written by owen on 2025-Sep-08.

The gr4 has finally been announced and its dropping September 2025 for a MSRP of $1500 USD. I am not surprised at the price considering how things are nowadays in the economy but it is what it is. At least it has not reach leica levels of expense. Hobbies are expensive and photography is up there on my most expensive hobby. Anyway lets dive into my thoughts on this new release.

New MicroSD Card slot

MSD cards are tiny and easy to lose. That being said I think you should always have external storage because of you destroy you device you are basically knackered. At lease with a SD card you can remove the card and rescue the data. So I will definitely get a SD card even with the new upgraded internal storage. I am not sure how much the fancy new cards will cost but this is just another expense that I will need to get setup.

Slightly more megapixels

Getting 1.5 more mp is really disappointing trash. I was hoping for at least 32mp but I guess I will have to wait 10 more years for that. So the GR4 wont be improving the resolution by much if anything. When I purchased by GR3 I was going from 16 mp to 24mp so i saw a big bump in quality. Sucks but not such luck this time around.

Faster Processor

This is pretty much the only reason to get the GR4. Even the improved battery life does not compare to being able to focus and shoot faster. Less missed shots should translate to higher hit rate but I will have to wait and see how that turns out. Combined with the faster storage this should translate to near instant reaction-shot time.

Everything else

The thinner camera really doesnt matter much but I wish they kept the old battery form factor so I can keep using the old batteries. Who knows what these new batteries will cost when they comes out. I bought alot of accessories for the gr3 which will no longer work with the gr4. The new profiles dont matter to me as I still to positive or negative film. The new buttons dont matter. The 5 axis IBIS should help avoid missed shots which is good.

The Ricoh GR3

My current GR3 has served me well with 80k shots over the 4 years that I have owned it from new. The scroll wheel is buggered even though I rarely use it. The hand grip is very soft and feels lose at time. The camera has been through alot, I pretty much carry it in a case every day and have dropped it several times accidentally, including that time I fell into a river and it go submerged for a few seconds. I think I have spare 6 batteries now; half of which hold very little charge. Batteries which cant be used in the new Gr4 so basically e-waste unless I get it sold.

Conclusion

Since my GR3 is well used there is no point in selling it because i would have to explain all the quirks/defects that it has developed over the years due to constant use and handling. It is not broken but I doubt I could honestly get more than $400 usd for it. I could pad up the sale with the accessories that I bought but I dont know. I personally dont see the point in re-buying a Gr3 unless you never had a GR camera before. If you never had a GR then the GR3 is fine. The GR4 is really a speed bump release. The differences are not significant enough to warrant the extra cost. For me the GR4 would basically be a hardware refresh. Lets see how long before its easily available to purchase.

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