It's as rare as the proverbial rocking horse poop, but the Ricoh GR IV Monochrome is on the show floor at the Photography & Video Show – open now until Tuesday March 17 at the NEC in Birmingham, England.
Launched in January, and technically on sale in mid-February, the street-oriented compact camera has been such a hit that some pre-orders won't be delivered until June. But if you make the trip to the NEC, you can try the camera for yourself at the Ricoh Pentax stand (C100).
As a big fan of cameras for black-and-white photography, I've been super excited to get my hands on the GR IV Monochrome – which, in case you missed it, takes the streetwise experience of the standard Ricoh GR IV but replaces the color sensor with a 25.74MP mono sensor.
By omitting the color filter array, and removing the interpolation process used to render a full-color image, the sensor delivers incredible clarity and micro-contrast – and also promises great performance at higher ISO sensitivities.
The compromise is that there is less headroom for exposing highlights, so you'll need to beware clipping if you're not used to shooting with an exclusively black-and-white sensor.
Because the camera I "liberated" from the Ricoh stand was a pre-production model, I can't share the images from my initial test. But I used it for typically GR run-and-gun reportage shots and was impressed with the tones and rendering produced by this camera.
Having spent a lot of time with the far larger and far more expensive Leica Q3 Monochrom, I have to say that I actually prefer the depth of the blacks and the overall punchiness of the Ricoh.
Of course, you can judge for yourself if you try the camera out at The Photography & Video Show – which is open today until Tuesday March 17 at the NEC in Birmingham. For tickets and more information, visit The Photography & Video Show website.
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