Street photographers have always been sworn by the Ricoh GR series. The company has created the best-pocket friendly compact camera that helps one to be discreet, but get the shot that they want. However, the GR III, which is a true companion camera, has one limitation that frustrated users: no articulating screen.
In a new post on Reddit, u/Tinker-Zhang2 reveals a new device that he made from scratch: a wait-level viewfinder called the RicohViewfinder. The creator states the camera will help one to shoot from the hip, while being inconspicuous when needed.
The DIY viewfinder is unassuming, can fit in your pocket, and has a wireless monitor powered by the M5Stack StickS3. The ESP32-S3-based device is roughly the size of a lighter, and connects with the GR III via Wi-Fi. It displays real-time live view on its built-in screen. The RicohViewfinder can be mounted on the hot-shoe, allowing one to get the best results when shooting from a low angle.
What’s interesting is that there is no need for manual set-up. Once powered on, the monitor finds the camera and connects on its own. If the camera goes to sleep, the monitor will be restarted and can reconnect with the viewfinder.
According to u/Tinker-Zhang2, the project depends on the ESP32-S3-PICO-1-N8R8 microcontroller, which offers a dual-core chip running at 240MHz with 8MB of flash and 8MB of RAM. The firmware is designed using PlatformIO IDE and has been created with some creative libraries. The creator states that JPEGDEC handles the live view feed and also uses a lightweight JPEG decoder that runs directly in the device’s PSRAM. This keeps the image smooth on the screen, without overwhelming the small processor.
The project is still work in progress, but it is open-sourced, allowing photographers a chance to build a viewfinder by themselves. M5Stack StickS3 is widely available online for around $20-$30, making this one of the most affordable camera accessories imaginable. The firmware is developed via PlatformIO IDE, but the creator is still ironing out some bugs. Once that is fixed, the complete source code will be open-sourced on GitHub, while a compiled firmware version will also be uploaded to M5Burner. This way, one can simply download the firmware, without having to worry about coding.
For anyone comfortable with basic electronics and a willingness to follow a GitHub guide, building this viewfinder will be a genuinely accessible weekend project. For those who aren’t developers, the M5Burner route will make it even simpler once the firmware is stable and released.
Ricoh GR III viewfinders are available on Amazon, but they cost about $180 (GV-2), and can only work best if you are holding up the camera to your eyes. As for waist-level viewfinder, there are some third-party Chinese-made options, which a lot of people are not relying on. In that regard, the RicohViewfinder can be of help to those on a budget. It is a pretty well-thought out community-built solution, which makes photography even more exciting.
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