There is a undercurrent of discontent over Ricoh applying noise reduction to RAW files, on the GR III and presumably the IV, which prevents editing tools doing a better job.
A monochrome GR IV without any compulsory processing, including the gritty B&W jpegs the original GRD, would be very well received and immediately get my order.
p.2 #2 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
ISO1600 wrote:
Prices in Japan aren't much better. Looks to be ~$1300 after exchange...
I assume that includes the 10% Japanese sales tax, which would be $1,182 before tax, though I gather the price has not yet been announced in Japan. The calculation is: Price before tax = Total price with tax / (1 + Sales tax rate as a decimal).
As stated earlier, the EU price ex-VAT is €1,052.99 before VAT, or $1,227. The latter, however is at the current USD/€ exchange rate, under which the USD is 10% lower than at the end of 2024, meaning that at last year's exchange rate the EU ex-tax price would be about $1,100.
On this basis, the ex-tax prices in Japan and in the EU are roughly the same — in USD terms, roughly $1,100 - $1,200 versus the US ex-sales tax price of $1,497. As I said earlier, I'm raising this issue to highlight the situation facing Ricoh in terms of the high US price, which is mainly the result of the high US import tariff on Japanese goods.
In this situation, the call for voting with your wallet, as stated by @jstrawman and @Fred Miranda doesn't have quite the same meaning as it would have had before the US tariff situation. Having said this, however, one has to admit that a US price of almost $1,500 for the GR IV is indeed high. Thom Hogan has an intersting article on this, here: https://www.bythom.com/newsviews/ricoh-upgrades-your-shirt.html.
Hogan argues that "the GR IV's real competition isn't the Fujfilm X100VI or Sony RX100VII, it's your mobile phone." That makes Ricoh's US price quite problematic. In this article Hogan doesn't refer to the tariff issue; but he has an article on the US tariffs in this article: https://www.bythom.com/newsviews/tariff-update.html.
p.2 #3 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
Mitch Alland wrote:
I assume that includes the 10% Japanese sales tax, which would be $1,182 before tax, though I gather the price has not yet been announced in Japan. The calculation is: Price before tax = Total price with tax / (1 + Sales tax rate as a decimal).
As stated earlier, the EU price ex-VAT is €1,052.99 before VAT, or $1,227. The latter, however is at the current USD/€ exchange rate, under which the USD is 10% lower than at the end of 2024, meaning that at last year's exchange rate the EU ex-tax price would be about $1,100.
On this basis, the ex-tax prices in Japan and in the EU are roughly the same — in USD terms, roughly $1,100 - $1,200 versus the US ex-sales tax price of $1,497. As I said earlier, I'm raising this issue to highlight the situation facing Ricoh in terms of the high US price, which is mainly the result of the high US import tariff on Japanese goods.
In this situation, the call for voting with your wallet, as stated by @jstrawman@ and @Fred Miranda@ doesn't have quite the same meaning as it would have had before the US tariff situation. Having said this, however, one has to admit that a US price of almost $1,500 for the GR IV is indeed high. Thom Hogan has an intersting article on this, here: https://www.bythom.com/newsviews/ricoh-upgrades-your-shirt.html.
Hogan argues that "the GR IV's real competition isn't the Fujfilm X100VI or Sony RX100VII, it's your mobile phone." That makes Ricoh's US price quite problematic. In this article Hogan doesn't refer to the tariff issue; but he has an article on the US tariffs in this article: https://www.bythom.com/newsviews/tariff-update.html....Show more →
Well, if Thom thinks the real competition is a phone, he’s wrong. If that were the case, Ricoh wouldn’t have sold a single GR camera or have group gatherings devoted to the camera all over the world.
p.2 #4 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
johnvanr wrote:
Well, if Thom thinks the real competition is a phone, he’s wrong. If that were the case, Ricoh wouldn’t have sold a single GR camera or have group gatherings devoted to the camera all over the world.
100% Ricoh GR pictures are a lot, lot better than phone pictures when viewed on my 32" monitor and even better when viewed on my large screen TV. Or I am just glad I can see so much difference between my Pixel 9 Pro XL pictures and Ricoh GR.
