anafi, Donoussa, Schinoussa, and countless other Greek islands. And I had zero problems. Yes, I had a hard case for the camera, but there were days I went hiking and had it constantly in hand. Nothing happened -and at a certain point, I thought my tiny Ricoh was immortal.

Then, one day, when I loaded the images on my laptop, I saw blobs in the blue sky. I checked closely. The more I checked, the more I saw. It seemed they multiplied quickly.

At first, it was easy to remove them on Lightroom. But after a while, it started giving me a hard time. I usually don’t do heavy edits on my photos (I never use Photoshop), but the dust issue meant more time in front of the laptop. And then came a day that I couldn’t remove the dust: I should start replacing sections of the image, which wasn’t always possible.

A solution and more clouds

I’m all fingers and thumbs when it comes to hardware. Therefore, I had to take the Ricoh GR ii to a professional to clean the dust. They asked me for lots of money in Berlin, so I decided to try Athens. I mean, a two-year-old camera is not that old, and spending money on it is never pleasant. Moreover, the Ricoh GR ii was advertised as a versatile all-around camera, and that’s how I used it. I did street photography, travel photography, and even portraits with it. And it was always in my pocket or bag.

In Athens, the asking price was significantly lower. I didn’t have second thoughts: I brought it to a repair shop when I stepped back into the city. The man worked carefully with the Ricoh, and it felt brand new two days later. How nice!

Alas, my joy didn’t last for that long. It was the first pandemic summer, and I longed for a vacation. I spent the days in Donoussa with Barbara, and after the lockdown, I was constantly shooting photos of everything. Obviously, I have missed living life and seeing places, and I shot more than 800 photos.

I was really looking forward to seeing the images of my tiny Ricoh, and when I got back home, I loaded the photos on the laptop. And I saw great images -but I also saw dust again.

The initial decision

Okay, I said to myself. I simply couldn’t afford to take the camera to the Ricoh repair shop in Athens after every journey. It didn’t make any sense.

Instead, the decision was to handle the dust issue in Lightroom. I loved the camera so much that I couldn’t even imagine traveling with my bulky Sonys. This was the camera I wanted to have, and it meant I had to treat it with care. Although it meant more time in post-processing, the decision was to stick to Ricoh.

Of course, after almost every journey, I saw new dust particles appearing. Sometimes it was easy to remove them in post-processing, but other times it proved to be hard. I started skipping photos instead of correcting them. And this didn’t feel nice at all.

Still, it meant I could always have my favorite camera. It sounded good. And I kept shooting photos with the Ricoh GR ii for another three years.

That’s how the Ricoh GR ii became unusable: the shutter issue

In March 2023, I traveled to Bergen, Norway. The winter was in full form in Bergen: it was snowy and cold. Norway is always a fantastic idea for a journey, and I haven’t been there since I started my blog. I had a fantastic time in Bergen, but it, unfortunately, became the place my Ricoh got damaged.

The last day of my Bergen journey was sunny, and I decided to go on a fjord cruise to Mostraumen. Yes, it was sunny but extremely cold. I remained on the deck most of the time and kept shooting photos. The Norwegian Fjords are fascinating, and you can’t have enough of them. I shot hundreds of photos, and when the tour was concluded, I searched for a cozy cafe to get warm.

An hour after leaving the cafe, I strolled around Bryggen, the iconic wharf with the colorful houses. There, I sat on a bench and just observed life. At some point, an elderly couple dressed in shiny clothes strolled toward me. I always enjoyed doing street photography, and I decided to shoot a photo of them and the colorful wooden houses behind them. I turned on the camera, and when I was about to set the aperture and shutter speed, I realized the LCD screen was black. Huh?

I turned the camera off and turned it on again. Nothing. Apparently, the elderly couple has already walked away. But here I had a bigger problem than losing a photo: what happened to my Ricoh GR ii?

At some point, I just clicked the shutter. The camera took a black image -and then the LCD screen became usable again. For a moment, I was glad: the camera seemed to be working. Then, I turned off the camera, and the screen was black when I turned it on again. Pitch black.

The Ricoh GR ii as a piece of furniture

This kept happening all the time. I had to shoot a black image for every photo I wanted to take. Luckily, it was my last day in Bergen, and I wouldn’t have to worry about not having another camera with me. To this day, I believe that the small Ricoh decided not to leave me before the journey was concluded. I know it sounds like some metaphysical nonsense, but I believe it.

After reading the experience of other users online, I figured out that this is more or less Ricoh’s end of life. Some users experienced this problem at around 12,000 clicks, others around 40,000. In the case of my Ricoh GR ii, this happened at about 33,000 clicks. The problem with the shutter is a known one, but I discovered it in Bergen.

Meanwhile, the repair shop in Athens has shut down. I called almost every camera repair I found, but no one was willing to fix it. The closest I got to repairing it was a proposal to send it to Belgium. There, the guys would check the camera and, after a month, would send a repair price. I was informed that repairing the specific issue costs 3/4 of buying the Ricoh new.

But here’s the problem: the Ricoh GR ii is not produced anymore.

Hence, my beloved Ricoh is nowadays a piece of furniture. It stands next to travel souvenirs as a reminder of good times.

What’s next after the farewell to my Ricoh GR ii?

You probably wonder which camera I’ll use from now on. And it bothers me as well.

On my first two journeys without the Ricoh GR ii, I used the Sony a6300. It’s a great camera with fine (and better) image quality. But it’s not my Ricoh. After six years of GR ii, it feels bulkier, heavier -and you can’t handle it with one hand.

The easiest way would be, of course, to get the GR III or the GR IIIx. They are practically the same cameras with some improvements. Still, something is holding me back right now. Investing in a new camera is okay, but knowing that it’s a matter of time to develop a dust issue and later a shutter problem, is not okay.

Buying a lens filter or doing bizarre transformations to seal the camera is not okay, either. The Ricoh GRs are versatile and lightweight, and such things make them ordinary cameras. Moreover, I don’t want to feel that I invest in a -let’s face it- disposable camera. It doesn’t matter if it’s 10,000 shots or 40,000; the fact that a camera has a short life doesn’t sound right.

I’m still considering my options. And I miss terribly my Ricoh GR ii.

Still, I want to say a big thank you to my Ricoh GR ii. You served me well, you were always there, and I won’t forget that you didn’t let me down in Bergen. Thank you for everything, my beloved Ricoh GR ii.

Photo reports with the Ricoh GR ii: Ferry Tales, The Glaswegians, Street Photography in Bucharest

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Last Updated on August 19, 2023 by George Pavlopoulos