Pentax Ricoh helps make your camera match your personality

Ever wish your camera better matched your personality? Perhaps the answer to that is no: lots of us like the anonymity of our black or silver camera bodies. Plenty of people these days have grown up to expect their consumer electronics gadgets to match their personality and fit their lifestyle, though. More and more, camera makers are catering to them with unique colors and finishes -- even on sophisticated, interchangeable-lens cameras that not so long ago were available in precisely one color.

Pentax was among the earliest of the traditional camera makers to see the opportunity in meeting demand for color and finish variations, and it's still one of the most focused on the idea, especially in its home market. Now known as Ricoh Pentax, the company has just launched several new variations for its products, including the Ricoh GR -- a camera we just reviewed.

 

Pentax Ricoh is allowing Japanese-market customers to personalize their Ricoh GR camera bodies, but some customizations have very limited availability.

In full you have five choices to personalize your camera, shown above. Some of the Ricoh GR customizations are available in limited numbers, as noted below:

• A silver top deck complete with silver buttons, popup flash cover, and Mode dial (but curiously, still a black hot shoe cover), priced at 12600 yen and limited to 50 customers

• An all-black lens front trim ring, including black text, priced at 2,100 yen

• Shutter button weight adjustment, priced at 3,150 yen, and perhaps the only option that has an impact on your photo-taking abilities

• Red or silver shutter buttons, priced at 3,350 yen and limited to 50 customers

• Handgrip trim replacement, with three choices available: glossy wood, natural wood, and leatherette. All three are actually made from plastic, and are priced at 5,775 yen.

Alongside these changes, Ricoh is also offering replacement of the handgrip with different colors of rubber on the Pentax Q-7 and K-50. Choices are as shown in the images below.

 

Pentax Ricoh Japan is providing even more customization for K-50 owners.

 

Pentax Q7 owners in Japan, too, can return their cameras for personalization.

Want to know more about the Ricoh GR? Read our just-published, in-depth Ricoh GR review for the full story. (Even if you can't have it personalized in the US market, it's a very interesting entry to the large-sensor, fixed prime lens market.)