I hope to purchase Ricoh GR IV and RX1Riii when I visit Japan in November. Those prices look lot more appealing and RX1Riii looks like a bargain.
p.2 #5 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
I want this camera, and I can tolerate a certain degree of price hiking/gouging, but $1500 for a GR? And (soon to be) $1,900, maybe $2,000 for an X100? It's just depressing, especially considering the price of consumer goods, once hiked, never seems to go back down. Ah, well. All the more reason to be grateful for what I already own.
p.2 #6 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
nightnight wrote:
I want this camera, and I can tolerate a certain degree of price hiking/gouging, but $1500 for a GR? And (soon to be) $1,900, maybe $2,000 for an X100? It's just depressing, especially considering the price of consumer goods, once hiked, never seems to go back down. Ah, well. All the more reason to be grateful for what I already own.
Blame the guy in Washington, not Ricoh. They’re most likely not making one extra dime.
p.2 #7 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
johnvanr wrote:
Blame the guy in Washington, not Ricoh. They’re most likely not making one extra dime.
Please let's not get political on this thread.
_______
Good news for GR III owners: your camera should hold its value. The GR IV feels more like a refinement than a revolution. Everything is slightly improved, but both cameras look almost identical, do the same thing, and deliver very similar results. Another reason the GR III should retain value is the GR IV's high price, which will make many buyers consider the older model instead...
Maybe slightly sharper corners or cleaner shadows at high ISO, but nothing major. If Ricoh had added weather sealing, a flipping LCD, significantly higher resolution, or brought back the internal flash without adding bulk, it would be a different story. Some users care more about these features than others, but they have been requested for years. The bigger battery makes sense for the higher power needs of the new components (I think Ricoh had no choice here), but losing the old SD slot feels like a step back.
Since this is an LCD-only camera, a higher-resolution screen would have made the upgrade easier to justify, especially with a 67% price increase over the GR III's launch price...but that would likely drain more power so they decided to retain the same screen.
p.2 #9 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
Fred Miranda wrote:
Please let's not get political on this thread.
Sorry Fred, but price gouging and reacting to what’s clearly a political issue isn’t the same and it shouldn’t be confused. Ricoh isn’t price gouging. It’s reacting to a political move done by one person. That’s a fact. Facts aren’t political. Refusing to recognize them, however, is.
p.2 #10 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
johnvanr wrote:
Sorry Fred, but price gouging and reacting to what’s clearly a political issue isn’t the same and it shouldn’t be confused. Ricoh isn’t price gouging. It’s reacting to a political move done by one person. That’s a fact. Facts aren’t political. Refusing to recognize them, however, is.
I think you understand what I meant. When you wrote, "Blame the guy in Washington", that's exactly the kind of comment that tends to spark political discussions on the forum, whether true or not. I'm just asking you to consider keeping the conversation focused on the topic at hand, so we can avoid unnecessary arguments that tend to derail threads.
p.2 #11 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
Fred Miranda wrote:
I think you understand what I meant. When you wrote, "Blame the guy in Washington", that's exactly the kind of comment that tends to spark political discussions on the forum, whether true or not. I'm just asking you to consider keeping the conversation focused on the topic at hand, so we can avoid unnecessary arguments that tend to derail threads.
Ok. Next time I’ll just say it’s not price gouging when pricing is a result of newly introduced tariffs.
p.2 #12 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
Fred Miranda wrote:
but losing the old SD slot feels like a step back.
Definitely! While the added built-in memory is great, it does not replace the ability to use standard size SD cards imo. I was surprised to learn of this change to MicroSD. Hopefully, this change was not done just to save 1mm in body size!
p.2 #13 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
Tariq Gibran wrote:
Definitely! While the added built-in memory is great, it does not replace the ability to use standard size SD cards imo. I was surprised to learn of this change to MicroSD. Hopefully, this change was not done just to save 1mm in body size!
Yes, I agree we could just rely on the built-in memory. Now that there's both built-in storage and a microSD slot, Ricoh could have implemented some form of redundancy. But from what I've read, you can only use one at a time, so it doesn't really function as a backup.
