Is this the coolest case ever for the Ricoh GRD?

Head Porter GR Digital IV case

It could be. It's black, it's stealthy in the extreme and it's not leather.

There's only one thing that stopped me in my tracks when I went to order it today...The $100 plus it was going to cost me.

I mean, come on; the GRD is expensive enough on its own and now I'm supposed to drop roughly a fifth of what the Ricoh cost to buy a nylon case? I've been known to get carried away, but not carried away quite that far.

I'm going to have to keep looking. Until I find something better, the original Think Tank Modular Pouch, which you can see reviewed below or also by this guy in case you don't believe me, is going to remain the GRD's bag. It's a tad too roomy for the GRD but it's the perfect shape and configuration in that it can readily change from a vertical to a horizontal bag on a belt.

Still, I really want that Head Porter bag.

The Ricoh GRD IV and me

Yes, it's been a while.

OK, so I used to own a GRD II and later a III. Then, I got sidetracked for a while with the Panasonic LX5, a camera I always respected but never grew to love.

It's so nice to be back with Ricoh (and that's not even counting my brief time with the GXR). The feel of the IV, the menus...just like home!

I was actually driven to buying a new IV after being thoroughly frustrated with trying to buy a used one. I had a Wanted to Buy at DP Review and at Fred Miranda. Heck, I even replied to a For Sale ad but never heard back from the seller. Another guy replied to my WTB but never came through with pics. I like DPR but it's not been an effectual place to do business. 

There's one on Ebay but I didn't quite buy the seller. And, like we say in the watch-flipping game; buy the seller first and the watch second.

In the end, a kind of camera-fear-of-the-future drove me to buy a new IV. Why? Because I'm afraid the IV's replacement is gonna be bigger, more like a Pentax, less like a Ricoh, or just plain different.

Even if it's better, it may not be better for me.

I'm all for bigger sensors. The sensors in my Fuji X100 is bigger and so's the one in my Nikon D200. But, the size of the GRD works in concert with the size of its sensor. Oh sure, Ricoh may do some Sony-like magic and cram a 1" inch sensor into the next GRD but the resulting camera will lose something, too. It's just the nature of change. 

By the way, I got both my new GRDs (and my GXR) from popflash.photo. Alex & Tony are  fantastic to do business with and are really dedicated to Ricoh. Plus, they're like 20 miles from where I live so I ordered Tuesday and got it Thursday with free ship.

This GRD is gonna stay!