The compact camera trend has brought a number of price hikes as demand exceeds supply, but a popular compact camera series has jumped in price due to the cost of raw materials. The Ricoh GR series, including the Ricoh GR IV and GR IIIx, has jumped in official list price in multiple regions.
Last month, Ricoh Japan announced that the list price of the popular series would increase in July due to a rise in raw materials and manufacturing costs. However, it wasn’t clear at the time if the announcement was meant only for Japan or if other regions would follow suit.
Now that the date has passed, photographers finally have the answer: that GR series price increase wasn’t just for Japan, as the price of the popular compact camera has now increased across several regions, including the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada.
The list price increase spans several models from the GR series, including the base model GR IV, the longer lens GR IIIx, and the HDF variants.
In the UK, the GR IV Monochrome has also increased in price, but the US, Canada, and Australia list prices appear to have remained the same.
US 🇺🇲
- Ricoh GR IV: Was $1,499, now $1,599
- Ricoh GR IV HDF: Was $1,599, now $1,699
- Ricoh GR IIIx: Was $999.95 (September 2021), now $1,249
- Ricoh GR IIIx HDF: Was $1,149, now $1,349
- Ricoh GR IV Monochrome: Unchanged
UK 🇬🇧
- Ricoh GR IV: Was £1,199, Now £1,299
- Ricoh GR IV HDF: Was £1,299, Now £1,399
- Ricoh GR IV Monochrome: Was £1,599, now £1,699
- Ricoh GR IIIx: Was £999, now £1,099
- Ricoh GR IIIx HDF: Was £1099, Now £1199
Australia 🇦🇺
- Ricoh GR IV: Was AU$2,099, now AU$2,199
- Ricoh GR IIIx: Was AU$1,779 at launch, dropped to AU$1,599 in 2024, now AU$1,699
- Ricoh GR IIIx HDF: Was AU$1,899, now AU$1,999
- Ricoh GR IV HDF: Unchanged
- Ricoh GR IV Monochrome: Unchanged
Canada 🇨🇦
- Ricoh GR IV: Was CA$1,899, now CA$1,999
- Ricoh GR IV HDF: Was CA$1,999, now CA$2,149
- Ricoh GR IV Monochrome: Unchanged
- Ricoh GR IIIx: Unchanged
The compact camera trend has created a rise in demand that means several trendy options are hard to find in stock, the Ricoh GR IV series included. However, Ricoh Japan said that the reason for the cost increase was due to a rise in the cost of materials and manufacturing.
Ricoh may not be alone in facing rising costs of manufacturing cameras. AI’s pressure on digital storage has caused the price for digital storage components to increase, not just for SD cards and hard drives but for camera components as well.
Other brands have also recently discussed an increase in manufacturing costs, including Canon and Nikon. Fujifilm also noted not only the rising costs of memory, but the increase in cost for silver as well.
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Confused about all the different models? These are the differences between the Ricoh GR IV, GR IIIx, HDF, and Monochrome models. Or, browse the best compact cameras.
