I attended The Photography Show 2026 this week, the UK’s leading event for any photographer, filmmaker and content creator”, and I had the opportunity to stop by the Ricoh booth, where I saw the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome for the first time.
It’s a premium compact camera that couldn’t be more specific, taking stills and videos in black and white only, through a 28mm f/2.8 fixed lens and a 26MP APS-C sensor.
However, having already analyzed the Ricoh GR IV, which allows you to photograph in color and monochrome, but otherwise it’s the same camera, and I concluded that it offers the best image quality you can get from a truly pocketable camera, I was really looking forward to trying the monochrome version, until I saw the price.
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The Ricoh GR IV costs $1,499 / £1,199 / AU$2,199 (up from 2019’s GR III by about 20%), while the GR IV Monochrome, with its optimized sensor and red filter, costs $2,199 / £1,599 / AU$3,249. It’s true that limited production will always result in a higher price, but that price difference hurts, especially if you’re in the US.
That’s right: if you’re in Europe, the Middle East or Africa and haven’t pre-ordered a Ricoh GR IV Monochrome yet, you might have to wait a year to get one.
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The curious case of premium compact cameras
2026 has been a quiet year so far for new cameras, except for the Fujifilm Instax Mini Evo Cinema and the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome. They’re two incredibly specific compact cameras, but they’re both out of stock in many regions.
We have seen similar situations before; The Fujifilm X100VI broke pre-order records and remains a popular premium compact two years after its launch.
And here we are once again with the GR IV Monochrome, which comes hot on the heels of the even more expensive Leica Q3 Monochrom. It’s Ricoh’s first GR compact camera exclusively in black and white, and it seems there’s no price too high to deter fans, many of whom no doubt see it as the ultimate camera for street photography.
For me, its optimized quality for black and white photography is desirable. However, it’s a camera I’ll probably pass up at this price, although I’m still tempted to add the regular GR IV to my GR IIIX for everyday carry.
What about you? Are you in line for the GR IV Monochrome? Is a camera optimized for black and white photography worth the extra cost? Let me know in the comments below.
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