The compact camera comeback, in prices: why a 2019 Ricoh costs more than it did new
Updated 2026-11-04 · 5 min read · prices update with every price check
Something odd is going on in one corner of the camera market. A Ricoh GR III, announced in February 2019 with a launch price of US$899.95, sells new today for $1,499.95, and a used one for $1,250. A Fujifilm X100VI launched at US$1,599 in 2024 and sells for $2,000. A Sony RX100 VII, a 2019 design with a US$1,199 launch price, is $1,488.95. Nothing else in photography behaves like this, so we went through our whole catalogue to see how far it goes, and what the new compacts of 2025 and 2026 have done to it.
Half of compacts are above launch price. Almost nothing else is.
We compared today's cheapest new US price at the stores we check with each camera's launch price, for every product with both. The pattern by type, on 4 November 2026:
- Compact cameras: 20 of 41 sell above their launch price. The typical compact is at 101% of launch, which for a category that is mostly five to ten years old is extraordinary.
- Mirrorless cameras: 24 of 111 are above launch, and the typical one is at 88% of launch.
- DSLRs: none of 17 are above launch; the typical one is at 77%.
- Action cameras: 5 of 14, typical 92%. Drones: none of 3, typical 84%.
Cameras depreciate. That is the normal state of the market, and it still is for anything with an interchangeable lens. Compacts stopped depreciating because the makers stopped making most of them between 2019 and 2023, just as a new generation decided a dedicated small camera was the thing to own, and the second-hand supply is the only supply.
The cameras that cost more than they did new
The Ricoh is the clearest case. Our archived price records show it selling for US$1,329.99 in June 2024, already well above its launch price, and it has kept climbing since because Ricoh never caught up with demand and the GR IV that replaced it in August 2025 launched at US$1,499.95. The RX100 VII is the last of its line, with no successor announced in six years, so there is no new supply at all. The X100VI is the one new camera in this group, and the one whose premium we expect to fade first: Fujifilm is still making it, and a camera in production always catches up with its waiting list eventually.
The 2025 and 2026 compacts: the makers answer
The gap between what buyers wanted and what was on sale was obvious enough that the makers finally responded. In eighteen months we have had the Ricoh GR IV, the Fujifilm X half, the Canon PowerShot V1, the Nikon Coolpix P1100, the Panasonic Lumix ZS99, ZS300 and L10, the Sony RX10 V and RX1R III, and Insta360's first two compacts. Here is what they cost today against what they launched at:
Two things stand out. First, the new compacts are behaving like normal cameras: the X half launched at US$849.99 and is already far below it, the PowerShot V1 (US$899.99 at launch) and ZV-1 II (US$899) sell below launch, and only the GR IV holds its price. Second, that has not pulled the old favourites down. A new compact that is below launch sits beside a six-year-old one that is above it, which tells you the demand is for specific cameras, not for "a compact". The GR III and RX100 VII are being bought as the particular objects they are.
What it means if you are buying
- Buy the current model, not the legend, unless you want the legend. The GR IV is a better camera than the GR III at a similar price. The V1 and ZV-1 II are the cheapest way to a good small sensor camera right now, and they are only getting cheaper.
- Used is not the discount it usually is. For the cameras above, a used body sells within a few hundred dollars of new, and sometimes above it when new stock is out. Check both prices on the product page before assuming second-hand is the saving.
- Watch the X100VI through Black Friday. It is the one camera here whose premium depends on a shortage that is ending. Its price history shows every day's lowest price.
Where we think it goes
Our read, for what it is worth: the premium on discontinued compacts lasts as long as the makers leave the gap open, and they are closing it. Every maker that still has a compact line has shipped a new one since 2025, and the ones that do not (Nikon's fixed-lens line aside) are the ones with the most to gain from a 2027 release. When a modern successor exists at launch price, the old model's premium goes within a year; the GR IIIx is already drifting below the GR III for exactly that reason. The cameras that keep their premium will be the ones with no successor coming, which today means the RX100 VII and the X100 line's older bodies. The cheapest compacts of today, by current price:
- 13
