Compact camera for interior photography

Hello everyone,

I’m an interior designer, and with so much work I can’t always hire professional photographers to document my projects. I need a compact camera but with excellent image quality, mainly for shooting interiors. The photos will be used on my website as well as on Instagram. I need something to be always with be, so chunky dSLRs are not an option.

I’ve been considering the Ricoh GR IV and would like to know if you think it’s a good choice for this kind of use. I really don’t want to buy a large camera, as it wouldn’t be practical and I often don’t have time for long photo sessions – I need something efficient since I usually have to deliver houses/apartments to clients quite quickly.

I’d also like the camera to be versatile enough for holidays and family photos. Image quality is absolutely essential. Most of the shots will be taken with a tripod.

I will use this for images only. No video at all.

Is the Ricoh GR IV the best option, or would you recommend another alternative? Maybe the Sony RX100 VII or something like that?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Nuno84 said:

Hello everyone,

I’m an interior designer, and with so much work I can’t always hire professional photographers to document my projects. I need a compact camera but with excellent image quality, mainly for shooting interiors. The photos will be used on my website as well as on Instagram. I need something to be always with be, so chunky dSLRs are not an option.

I’ve been considering the Ricoh GR IV and would like to know if you think it’s a good choice for this kind of use. I really don’t want to buy a large camera, as it wouldn’t be practical and I often don’t have time for long photo sessions – I need something efficient since I usually have to deliver houses/apartments to clients quite quickly.

I’d also like the camera to be versatile enough for holidays and family photos. Image quality is absolutely essential. Most of the shots will be taken with a tripod.

I will use this for images only. No video at all.

Is the Ricoh GR IV the best option, or would you recommend another alternative? Maybe the Sony RX100 VII or something like that?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Click to expand...

Yes. I use the gr3 for interiors. I’m very happy with it for that. I also shoot close-ups, exteriors, and use it for general visual note-taking. Holiday shots too, for example - i used it exclusively in Spain the last two years. (Exclusively - that is, aside from also using the Ricoh GR1s film camera)

I cannot comment on the Sony question, except that I don't really consider it to be in the same league .

--
Tungsten Nordstein, Frogtographer. 2145
https://www.flickr.com/photos/156257994@N08/

The Sony is 24mm and the GR IV is 28, which widens to 21 with adapter and WA lens, making it much buklier.

I have no idea what kind of interior constraints you'll encounter, but residential real estate photographers, for example, tend to use FLs down to the mid-teens.

The RX100V offers a brighter lens than the VII, but only goes to 50mm. It is far less expensive than the VII.

Either of those models can do a vertical panorama to provide extra width. Not ideal, but it's an option.

The Ricoh sensor will provide better shadow recovery than the smaller Sony sensor.

there is no general "best option", only you can make your own trade-offs.

For my needs (landscape mostly) a GR is perfect, but for interiors a fixed 28mm lens seems like a limitation. I fully agree with MacroDonata. The addon lens that makes it 21 mm is not only bulky but completely imbalances the camera for me.

But Canon PowerShot V1 with its 16...50 mm super-useful zoom (imho) seems to be made for interiors. The lens seems to be fine, but the penalty is higher weight and size.

I strongly suggest trying out the Sony RX100 VII before buying. I purchased one for my wife for a trip to Africa. She tried it, but gave up due to it's complex menu and controls. She used her iphone instead. For me, I found the size and buttons/knobs too small for my hands, and just did not enjoy using it compared to my other cameras.

I have a GR IV on order, and previously owned a GR III. I was quite happy with the jpeg image quality (I shot jpeg and raw), controls and ability to customize functions. The compact size for ease in carrying was a plus. It was also fun to use.

A current iPhone or Android smart phone may also meet your commercial and family photo needs.

The GR are excellent cameras, but for your use, have you considered a 360º panoramic camera like the DJI Osmo 360, Ricoh Theta Z1 or Insta360 X5? They can be used to generate virtual tours like those real estate sales websites use.

A totally different approach would be to use the GR iii in vertical mode and take a sequence as you pan sideways.

Then use one of the stitching software apps to combine them. I still prefer the old (discontinued) Microsoft ICE.

If you could be bothered you could use a lightweight tripod.

I use this quite a lot and it often produces stunning results.

Fazal Majid said:

The GR are excellent cameras, but for your use, have you considered a 360º panoramic camera like the DJI Osmo 360, Ricoh Theta Z1 or Insta360 X5? They can be used to generate virtual tours like those real estate sales websites use.

Click to expand...

I think the object here is for an interior design to document (and make aesthetic statements out of) of their design work. It's not really the same as creating panoramic views that an estate agent might need to make for their business. In that view, a 28mm is more than enough.

28 can work but some of the rooms I have photographed looked more impressive with a slightly wider angle.

Hence my suggestion of stitching.

360 degree panos are too tricksy in my book

I know this is the Ricoh talk forum, and I do Iove my GR iiix, but wouldn't an iPhone Pro or other top-end smartphone be the better choice? I mean JPEGs for internet use, mixed often poor lighting, wider angles, instant upload to the cloud, etc. ?

M4/3 shows its versatility by offering quite well corrected lenses as wide as 9mm and 12mm. (This is 18mm and 24mm in Ricoh FF fov terms). There are quite a few of them and some are manual focus, there probably are some even wider fully corrected lenses offered by Laowa. Not sure if the Laowa 6mm (12mm) is fully rectilinear but the 7mm (14mm) is.

