Ricoh announces GR IIIx Urban Edition Special Limited Kit with a stylish new appearance

 

 

Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation has announced the Ricoh GR IIIx Urban Edition Special Limited Kit. The special edition package features the Ricoh GR IIIx premium compact camera with a metallic gray finish and navy-blue ring around the barrel of its built-in 40mm (equivalent) lens. The camera also ships with exclusive, specially designed accessories, including a leather hand strap and a metallic hot shoe cover. The new kit is reminiscent, at least in spirit if not design, to the Ricoh GR III Street Edition that launched in June 2020.

Of the unique colorway, Ricoh writes that the navy-blue accent was selected to ' represent typical street shooter imagery such as deep blue skies reflected in a puddle following a rainfall or the bright neon signs of a never-sleeping city.' The metallic gray finish on the camera body was chosen because it's 'reminiscent of the gritty tones of the urban landscape.' The unique exterior finish requires a multi-coat process, resulting in a distinctive look and smooth texture. Ricoh states that the coating also makes it easier for a photographer to get a firm grip on the camera. The included special leather hand strap includes a matching navy-blue stripe, and the included metallic hot shoe cover is black.

 

Ricoh GR IIIx Urban Edition

The GR IIIx Urban Edition camera also comes standard with new features that will be added to the standard GR IIIx via a firmware update. Per Ricoh, the new features include:

• Snap Distance Priority mode, a new exposure setting: Once the preferred distance for snapshots and the desired depth of field (DOF) are set in advance, the camera lets the user quickly and easily recall these settings. This setting is programmed to select the aperture, providing the depth of field used in pan-focus photography, making it particularly handy for quick snapshot photography.
• Auto Area AF (Center) focus mode: Instead of covering the entire image field, this mode operates only in nine focus zones around the center of the image field, preventing the camera from focusing on unintended elements, such as a grassy field in the foreground of an image.
• Enable AF mode shutter-release capability: When the shutter-release button is pressed halfway down, the user can lock the AF system only, without locking the AE system.
• Snapshot mode: A distance setting of 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) has been added to the Snapshot mode; and a long press on the monitor during playback allows the user to instantly recall the playback function selection menu.

Another addition to the GR IIIx Urban Edition is a special shut-down display, showing the product logo and a street-view image. Otherwise, the GR IIIx Urban Edition is identical in features and performance to the standard GR IIIx. To recap its primary features, the camera includes a newly designed 26.1mm F2.8 GR lens (40mm equiv.) paired with a 24MP APS-C sensor with no optical low-pass filter. The camera incorporates Ricoh's GR Engine 6 and an original accelerator unit to drive processing and performance. The camera has a 100-102,400 ISO range. In terms of autofocus, the GR IIIx employs a hybrid AF system with face and eye detection. The camera has a three-axis in-body image stabilization system. The camera doesn't have a viewfinder but instead relies upon its 3-inch rear touchscreen.

 

 

The Ricoh GR IIIx Urban Edition will be available beginning in April 2022 in limited quantities for $1,099.95, which is $100 more than the standard GR IIIx. A second special package without the leather hand strap and metallic hot shoe cover will be available in the summer for an undisclosed price. For more information on the GR IIIx Urban Edition features, check out our existing Ricoh GR IIIx coverage.