The newer battery is bulkier, leaving no room for the SD card. Ricoh's engineers carefully balanced size, looks, and performance. They could have added a higher MP sensor, but that would require more power, so every feature is weighed against the battery. Keeping the camera compact meant using a MicroSD instead of a full SD card. Other cameras can offer more features, and it's already remarkable that Ricoh added IBIS to this tiny camera.
p.2 #14 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
Fred Miranda wrote:
Yes, I agree we could just rely on the built-in memory. Now that there's both built-in storage and a microSD slot, Fuji could have implemented some form of redundancy. But from what I've read, you can only use one at a time, so it doesn't really function as a backup.
The newer battery is bulkier, leaving no room for the SD card. Fuji's engineers carefully balanced size, looks, and performance. They could have added a higher MP sensor, but that would require more power, so every feature is weighed against the battery. Keeping the camera compact meant using a MicroSD instead of a full SD card. Other cameras can offer more features, and it's already remarkable that Ricoh added IBIS to this tiny camera....Show more →
p.2 #15 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
zeitlos wrote:
Fuji??
Let's agree that the GR is on a whole different level of "small camera", even compared to the X100 series. But yes, Fujifilm did a good job here too. Many expected Sony to bring this to the new RX1RIII, but I suppose IBIS on a full-frame sensor requires more space.
p.2 #16 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
Fred Miranda wrote:
Yes, I agree we could just rely on the built-in memory. Now that there's both built-in storage and a microSD slot, Fuji could have implemented some form of redundancy. But from what I've read, you can only use one at a time, so it doesn't really function as a backup.
The newer battery is bulkier, leaving no room for the SD card. Fuji's engineers carefully balanced size, looks, and performance. They could have added a higher MP sensor, but that would require more power, so every feature is weighed against the battery. Keeping the camera compact meant using a MicroSD instead of a full SD card. Other cameras can offer more features, and it's already remarkable that Ricoh added IBIS to this tiny camera....Show more →
It seems odd that the larger battery is only rated for an additional 50 shots compared to the GR III with the smaller battery. Perhaps other changes Ricoh made are more power hungry (faster processor, stronger/ faster AF motors, better IS, etc). Otherwise, on the face of it, the sacrifice of the SD card slot for the larger battery is questionable just going by the # of shot gains.
p.2 #17 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
Tariq Gibran wrote:
Perhaps other changes Ricoh made are more power hungry (faster processor, stronger/ faster AF motors, better IS, etc
Yes, that's usually the case. A brighter screen for outdoor use, for instance, consumes more power. With the higher-capacity battery, Ricoh can afford to have a brighter outdoor screen as the default. Take the original RX1R and RX1R II: both use the exact same battery, yet one is rated for 270 shots and the other only 220. Why? Because the RX1R II has more megapixels, a faster processor, quicker AF, and a built-in EVF...all of which demand more power and cut into battery life.
If the GR IV had added the same kind of upgrades without increasing battery capacity, the camera would likely fall far short of 200 shots per charge, and people wouldn't be too happy about that. So, yeap, they sacrified the SD slot but can say the camera is even slimmer and the battery lasts longer even with the upgrades. Definitely a win, though the lack of full SD card compatibility is still a downside.
p.2 #18 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
It's great that the GRIV will likely be if not more popular than the GR3, but that said the common price hikes considered norm and less competition in the market for snapshot camera makes consumers believe the high prices are justified. It's not. The trend of prices increasing exponentially more than cost of production and tariffs is unreasonable. I hope consumers decide with their wallets than being held ranson to high prices on discretionary items.
p.2 #19 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
Have you guys seen the prices on used GR III? Talking $1120-$1320 at MPB and similar at KEH. It's not that much more for a brand new improved model. Not that the improvements matter for everybody that could be interested in a GR III. Two years ago I did buy an open box GR IIIx for $900. I think I didn't lose much if any when I sold it last year.
p.2 #20 · Ricoh GR IV price set to be $1,496.95 (before tax)
The prices for excellent GRiii models on the Buy&Sell forum here at FM have been ~$900 lately. And, that often includes popular accessories. $900 vs $1500 + tax is a hefty hurdle.
Rather than pre-order, I'll wait for community reviews and decide if the upgrade makes sense for me.
