Exposure compensation. 28/2.8 lens is exceedingly sharp and fast. Super compact.

Viewfinder display is difficult to read in
bright sun light.

I shopped around for a very long time and did meticulous research to find a point&shoot
camera that was very compact but serious enough to satisfy my enthusiams in photography. The Ricoh GR-1 was THE camera for me. Exceptional engineering. Kudos
to the engineers who came up with the most ergonomical and elegant desing I have
ever seen in any 35mm camera (including SLRs). I carry it wherever I go with a roll
of Velvia loaded. I get 37/37 correct exposures almost everytime. The lens is very, VERY
sharp. The color rendition is more neutral than that of the Yashica T4. So, it doesn't
have the Carl Zeiss/Leica contrast, but this never bothered me since the fixed lens is
still top notch. Spot AF/AE mode is more like center weighted, and you might need to
look for a suitably textured subject with horizontal definitions for the passive AF to
work in tricky scenes, but this is not so hard to do. I can't believe this camera was discontinued in the US.

Customer Service

No problems so far.

Similar Products Used:

Rollei Prego 28-90.
Yashica T4.

Full featured & light weight

None

This is a great camera value: Light- weight, excellent 28mm f2.8 lens, SNAP hyperfocal feature is very handy, fill flash, exposure compensation, aperture priority. Great hiking camera!

Similar Products Used:

Olympus Stylus Epic

This camera is so small! It is as thin as a Canon Elph but longer.
Has Aperture AE, Program AE, +/-2EV EC in 1/2 steps! Spot mode, fixed focus mode (user selectable), SNAP mode (automatically set at hyperfocal distance for fast snapshots), all flash modes needed, user defined time exposure by pressing shutter.

Some users have mentioned that the Passive AF system is tricky to use but I really haven't had any problems. Tilt the camera if necessary to try and get vertical lines for better focusing.

I had heard so many incredible things about this camera that I decided to buy one. However, Ricoh stopped selling 35mm cameras in the US so I had to buy it from England and am glad I did. Excellent quality, very sharp lens, lives up to its reputation. Keep in mind it is a 28mm lens so I recommend it for landscape pictures. That is why I also carry a 35mm Olympus Stylus Epic for portraits.

I highly recommend this camera.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

N/A

I have the Ricoh 38-90 macro zoom lens version of this automatic camera. I got it to replace a Canon AE-1 I had had for years. Mine is the RZ-900, I know they have come out with other newer versions of it. But I love this camera for close ups, intermediates and distance shots it can't be beat. It was easy to learn to use and when shooting children its great to know that the focusing is already done for you.

action shots are sometimes a problem because the autofocus takes a second to do its job so you have to sort of anticipate where something (or someone will be in order to catch it)

For the amount of money that I paid for this camera (about $179 at the time and I know some of the newer versions are less expensive), I feel that it is very comparable to my Canon AE-1 which cost me over $500 (not including all my zoom lens) when I bought it. For a beginner, I consider this a great picture taking camera. You'll get professional results without all the hassles of trying to focus and get the lighting correct etc. The camera does most of the work. I love it and would buy another one in a second.

Customer Service

I have had this camera for about 3-4 years now and haven't had to do anything to it (knock wood). I would think the customer service would be as any if you had problems with it.

Similar Products Used:

My husband had and Olympus (one of the smaller pocket sized ones). It was okay, but I didn't like it. It was ofte