14 DAY TRIAL // For those who want a digital camera small enough to put inside a pocket, but still want decent specifications, Pentax has created the GR, although it is Ricoh that is selling it. Of course, since Ricoh basically owns Pentax, that is no surprise.
The Ricoh GR has a 16-megapixel APS-C-size CMOS sensor, which has more than decent image and video capture capabilities.
The company didn't settle for just any performance level though, so it had Pentax toss in the GR ENGINE V image processing engine too, for good shots in “high-sensitivity” situations.
We guess that “high-sensitivity” means during the night, or when blazing fires need to be included in the shot without distorting or obfuscating everything else.
The light sensitivity helps there: Ricoh GR has an ISO upper limit of 25,600.
Speaking of technical specs, the device can snap photos in a variety of resolutions, and record video in 1920 × 1080, 1280 × 720, and 640 × 480 pixels.
If necessary, an auto shooting mode can be engaged, though there are others as well: Program shift mode, Aperture priority mode, Shutter priority mode, Shutter/Aperture priority mode, Manual exposure mode, Movie, My Settings Mode.
Continuous shooting, Self-timer, and Interval shooting can be programmed as well, for when there isn't anyone nearby to take the shots for you, or when everyone needs to be in a picture.
A host of possibilities for editing the photos after their capture are available as well, while video playback functions include Slideshow, Resize, Skew Correct Mode, Level Compensation, White Balance Compensation, Trim, DPOF Setting, Color Moire Correction, etc.
Speaking of video, it is recording in 16:9 aspect ratio at 30 fps. To share files, wireless transfers via Eye-Fri SD cards can be done.
Ricoh GR will become available for sale next month (May 2013), for $800 / €606-800, probably around Easter. Find all the info on the product page.