EP301: How Is This Possible — Ricoh GR21 21mm f3.5 with Ilford Pan 100

Roll 301 — when I first saw this frame, I sat staring at my monitor for a long time

Film: Ilford Pan 100
Developed & scanned: DEP Lab 2025/10/29
Camera: Ricoh GR21 21mm f3.5

When I first got the Ricoh GR21, I felt there was so little information about it online that I wanted to shoot as much as possible with it, across as many different films as I could. So I took stock of which films I hadn't tried yet and started buying them specifically for the GR21. This roll of Ilford Pan 100 came about that way.

I've always preferred 400-speed film, because I think that sensitivity strikes the best balance for all-weather, all-situation shooting with an f3.5 aperture and a 1/500s shutter. ISO 100 films have never held much interest for me — Kodak Portra 160 and Lomography 100, for instance, I've simply never bought (though I suspect Lomography 100 is just Portra 160 inside).

But for the sake of testing the GR21, I bought Ilford Pan 100. It's genuinely cheap, but I was still a bit worried about pairing f3.5 with ISO 100. The results completely defied my expectations — I got lucky and ended up with a roll I love.

I still remember how I felt when I got the scans back. I kept poring over every detail, thinking over and over: how is this possible, how is this possible. That it could come out looking like this. It's just too beautiful.

#1
Went straight for a low-light scene on the very first frame, shot flash-blocked. I love how quiet this image is. I was waiting outside my son's school for him to finish class — it was October, so the sky darkens faster.

#2
Another low-light scene, again shot flash-blocked. This is what our living room looked like at the time. No sofa, no TV, but three computer desks — an office layout.

#3
The first morning of the Double Tenth National Day long weekend. Took my son over to my mother's place to watch cartoons.

#4
This is what happens when you photograph the person across the dinner table with a GR21.

#5
My favorite gold watch. This is the GR21's minimum focus distance, 30cm.

#6
I was surprised that Ilford Pan 100 with the GR21's f3.5 lens could still handle shooting inside a packed Taipei MRT carriage.

#7
Took my son to a Lego shop tucked away in the back streets of Taipei's East District.

#8
The Ricoh GR21 is genuinely not a camera suited to handheld self-portraits. Perhaps in the era when the GR21 was released, the word "selfie" hadn't even been coined yet.

#9
Bi-Mai-Zhan, in the back streets of Taipei's East District, is a Lego shop my son and I visit often — though we mainly come for their secondhand bricks.

#10
Nearly everything you see in the East District back lanes is an old building, but most of them are clean and well kept. Quite beautiful.

#11
The whole family went out to eat that day, with my son riding along with my mother. I love this photo. For scenes like this — quick, grabbed shots — the GR1s can do the same thing, which is why I concluded there's no need to buy a GR21. The GR1s also has no protruding lens, so no lens cap to fumble with. For these reasons, the GR21s were sold in the end. The money from both went straight into the Sigma BF fund, without hesitation.

#12
Shoot the GR21 long enough and you realize the range of subjects it can handle is quite limited. More precisely: because it's so ultra-wide, the images start to look alike — unless you take to photographing strangers on the street without their consent, which would certainly add variety. But that's infringing on someone's right to their own likeness. Or more precisely, you'd be profiting off someone else's likeness, which strikes me as a kind of taking, or exploitation.

#13
Waiting at the traffic light.

#14
I've used far too many compact cameras. This condition probably needs another 40 rolls before it eases. The Ricoh GR21 is already very close to the end point of the compact camera road — go any further and you're into genuinely impractical territory, like the Leica CM or Contax T3. I do own a Leica Minilux 40mm f2.4 and I'm very happy with it. Before buying the Sigma BF, I considered putting that money toward a Leica CM 40mm f2.4 instead. But honestly, I think the Minilux is the more beautiful camera — the CM's rear panel just isn't as clean and minimal as the Minilux's.

#15
An incredible image. I know perfectly well that no great photograph ever won an award because of its sharpness — but I'm an amateur, and sharpness is the thing I can actually see. I hope that in a few years I'll stop caring about sharpness altogether.

#16
Not only is the GR21 bad for handheld selfies — it's bad for mirror selfies too. I was in Xinyi District that day for a site survey for work.

#17
The smoking area beside Taipei 101. I have some memories tied to this spot — my first job was in an office inside Taipei 101, and my colleagues and I would take the elevator all the way down just to smoke. Each break would run over ten minutes, mostly because of the wait for the elevator. Those were young years.

#18
Standing beneath Taipei 101, and still I can't help noticing the sharpness of the image.

#19
Documenting a day when I was working out of a dumpling shop, eating and answering emails at the same time.

#20
New Taipei City has been building out its sewer system for years, and it's only recently reached my neighborhood. This is what it looks like in an area where the work is already done — genuinely a big improvement.