Ricoh’s New GR World Smartphone App Aims to Make GR Cameras Even Better
Ricoh Imaging has announced GR World, a new smartphone app that works alongside Ricoh GR series compact cameras.
The Ricoh GR World app, available for both Android and iOS, allows photographers to import images from their GR camera to their smartphone, remotely control their GR, and record location information directly within image files when the app is connected to the camera. The app also includes album and widget functions, so users can organize their imported photos into albums on their phone and even display albums as widgets on the phone’s home screen.
Ricoh’s new GR World app is compatible with all Ricoh GR III series cameras, including the GR III, GR III HDF, GR IIIx, and GR IIIx HDF, as well as the GR II, provided it has firmware version 1.10 or later installed.
Although an existing app, Image Sync, serves some of these same purposes, it has been widely criticized by users. GR World is a fresh attempt at a GR-series smartphone app, featuring a complete redesign and new features.
The app also enables users to register and name their GR cameras within the app, ensuring that repeated connections are straightforward. Once the camera is registered for that first time, connecting to the app should require just a couple of taps.
Once connected, users can monitor their camera’s basic stats from the GR World app homescreen, including battery level, the remaining number of shots that can be recorded on the inserted SD card, and the camera’s current network status.
Within the app, photographers can adjust various settings, including whether their phone will send location data to the camera to record on image files, whether they want their camera’s time and date to sync with their phone, and more.
The primary purpose of the GR World app is undoubtedly the image transfer and remote control features. Through GR World, photographers can easily browse and import their favorite photos from their GR camera. Many photographers love traveling with the GR III — it remains a very popular camera even years after its release — so the GR World app should make it much easier for photographers to share their favorite photos while out in the field.
The remote control functionality appears to be pretty limited, however. This feature, only compatible with GR III-series models, puts the camera into a single frame release mode and offers fairly rudimentary self-timer and shutter release control. There does not appear to be control over all the shooting parameters, as is seen in many cameras’ accompanying smartphone apps.
Nonetheless, the Ricoh GR World app is a welcome addition to the GR shooting experience and will certainly work with the GR IV when it is released later this year.
Ricoh GR World will launch next week on July 23. It will be available for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
Image credits: Ricoh
