I continue to use the compact but extremely potent Ricoh GR III for some photos of an abandoned house not too far away from my home. This was a fun little excursion that included this little house, as well as the barn featured in Vlog #1.

All photos shot in manual mode, and edited in Lightroom. I've also started numbering the images as they appear in the video, so if you have any comments about a specific photo, you can refer to it by number when commenting, that should help the conversation a little better.

Question of the Week: Do you enter abandoned buildings/structures when you find one, or only shoot from the outside?

Follow up Question: Does the possibility that an abandoned structure could be haunted prevent you from photographing them?

Using the Ricoh GR III, or any compact camera, you can take great landscape photos. It helps that the Ricoh GR III has an APS-C sized sensor, giving a much better image than most compact cameras with 1-inch or 1 2/3-inch sensors, and often better results than most consumer-brand DSLR's and mirrorless cameras on the market.

In this video, along with using the Ricoh GR III to take sunset photos of an abandoned barn near my home last fall, including camera techniques, tips and settings for any camera, I give an update on my YouTube channel's progress and direction, and offer viewers the ability to participate in the Question of the Week!

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One reason I love the Ricoh GR III is because it allows me to travel light, drive around looking for photo opportunities, then jump out, get my shots, and be on my way. There are times I like lugging around my DSLR and gear, but there are other times it makes more sense to have something light, yet powerful like the Ricoh GR III.

I left my house in the early evening on a day in May with sketchy weather brewing to the south. Within 15 minutes of my house, I passed an old house that first appeared abandoned, but as I got closer realized there was a For Sale sign in the yard. But upon even further inspection I found the house to indeed be empty of a resident, and an abundance of trash including a lot of old rusty artifacts.

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Testing the Canon RP Full Frame Mirrorless camera w/RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS STM Lens Kit.

I purchased this camera in May of 2020, and realized most of the review videos were old and out-dated. There IS 24fps video at HD 1920x1080. The camera is also weather-sealed, and has updated AF eye focusing.

See the Photo Gallery from this shoot by clicking here

I test the Ricoh GR III using the AE Highlight-Weighted mode while shooting an abandoned schoolhouse in rural Johnson County in Indiana. I use basic Program mode, along with the AE Highlight-Weighted mode, to keep the light from the windows blowing out.

I had to make adjustments in Lightroom by pulling up the shadows, but the details and excellent sensor showed no deterioration in the details. While I wouldn't typically use the Ricoh GR III for this type of photography, it was a good test for the metering mode. I will be using this mode for my street photography, which is why I purchased this camera in February, before the lockdown, hopefully this summer when all goes back to normal! Whatever that is!

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