The Panasonic GM5 camera body was introduced over 10 years ago i very well built, if suffering a little from being long in the tooth. But physically it is much the same size as a GR camera body with lens stub. They have become as much of a cult camera as the very well regarded GRD/GR series with well kept (old) GM5 bodies now selling for more than their launch price so many years ago.

The G100D is the current "small camera" from Panasonic for M4/3. It is substantially larger than the GM5 but it is a modern camera with 20mp sensor and a very good evf. It functions well, is reasonably priced, and has access to the considerable variety of lenses that the M4/3 system offers.

Whilst the GM5 offers an expensive, capable camera that is arguably now in enthusiast/collector territory because of its unique build-status the G100D is certainly within reach for a lens-versatile quite compact, camera body to supplement a GR.

I have come back to the GRD/GR line through the GRIV (which is making me happy) but we should enthuse over that camera's specific strengths rather than try and make a fixed 28mm FF fov lens fit into a use-slot where the limitations of a fixed prime lens start to push serious boundaries.

But those have a good quality image for internet posting? I really need to capture small details like the wallpaper texture, or the texture in wood materials, etc.



I don't really need a mega wide lens. Images like this is what I'm looking for:

eriepa said:

I know this is the Ricoh talk forum, and I do Iove my GR iiix, but wouldn't an iPhone Pro or other top-end smartphone be the better choice? I mean JPEGs for internet use, mixed often poor lighting, wider angles, instant upload to the cloud, etc. ?

Click to expand...

Image quality is not good enough. Details like wallpapers or wood textures sometimes disappear from iPhone images. For IG is probably enough, but not for a proper website portfolio.

Tungsten Nordstein said:

Fazal Majid said:

The GR are excellent cameras, but for your use, have you considered a 360º panoramic camera like the DJI Osmo 360, Ricoh Theta Z1 or Insta360 X5? They can be used to generate virtual tours like those real estate sales websites use.

Click to expand...

I think the object here is for an interior design to document (and make aesthetic statements out of) of their design work. It's not really the same as creating panoramic views that an estate agent might need to make for their business. In that view, a 28mm is more than enough.

Click to expand...

Yes! This! I don't want panoramic images at all. I'm not selling houses here!

This guy's work is something I dig - https://www.instagram.com/fernandogguerra/

Check the interior images. Not the exterior ones. Yet, I need to achieve something similar with a way more compact rig.

Thank you!

Looking at the site of pictures you respect I feel it is the tonal range that makes them a bit better than the 'average snap'.

I did some interiors in a museum/house in Charleston and the range from light to dark was challenging.

I use SNS-HDR which is a 'high definition' app that has been around for ages. Lots of the newer post processing apps have that capability but I like the tool I have been using and which is familiar.

My 'client' said they were some of the best interiors they have had taken.

Interiors of rooms with windows often have a light/dark range well beyond the best digital RAW single shot.

I am sure, Mr Nuno, the last thing you want to be lumbered with is a tripod. But the Ricoh is light and you could get away with a small one. Maybe even something hung round your neck to hold the camera steady. Do a triple exposure with maybe a 1.5 stop variation on each side of normal.

Give it a try and let me know if this takes you forward.

Tony

Nuno84 said:

eriepa said:

I know this is the Ricoh talk forum, and I do Iove my GR iiix, but wouldn't an iPhone Pro or other top-end smartphone be the better choice? I mean JPEGs for internet use, mixed often poor lighting, wider angles, instant upload to the cloud, etc. ?

Click to expand...

Image quality is not good enough. Details like wallpapers or wood textures sometimes disappear from iPhone images. For IG is probably enough, but not for a proper website portfolio.

Click to expand...

If you decide to buy a GR 3/4, I think you need to choose the right lens*. I'd choose the 28mm for all-round flexibility, but some of those photos you linked to might have been shot with a 40 or 50mm. Of course with a 28mm you can alwys move in closer or use in the in-camera crop factor to emulate a 50mm.

*Mobile phones are typically 26/28mm so if that view works for you, then you'd know which GR lens will work.

TonyGamble said:

Looking at the site of pictures you respect I feel it is the tonal range that makes them a bit better than the 'average snap'.

I did some interiors in a museum/house in Charleston and the range from light to dark was challenging.

I use SNS-HDR which is a 'high definition' app that has been around for ages. Lots of the newer post processing apps have that capability but I like the tool I have been using and which is familiar.

My 'client' said they were some of the best interiors they have had taken.

Interiors of rooms with windows often have a light/dark range well beyond the best digital RAW single shot.

I am sure, Mr Nuno, the last thing you want to be lumbered with is a tripod. But the Ricoh is light and you could get away with a small one. Maybe even something hung round your neck to hold the camera steady. Do a triple exposure with maybe a 1.5 stop variation on each side of normal.

Give it a try and let me know if this takes you forward.

Tony

Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback Tony. Al you think I can manage to do this with the GRIV? Or maybe something like a Sony RX100 VII would probably be a better choice?

Don't know.

It's only software.

Why wait for the GRiv ?

Buy a used iii when the keen folk start moving to the iv.

Sony folk think Sony is best. Ricoh claim it is unequaled.

Ricoh is smaller.

T

Heavily biased here, why not a GR III + GW-4, gives you 21 mm.

Good suggestion.

I still think money spent on the lightest possible tripod will improve the detail. Partly as you can use a smaller f stop and get more in focus. Use the delayed shutter speed so you are not even touching the camera when it exposes

Even a monopod will help.