Anyone in the market for a new camera? Ricoh’s new GXR is something quite different. Instead of an interchangeable lens, Ricoh built what they call a “camera unit”. A camera unit houses both the lens and the digital sensor. Different units comprise of different combinations of lens and sensors.
It’s pretty ingenious if you ask me. If Ricoh releases other camera units in addition to the current 2 they have, the GXR can be a very versatile camera. Remember, camera units can have other functions besides capturing images through glass. A projector unit can be used to project images!
It feels pretty good in hand. Very nicely built. Doesn’t feel as big as the GF1 or the pen.
The GR Lens unit. 50mm F2.5 Macro with a large APS-C sensor. The image quality is astonishing but I find the autofocus a little slow. Maybe “marco” had something to do with it?
The other camera unit has a pretty standard 24-77mm F2.5-4.4 lens with a smaller CCD sensor size normally found in other compact digital cameras. It’s a lot more compact and the GXR is probably pocketable if you use it with this unit.
For me, I prefer the super sharp 50mm. ^^.
Although I like the GXR, it is a little out of my range. Maybe if it was a little cheaper. If you would like to sponsor me a set, let me know. Maybe we can work out a win-win situation. ^^.
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We don’t have Ricoh cameras here in Vancouver. No one carries it. So I can’t try it out in a store. Though very interesting, I am a bit skeptical about how useful this design is. Unless I can plug the lens module to the front of a car to help me park in tight spaces, or mount the lens module on top of a TV and make it a video conferencing system, I am not seeing a lot of advantages of coupling the sensor with the lens yet.
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k Reply:
December 18th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how far Ricoh will take this system.
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