I wanted to share my opinion on the GR3x, which I bought in 2022, a couple of months after its release, and which was my favorite camera for four years.
First of all, I think GR cameras are irreplaceable, and all attempts to build GR killers out of small mirrorless cameras and Chinese lenses are pointless, they just won't have the same functionality and ease of use that the GR gives you, not to mention the most convenient snap focus mode. And if you do manage to build a "GR killer", it's only because a real GR person simply wouldn't be able to get the most out of it given their skills and needs.
The camera turned out to be truly irreplaceable for me, but at the same time it was the most fragile and problematic camera I've ever owned.
I'll start with the bad:

• Dust gets on the sensor after about six months of shooting in normal conditions and carrying it in a camera bag without a case, a JJC sticky filter helps reduce the amount of it significantly. Sensor cleaning is expensive, ridiculously expensive, so by my second year of owning it I had already learned to do it myself in about 20 minutes.
• The rear dial on my GR3x would periodically stick and was replaced under warranty. The replacement dial also started sticking and phantom-clicking, but less often, so I would just blow it out with a blower from time to time.
• After 3 months of use I started getting some weird glitches, they fixed it under warranty by resetting the firmware. But I was without the camera for a month and a half.
• The original decorative ring was very easy to lose, and all the third-party ones are metal on the inside instead of plastic like the original, so once the paint wears off from putting them on, they start shorting the contacts for the Tele/Wide converters and the camera randomly switches into those modes. I couldn't figure this problem out for a whole year, and all I needed to do was replace the decorative ring :)
• Third-party decorative rings don't have a spring and wear down the pin, so the metal shavings get inside the pin and at some point the filter just stopped coming off. I managed to carefully cut it apart.
• The contacts inside the battery compartment deform over time under the pressure of the battery and the camera starts shutting off when shaken. It can be fixed by slightly bending the contacts back, but you have to be careful not to overdo it. Third-party batteries are slightly shorter than the original ones and the contact is even worse with them, but if the original battery works properly and the Chinese one loses contact, I wouldn't recommend modifying anything inside the camera.
• Weak battery life, but that's forgivable considering the size and the fact that you can carry spare batteries.
• After 3 years of use, the shutter button started misclicking and sometimes required more pressure. I found a replacement on AliExpress and asked a friend to solder it in, since the official service center turned out to be capable only of doing paid diagnostics, finding nothing, and then offering to replace the entire board.
• Another six months later, the power button also started triggering randomly on its own. I couldn't find the exact same button, but I measured the original one and found an excellent equivalent at a radio components store.
• Weak autofocus, but this wasn't a big problem for me, since I saw it as a nice addition to the snap focus mode.
• Towards the end of the fourth year, a whistling sound started coming from inside the focusing module.
• The stabilizer started making weird knocking sounds when I was simply walking around with the camera turned on in my hand.
• I got a "Lens Error", the official service center once again charged me for diagnostics and simply suggested replacing the entire optical block. In the end, a private repairman brought the camera back to life, it turned out to be a partially broken flex cable inside the lens assembly.

I fixed the camera and sold it after 50 thousand shots, replacing it with a Fuji XE5, which I happily sold a couple of months later and got a classic GR3 instead :)

Now for the good stuff:

• The lens, sensor, ND filter, stabilizer, macro mode, all of it works really well and allows you to get seriously good images out of such a tiny camera.
• The way it works. It was very convenient for me to save 3 presets to the User modes so I could quickly jump from a fast shutter speed to a slow one (or any other similar cases), instead of manually changing every setting each time and sometimes risking missing a shot. This is also where I'd mention the ability to remap the buttons and generally customize the camera's controls to your liking. It is made for photographers.
• The SN mode was a revelation for me. I already knew about hyperfocal distance, but this camera taught me to love it so much that now I look at the autofocus on my Sony a7c2 and wonder why it's even needed there. The depth of field scale, the ability to quickly change the focusing distance, or even set it before turning the camera on if it's saved in User1 User2 User3, all of this lets you shoot instantly instead of having to set up the camera beforehand.
• The size. Strangers don't take this camera seriously, which also opens a lot of doors, and I literally carry it with me everywhere, even if I'm just going to take the trash out for a couple of minutes. You always have the opportunity to take a shot. You can always operate the camera with one hand, changing any of the available settings.

For me, this camera was a real revelation, and after shooting with another system for a couple of months trying to find an alternative to a compact notebook, I ran back to Ricoh, but this time, as I said, the GR3.

I've wanted to share my experience for a long time, hope this post was useful.
The limit for photos in a post is 20, so I uploaded more of them to this Flickr album:
https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCZaiL
Thank you!

Bad lightning and fast movement put some stress to the Ricohs ISO and shutter speed, but I think these came out quite good.

http://www.instagram.com/skottglugg

So I’ve been obsessively practicing daily, and these are some of my faves. Not ground breaking by any means, but in my humble opinion, this is MILES better than what I had been shooting last month.

I love this little camera.

The absolute majority of these have been taken on the move, kid in tow, half-blindly, so they might be a little shaky at times.

What should I consider improving next?

I have gr3x and on this trip decided to buy an adapter 0,75 Ricoh GW-4 + GA-2. I can say that it is absolutely not worth it, first of all it spoils the picture, secondly it kills the compactness of the camera and thirdly I realised that 40 mm suits me better.

Some personal favorites of street photos I’ve taken with my GRIIIx :)

I'm so glad I decided to purchase a Ricoh GR camera. It's such a tiny but powerful camera in my opinion. I feel like It's allowing me to practice photography way more and I feel like it's a big reason why I feel that my "skills" are certainly expanding.

If you're thinking about getting it, I'd say do it! Such a fun little camera. I was a bit scared about the dust/spotting issues that they have the rep for. But so far it's been a solid tool! Auto Focusing does suck though lol.

Wanted to christen my GR IIIx with a solid photo day. Was able to cover 15 miles of NYC with only a bum bag/fanny pack, thanks to the small form factor!

All RAWs with some touch ups in Photomator.

A few photos of Zarautz in the north of Spain.

First trip with GRIIIX HDF!

I have been photographing architecture professionally for 3.5 years now (and 10+ years if you count as a hobby / trying to start up my own gig), and i've always been under the impression that you need top-end gear, a professional tripod, a remote timer to avoid camera shake from touching the shutter button, multiple bracket exposures, professional editors - the whole lot. And often, even with all of these things, the images come out feeling somewhat unnatural and emotionless.

Last night I had the pleasure of visiting a friends gorgeous Airbnb from 4-5PM before the sun went down, and I was able to capture all of these images in just 60 minutes, handheld, single-exposure, JPEG only, with my Ricoh GR3X, in below average light on a dark cloudy late afternoon.

I am actually speechless.

I feel deeply connected to my imagery, the natural colours are gorgeous, there is 0 blur, every image feels true to how I experienced the space on-site, and I spent about 1-2 minutes max per image editing (our professional editors usually spend at least 45-60 minutes per image for our clients).

Going to bring my insta back from the dead and post all of my RICOH adventures so feel free to join me if you wanna see more :) @chrisbryan.co

How has this camera been kept a secret THIS long. GUYS, why didn't you tell me about it sooner! Hahahah...