Much to my great dismay, my Ricoh GR 3X digital camera recently went kaput. It no longer turns on or charges anymore. As a consequence, I have been doing all these experimentations with my iPhone SE, borrowing my friend Tim’s Ricoh GR 3, and also uncovering my old broken Ricoh Gr 3, which now no longer works anymore either.

1. Panasonic LUMIX

First, Panasonic LUMIX is good. Leica camera doesn’t want you to know this, but it seems that much of the early engineering of the Leica M9 digital camera, and a lot of Leica DLUX point and shoot cameras, I believe were co-engineered with the Panasonic Lumix engineers of Japan. For example, it is to my thought that the Leica Q-series camera is just like a Panasonic Lumix S series camera in disguise.

Even a few years back, with my Ricoh gr II broke, and I was in all of these Japanese camera stores experimenting with all the different cameras, surprisingly my favorite camera was actually the Lumix G9. And the other day, I recently reinstalled a new firmware update for the Lumix G9, and I have been experimenting with the new dynamic monochrome mode, cranking up the contrast and the green to max, and actually, I really like the way the photos look.

2. Ricoh Pentax

Ricoh and Pentax is the same company.

Frankly speaking, I believe the digital Ricoh GR 3X camera to be the best camera on the market in 2023, irregardless of price, specifications, etc. Better than any Leica or Fujifilm camera, at any form factor or price point.

The big issue with Rico to your digital cameras is that in terms of longevity, they don’t seem to last longer than one or two years. Therefore the conundrum:

Is it worth the sacrifice to buy a camera, knowing that it will only last you one or two years, and then having to keep buying it again and again, forever?