Ricoh To Stop Mass Production Of Cameras In Favor Of Digital Direct Sales

According to the Gadget Tendency website, Ricoh will discontinue mass production and sales of cameras in favor of a more workshop-like, customer-direct order system. The President of Ricoh Japan, Noboru Akabane, announced that beginning April 1, 2022, the new system will go into effect in Japan. The announcement apparently did not give many details about how this method of marketing will function, other than to comment that the company will be able to improve direct communications with consumers regarding what the photographers need. Whether this system will be scaled up for world-wide sales or not is still an open question.

As of this writing, the website showed only three DSLR models for sale, a medium-format, a full frame, and an APS-C model. Four GR models are offered. The rest of the more professional models are marked “discontinued. Some all-weather sports and 360° camera continue to be available.

Photo illustration by Weston MacKibbon on UnSplash