Exploring a monochromatic journey of the National Gallery Singapore with the Ricoh GR IIIx

Introduction

The National Gallery Singapore is one of my favorite photography haunts, with its rich heritage and unique architecture. Not often shared, the National Gallery occupies the site of two national monuments: the former Supreme Court and City Hall, with the architecture’s history going back to the 1930s, almost a full century ago.

Currently, the National Gallery Singapore is a leading visual arts institution with the world’s largest public collection of Singaporean and Southeast Asian modern art. In 2020, it was the only Southeast Asian museum in The Art Newspaper’s global attendance survey, ranked 20th. It has received numerous awards, including the Children in Museums Award in 2018 and several Singapore Tourism Awards in 2016.

One most lovely part of the National Gallery is how natural light and shadows interplay in its unique blend of vintage and modern architecture, lending to the contrast I love in black and white images.

And today, instead of a camera review of the Ricoh GR IIIx or the Ricoh GR III, which are already done previously and linked to their names,  I simply wish to present some images created using the famed Ricoh GR’s High contrast black and white mode while doing a photo-walk across the National Gallery.

And so, let the visual journey start.

The Ricoh GR cameras had always been 28mm fixed focal length cameras, until the appearance of the IIIx 40mm model in 2021, in which I guess is a nod of recongition to the 50mm focal length lovers.

Though obviously not leading the camera world specifications-wise in sensor size, autofocus speed, resolution, and much else, what the GR III and GR IIIx have is a unique blend of an excellent APSC-sized sensor that works beautifully with a fixed focal length lens element all in a true-pocketable sized camera that no other brand has made so far.

I love high quality fixed lens compacts, like the Leica Q series, Fujifilm X100 series, Sony RX1 series (now dead) but none of these cameras are true pocketable like the Ricoh GR series.

All these images were shot in high contrast black and white, a built-in filter that Ricoh GR cameras always had, and, to me, one of the unique strengths of this petite camera.

While brands may market JPEG filters with many fancy names such as LUTs, film simulations, etc cetera, at the end of the day, what really matters is not the quantity of them but whether they are indeed being used.

The GR has two JPEG color modes I use frequently, High contrast black and white and also Positive Film.

Whether it is shooting from the hip, using Ricoh’s propriety Snap Focus mode, or going close to the subject and not intruding into their personal spaces or blending into the environment, the Ricoh GR series has this nice design intent about them as cameras that hardly do stand out in the crowd.

Quite a few readers have asked whether I will review the GR III HDF. My answer is while I have been in talks with the local distributor for a loan unit since the end of April, it does seem that this will take more time to realize, and I hope that I will be able to test the GR III HDF at least before the GR IV is announced. The Pentax 17 looks interesting from the film perspective; however, it does not seem that local sets will arrive soon.

Until then, this will probably be my last write-up about the Ricoh GR series as until now, all the Ricoh cameras written on here have all been my personal sets, and I am not the most keen to spend on a GR III HDF while owning a GR IIIx to write on it.

This said, I am sure my adventures with the Ricoh IIIx have not ended, and we have much more to see and experience ahead.

Thank you for reading.

Disclaimers:

1. All product photos and samples here were photographed by me. I believe any reviewer with pride should produce their own product photos. 

2. All images were shot with my personal unit of the Ricoh GR IIIx Urban Edition.

3. This review is not sponsored.

4. I write as a passion and a hobby, and I appreciate that photography brands are kind enough to respect and work with me.

5. The best way to support me is to share the review, or you can always help support me by contributing to my fees to WordPress for the domain using the Paypal button at the bottom of the page.