Review on 📸 Optimize your GXR Camera System with Ricoh GF-1 External Flash by Seth Gomez

First things first. I am an absolute amateur photographer (film and digital) and have been on the road again and again since the 70s. As such, my comments may not apply to your use, needs, or level of experience. So feel free to nod in agreement or shake your head in response to my comments ;) I'll say right away that if you have a GR camera you might be surprised at how big a "compact" flash is is. The GR camera is a high-end run-and-shoot camera. Due to the size of this "compact" flash, it takes a lot of confidence to use this combination. I will say more later. The quality of this flash shouldn't have surprised me considering how reliable Ricoh's camera line is. However, my recently purchased GR would definitely benefit from a more powerful and versatile external flash. The price I got on Revain.com was way better than what I saw elsewhere. I hope to use it as a slave flash with my Sony A6000 and Sony Compact Flash. It would be an unexpected bonus. But as they say, there are no free lunches. The fact is that while the GF-1 is a compact flash, it's still larger (flash up) and heavier than the GR camera itself. At least that's how it feels in my hand. I find it hard to fault this GF-1 as it looks so much better than my recently purchased Sony Premium Compact Flash for my Sony A6000. I'll have to compare their specs, but I wouldn't be surprised if the GF-1 matched or even surpassed the Sony Premium Compact Flash. Note that the GF-1 does not have a pan head. However, it's tilted towards the ceiling for reflection shots. Let's face it, the GR is incredibly small and light for an APS-C camera. Therefore, it would be difficult to design a flash with such power and performance with the best size-to-weight ratio for GR. I suspect the GF-1 flash may have been designed for larger Ricoh/Pentax cameras? In any case, be prepared for your GR camera kit to grow if you decide to add the GF-1 to your gear list. So I don't think most people would use this as a run and gun scenario. But the GR is such a great camera that it's worth picking up the GF-1 if you think you need a decently performing flash. The flash comes with a cloth storage pouch, but I plan to replace it with an Optech pouch. when I find a suitable one. I had a Fujifilm X20 and a Fujifilm EF-X20 flash. The small size of the EF-X20 was perfect for the small X20 camera. However, the EF-20's flash output and recovery time were such that it wasn't easy to take pictures in the event environment. I'm talking about something like a small awards ceremony or a farewell event. If I worked a lot with the GF-1 and the GR flash, I'd quickly tire of the imbalance of the pair. This means the GR feels very heavy with the GF-1 on top. The solution might seem a bit silly, but for general use I would pair this hardware with a stroboframe flash mount. I assume there is a lightning cable that will make this combination work. I read on DPreview.com that Canon cables or fake Canon cables can work with this setting. I will try to update the review if I can but GR is going on a trip to Egypt with my wife soon. It will be interesting to see if she will take the GF-1 with her? For me the combination of GR and GF-1 is a worthwhile setup. I avoid flash when I can, but in some cases the built-in flash on GR and other cameras just doesn't have the power and versatility of a dedicated external flash. For the price I got at Revain I'd say it's a bargain!