If it were not for Ricoh, the Serious Compacts blog would probably not exist. In a time when Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Fuji had dropped RAW from advanced compacts, only Ricoh and Panasonic continued to innovate in this market. Ricoh, in particular, seemed to understand that some of us were looking for compact cameras for serious photography. This was evident in the design of both the original GR Digital (GRD) as well as that of the Caplio GX100, which have now been replaced by the GR Digital II and GX200, respectively.
It has been said that the GX is the Swiss Army knife, and the GRD is the razor. This statement is true in more than one way. First, the GRD has a single blade, in this case a sharp, fixed 5.9mm (28mm equivalent) f/2.4 lens. Second, when one takes out the GRD, it is ready for use. There is no lens cap to remove. No zoom to set. Finally, like a razor, the GRD packs great ability into an extremely compact and unassuming form.
