If it’s time to add a new compact camera to your photography arsenal, the upcoming Ricoh GR IV could be what you’re looking for — if you can stomach the price tag. The Japanese owner of the Pentax optics brand has announced that its newest compact will launch from September this year at the eye-watering price of R26,600 ($1,500).
Now that’s American pricing, with the ongoing tariff situation possibly contributing to the GR IV’s premium price. It’s also Pentax, despite the Ricoh branding, so that might be at least some of the cause. Locally, it’ll likely be at least as, if not more, expensive. Stuff has failed to locate the local distributor via the usual channels, so this might be a Japanese (or American) import.
The GR IV is big in Japan
As most photographers can tell you, it’s often worth going to great lengths to lay hands on decent hardware. The Ricoh GR IV sports a 26-megapixel APS-C sensor and a 28 mm to 35 mm equivalent f/2.8 lens packed into a neat frame that makes it ideal for roaming the streets in search of shots. The whole thing, fully loaded but without any extras fitted to the hotshoe, weighs in at 262 grams.
Ricoh’s camera features five-axis sensor-shift shake reduction, image plane phase matching and contrast detection autofocus, and grabs images in RAW and JPEG formats. Putting a subject in front of the lens means using the 3in TFT LCD display in the rear or adding an optical viewfinder to the hotshoe above. Most will probably opt for the former.
Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi support allow for wireless transfers, if you’re determined to keep your camera bag as light as possible. 53GB of internal storage is supplemented by a microSD slot (up to microSDXC cards), and a control wheel on the upper right offers manual control beyond the touchscreen display for quick alterations.
It’s an impressive lot of features for a very small camera, with the major obstacles being price and a (probably) lack of local availability. If we can source a local outlet and pricing for the Ricoh GR IV, we’ll update this page accordingly.
