Ricoh's tumbling second hand prices

[ZDP-189]

I'm a value buyer. I don't like the idea of being bent over a store counter and reamed every time I buy a camera. I suppose that's because I have a tendency to accumulate cameras and otherwise I'd have to sell some. Anyway, I do a lot of research and I know both new and second hand market prices so I can spot a good deal when I see one.

So last night I bought a GRD I in Hong Kong on the recommendation of Ricoh forum members. I'm not ready to say that it's better than my GRD III, but I was surprised at how well it performed. It doesn't look, feel and shoot like it's generations behind. certainly it doesn't deserve its pricing. When I started looking just weeks ago, the second hand store price was $220, then $190 and when I finally reached for the cash it had fallen to $130 for a bare camera and battery. At a different store I got a second hand but minty GX200 in a crisp full box for $225. I couldn't pass it up. When I bought my first digital Ricoh, a GX100+VF-1 (second hand boxed) it cost me about $350. After Christmas the going rate for a second hand boxed GRD III was $475, but at the beginning of the month I managed to snag a mint boxed GRD III for under $310. The GRD III and GX200 should be a big premium over the GX100, so that should only be around the $140-$180 mark today, if that.

Please don't make me any offers; I've no intention of selling. Why? Because it doesn't make any sense to me. Ricoh's are a bit different to other brands and shouldn't really devalue in the same way. As I said, the shootability and results hasn't really changed that much over the recent years and I can still get a better photo with an first generation Ricoh than many of the latest consumer cameras will give you with their so called 'intelligent auto' modes and auto flash. Ricoh's have a more or less bulletproof plasticoated magnesium bodies and they all take the same generic lithium batteries and even triple-A's. So in years to come, when the original batteries are dead, you can still shoot them. I learned this was a big deal when collecting cameras - those with dead coupled selenium meters, discontinued mercury batteries and discontinued film stock are paperweights. Also with the use of Alkaline batteries, I can leave them all over the place as standby cameras. I won't get many shots out of them but what other digital will take batteries that will still be good to go in years' time?

So here I am looking at the space in what has not become a collection a missing GRD II and thinking - heck, this is getting expensive! I may be a value buyer, but I didn't say I was entirely rational. :lol:

 

[33dollars]

Hi ZDP-189, I thought that camera list had grown. There is something about Ricoh's that make them collectible & i think you hit it on the head. Usability down the track. What the designers have done about power issues latter is great.
I have a GX & GX8 but the GX8 is a better camera. I have a GX100 & a GX200. But I reach for the GX100. I also have some Ricoh film cameras. Sometimes I look at one and say, "Your going to get some film" or "How about a recharge". Then I have a camera for the day or week. True not all my cameras are Ricoh's, but I'm sure they are collectible.

 

[ZDP-189]

Yeah, it sounds like the Ricoh buying has gotten out of hand, but they were practically giving away those suckers.

Another thing that fills my heart with warmth and my head with confidence for the future is that 2-3 years after launch, you still see new firmware updates and new accessories (even if it's just because of back compatibility with current models.)

 

[thelps]

So here I am looking at the space in what has not become a collection a missing GRD II and thinking - heck, this is getting expensive! I may be a value buyer, but I didn't say I was entirely rational. :lol:

Reading through your post I think you got some great bargains. Just remember what the asking price of these were new. I can recall the GX100 in AU$ being AU$900 with the VFD when new at a camera shop. I've since seen NOS around the AU$350 mark. Also back in the film days some High Quality compacts like the Contax T2/3 and the Leica CMs etc were about AU$2000 when released. Sure prices dropped but I can recall the CM being AU$1400 from a dealer. So I think current compact cameras are absolute bargains even new released prices, what you have bought even more so. I have a GRD II but can't quite part with it, sorry, part of the reason is the loss in value, I may as well keep it.

I have a saying that "old digital cameras still take photos" and some still lament the old days. Look at the following the Leica Digilux 2 has, a cult as much as the GRD1 IMO.
I'd still like a remake of the GR1v but it makes you wonder if a GRD1 remake would sell?

I also keep my eye on old GX100/200 prices as well as CX stuff as I am looking for a bargain to use as a "work" camera. I will have to fund this myself and the other gear I have I don't want to risk at work or leaving in the car - sounds odd but my cameras are for my hobby, home, travel, art type use and they don't make it to my work environment.

 

[ZDP-189]

Yeah, Tim. My HK second hand dealer buddy said the GRD III was probably a case of the seller thinking it was a GRDII. I went back today and saw many GXR kits of all types and a fair few GX200's. The place is awash with them. There are some GRD III's but no GRD I's any more. I should probably pick up the missing GRD II as there are 4 available, but for some reason they're advertised at around $290 to $300 less maybe 7% discount. I think that makes the GRD I a super value proposition and the GRD II poor. Considering so many people consider the GRD II less desireable than either the III or the Classic and as I've now got an embarrassment of Ricoh's, I should probably sit back and wait for it to hit my target price. It shouldn't be longer than a few months, especially if Ricoh brings out a GRD IV, andregardless if thereis any actual improvement.

FYI, the going rate for a T2 is probably under $360 and I picked up a totally mint boxed CM prime for $770 last month.

Maybe I need to take a step back before I end up buying not only a GRD II, but a GR1, GR1S, GR10 and a R1S. I'm already down for a Fujifilm X100 and if Ricoh comes out with the GXR-M and Canon spawns the 5DMkIII I'll be selling bodily fluids just as soon as the kidney op wound heals.