Dual-Wielding Ricohs in Shinjuku
What’s poppin’, people? It’s Dante — currently walking around Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, thinking about why the Ricoh GR III and Ricoh GR IIIx is the killer combo for street photography. Dual-wielding both Ricohs has been wild on this trip. It’s day five, and I’m finally pushing the cameras in a direction that feels fresh and experimental.
The Power of the 71mm Crop
With the Ricoh GR3x, I’ve got the crop button set up so I can instantly jump into the 71mm crop mode. On the Ricoh GR3, I mapped the crop button to the video button on the side. As I walk, I’m fishing for moments, locking onto faces, micro-expressions, gestures — the salaryman energy, the couples, the intensity of Tokyo’s crowds.
The compression of the 71mm crop on such a tiny camera is insane. It isolates faces in a way I’ve never done before.
Switching Between Tight and Wide
Then I swap instantly to the GR3 for the wider scenes — 28mm or 40mm — where layering comes alive. Foreground, middle ground, background. Total chaos. Total storytelling.
Having the ability to go super tight and then immediately go wide keeps me curious, engaged, and in flow.
Embracing Grain and Imperfection
Because I shoot small JPEGs, high-contrast black-and-white, max grain and grit, I don’t care about “image quality.” I care about feel. Texture. Imperfection. Mistakes that turn into breakthroughs.
Even shooting at night in AV mode — the slow shutter motion blur started as an accident. Now I’m using it intentionally.
Mistakes → experimentation → discovery → evolution.
Staying in Flow With a Minimal Setup
The beauty of Ricoh is the portability. Camera off → pocket → boom → swap → keep walking. You wouldn’t even know I have two cameras on me right now.
When I’m home in Philly shooting daily, I don’t dual-wield. One camera is enough. But for travel, especially in dense cities like Tokyo, dual-wielding gives me variety and novelty.
What Each Camera Does Best
GR3x excels at:
- Close-ups
- Faces
- Details
- Architecture
- Isolated compositions
GR3 excels at:
- Layers
- Chaos
- Wide storytelling
- Foreground/middle/background depth
Both together feel unstoppable.
Following Light, People, and Chaos
I’ve been following the people, following the light, following the action. Shinjuku Station is fish-in-a-barrel — endless waves of movement and energy. Perfect place to experiment and push into the unknown.
And the LCD shooting style is perfect for loose, spontaneous photography. No viewfinder rigidity. No overthinking. You shoot like you’re sketching. The surprises reveal themselves later.
Walk more → see more → photograph more → become more curious.
The Philosophy of Mistakes
The more you shoot loosely, the more mistakes you make — and the more beauty reveals itself inside those mistakes. Some of the best frames appear only later when reviewing the shots.
That’s the joy of the Ricoh GR system: spontaneity, surprise, and the embrace of the unexpected.
Becoming Through Change
Today’s lesson for myself: change, evolve, transform. That’s where the joy is. That’s where the becoming happens.
This whole dual-wielding approach — the crop mode, isolating faces, mixing focal lengths — came from a single accident yesterday. Now I’m shaping that mistake into a new process.
Ricoh GR3 and GR3x — absolute joy to dual-wield in Tokyo. Perfect for chaos, perfect for flow state, perfect for raw street photography.
The Ricoh Jihadist goes Tokyo, baby.