Sep 30 – Oct 5 · Case study

Ricoh GR IV

A pocket camera, sold to the people more scared of missing the moment than missing the shot.

Start to finish
5 h
Launched
Mon 11:11pm
Posts read
9,056
Meetings
0
Film · 0:30 stills film

Four photos by GR owners on r/ricohGR and one selfie of mine. The voice, music and shutter sound were made with AI; the photographs weren’t.

What we heard

9,056 posts and comments · 7 platforms
  1. Price and value829, the loudest
  2. Carrying it every day
  3. Fujifilm comparisons
  4. The look and JPEG recipes
  5. Monochrome, HDF and other variants
  6. Missing features
  7. Reliability and lens errors
  8. Kids, partners, friends and pets301, the deepest
  9. The phone versus the GR
  10. Stock, lotteries and waiting
  11. Joy and shooting again
  12. Dust

Price was the loudest. People talking about their kids, partners and dogs were the deepest. So that’s where we went.

Twelve photos by GR owners on r/ricohGR: a hand reaching into a ball pit, a child reading under a sun hat, a child at a rainy window, a toddler in morning sun, a daughter in a kitchen, a girl kissing her reflection, a girl watching boats, a girl with balloons, dinner across the table, a dog on a bench, a dog asleep in a chair and a night walk
What GR owners point it at: twelve photos from r/ricohGR. Almost nobody is posing. Most were taken from a step or two away.

In their words

“Some people get caught up with not missing the shot; I’m too worried about missing out on being a dad.”

u/rogerwilco2000 on r/ricohGR. More than 300 people said some version of it.

The insight

Missing the moment scares them more than missing the shot.

Every camera asks for the same trade: to keep the moment, step out of it. A missed shot they can live with. Twenty years of photos of a life they watched instead of lived, they can’t.

The idea

Stay in the picture.

Every photo is taken from somewhere: your side of the table, a few steps behind her at the railing. If you were close enough to take it, you were part of it. So every piece runs on one device: a real photo by a real GR owner, and one line about where they were standing.

Black and white photo looking down into a ball pit. The photographer’s arm reaches in and holds the hand of a little girl peeking out between the balls
Rescuing my daughter from the ball pit of doom.

u/pest174, in their own words

Why the GR IV gets to say it

0.6seconds

Off to ready, the fastest start-up in GR history, by Ricoh’s count. And there’s no viewfinder to put to your eye, so nobody sets up a shot: you snap and go. About 262 grams, it lives in a pocket. Out, click, back in, and you’re back in the moment before anyone noticed you left.

The work

9 pieces
Poster: a small girl in pink at a river railing with the Manhattan skyline beyond. A few steps behind her, watching the boats too. Stay in the picture. RICOH GR IV
Poster · 24 × 36 in

Photo by u/Visible-Frosting6328

Poster: a toddler in a patch of morning sun fixing her hair bow. On the floor, in the same patch of sun. Stay in the picture. RICOH GR IV
Poster · 24 × 36 in

Photo by u/Domie071

Poster: a child reading a book under a wide blue sun hat. Reading over her shoulder. Stay in the picture. RICOH GR IV
Poster · 24 × 36 in

Photo by u/Unlikely-Stretch-949

A rooftop billboard over a Chicago corner by the L tracks: a child reading under a sun hat, with the line Reading over her shoulder.
Out-of-home · Chicago rooftop bulletin

Photo by u/Unlikely-Stretch-949. The street is made with AI; the photo and type aren’t.

A wallscape on a brick building in the Kansas City Crossroads: a toddler in a patch of morning sun, with the line On the floor, in the same patch of sun. A parent and child walk hand in hand below.
Out-of-home · Kansas City wallscape

Photo by u/Domie071. The street is made with AI; the photo and type aren’t.

A wallscape on a brick warehouse in DUMBO, Brooklyn, near the Manhattan Bridge: a small girl at a railing watching the skyline, with the line A few steps behind her, watching the boats too.
Out-of-home · Brooklyn wallscape

Photo by u/Visible-Frosting6328. The street is made with AI; the photo and type aren’t.

The campaign site at ricoh.nonextsteps.com: Stay in the picture, one line about the GR IV and the film ready to play, with Film, Photos and Add Your Line in the navigation
Site · ricoh.nonextsteps.com

Send a GR photo and a line about where you were. If it runs, you’re credited and paid.

The email a photographer gets when their photo runs: a girl with balloons and the headline Your photo is running
Email · Your photo is running

Photo by u/fordkate

How the week went

No regroups were held
  1. Wed

    Research

    1 hours

    0.5 h research, 0.5 h ideas

  2. Thu

    Research

    0.5 hours

    0.5 h ideas

  3. Fri

    Idea

    Quiet

  4. Sat

    Work

    Quiet

  5. Sun

    Work

    Quiet

  6. Mon

    Ship

    3.5 hours

    Launched at 11:11pm. 0.5 h film, 0.5 h poster, 0.5 h out-of-home, 2 h process improvements.

The photographers

Every photo here belongs to the GR owner who took it, on r/ricohGR. The lines are drafts until each owner writes their own.