The Ricoh GR IV Monochrome Will Cost an Extra $700

Ricoh has finally announced pricing for the GR IV Monochrome — a camera it officially revealed last October — and it’s steep: $2,199.95. That’s $700 more than the base model, which represents a 46% price increase.

It’s not uncommon for monochromatic versions of existing cameras to see a price increase compared to their full color brethren, although the examples aren’t numerous, given that most camera brands don’t bother releasing black and white only cameras. In the modern market, only Leica and Ricoh Pentax have even tried.

Last year, Leica debuted the Q3 Monochrom and priced it at $7,790 — more than a $1,000 premium compared to the $6,735 asking price of the base Q3 camera. Leica did the same thing with the $10,160 M11 Monochrom, which is more expensive than the standard $9,840 M11.

Even Ricoh Pentax has done it. The K-3 III Monochrome had a $200 premium over the standard K-3 III’s launch price when it released back in 2023, but the K-3 III Monochrome also arrived two years later than the standard K-3 III, not four or five months later like the GR IV Monochrome is. Combined with the steep jump up in price between the GR III and GR IV, Ricoh might be playing a bit fast and loose with the goodwill it has built up over the years.

It tends to look like photographers are being asked to spend extra money for a company not to put a color filter in front of the sensor. While that’s an oversimplification, it’s often how it comes off. Many photographers can’t see the logic in paying more for what amounts to less, but PetaPixel‘s Chris Niccolls has repeatedly advocated for a fully black and white camera experience.

“Many photographers, myself included, love black and white photography enough to justify a dedicated camera that offers various tones of monochromatic imagery. It is also nice to get the ability to use classic color filters to control selective contrast,” he wrote in his Q3 Monochrom review.

“I would argue that photography isn’t always about the most efficient tool, or the easiest path to a final result,” he adds in his GR IV Monochrome review published today.

While the GR IV Monochrome’s price is nowhere near Leica’s, the audience is different, too. It’s basically a forgone conclusion that Ricoh will sell every single GR IV Monochrome it produces; it just remains to be seen how many photographers will feel good about it.

“The Ricoh GR IV Monochrome evolves the essential values of the GR series while newly incorporating a monochrome-dedicated image sensor. The new camera fully draws out the capabilities of the high-performance GR lens by eliminating the color filter used to acquire color information, as well as the interpolation process required to generate color images, thereby delivering refined rendering and rich tonal gradation,” Ricoh says. “The camera’s built-in red filter enables more distinctive monochrome photography, and its newly developed Image Control options — dedicated to monochrome imaging — provide deep and diverse monochrome expressions.”

The $2,199.95 GR IV Monochrome camera can be pre-ordered today and will be available “mid-February.” It will be showcased in the GR Space facilities in Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, and Brisbane starting January 15.

Image credits: Photos by Erin Thomson for PetaPixel