Ricoh announces GXR interchangeable unit camera

 

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Posted on 11 Nov 2009 at 17:30

Ricoh has announced the development and release of the GXR interchangeable unit camera system, which uses a quirky new slide-in mounting to attach camera units to the GXR body.

While micro four thirds cuts the bulk by removing the mirror box on traditional SLRs, which in turn reduces the size of lenses, Ricoh's GXR system is a completely different take on reducing the size of cameras with interchangeable lens systems. Each GXR lens unit not only includes a lens, but also houses the sensor, shutter, aperture, the AF motors and an image processor.

There's another image processor in the GXR body as well and, depending on the lens being attached to the front, image processing, noise reduction and other important parameters may differ.

Because the important parts of the camera are completely sealed off from the elements, the threat of dust is effectively eliminated. Ricoh also says that it enables quicker lens switches, but we're not sure that's as much of an issue for photographers wanting interchangeable lenses.

What will be of potential interest to users is the fact that the new system has made it possible to achieve both "pocket size for go-anywhere portability" and "the highest image quality for every photographic situation and subject", according to Ricoh.

The GXR's lens units can include different sensor sizes based on different technologies which effectively means the GXR could be anything from a relatively compact super zoom (competing with Panasonic's TZ series) to a Range Finder style camera with a fast prime (fixed focal length) lens.

The body itself looks a little dated, but retro appears to be the 'in' thing at the moment. It's made from die-cast magnesium and has what Ricoh refers to as a "pear-skin coating". On the back, there's a 3in 920,000 pixel LCD with a dust, scratch and reflection-resistant coating.

Whether or not this will succeed is going to depend a lot on Ricoh's ability to deliver on its promises of highly optimised lens and sensor combinations, which may well be enough to tempt buyers away from more conventional solutions. The other issue we have is with the fact that both the sensor and image processing technology isn't easily upgradeable.

Both sensor and image processing technologies are improving at an incredible pace, whereas many lenses (certainly the better ones) have reached a point where it's difficult to improve sharpness or reduce chromatic aberration. To think that you'd have to upgrade your lens collection to benefit from improved sensor dynamic range, higher ISOs, better noise reduction or any combination of those factors, feels a little bit too much to ask.

Ricoh said that the body will retail at £419, while an optional optical viewfinder will be £219 and hotshoe mounted flash will cost £239. Lenses start from £300 and there'll be two available at launch, an A12 50mm F2.5 macro (12.3mp sensor) at £600 and an S10 24-72mm F2.5-4.4 VC (10mp sensor with sensor-shift image stabilisation) at around £300. The firm said that more lenses will follow in the future, but didn't expand beyond that.

For more information, you can check out Ricoh's GXR website.

Author: Tim Smalley