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Ricoh GXR Preview


In the short, frenetic history of the digital camera it has often been the smaller, less high profile manufacturers who have taken all the risks and experimented with more unconventional designs and solutions. For despite all the technological advances in the last decade the majority of digital cameras have designs that follow the same basic blueprint as their analog predecessors: they're essentially the same cameras with a sensor in the place of film.

This is especially true in the interchangeable lens camera sector, where the big players (coincidentally those who led the market in the days of film), hampered by the need (desire) to retain compatibility with their legacy analog systems, produce digital SLRs that would feel reassuringly familiar to any photographer from the late '80s or early '90s who by choice or circumstance had missed out on the digital revolution.

This year has seen the first serious challenges to the dominance of the single lens reflex (a design that can trace it roots back over 100 years, and that hasn't changed fundamentally since the 1950s) in the interchangeable lens camera market - thanks to the introduction of Micro Four Thirds by Olympus and Panasonic. Samsung has been trailing a very similar system ('NX'), based on a larger APS-C sensor and slated for launch some time in 2010.

So when we first heard from Ricoh that they wanted to come and show us a new system camera we presumed it too was going to be variation on the 'mirrorless' design. Then we started to get hints that it was actually a totally new idea (or, as mentioned at the bottom of this page, a very old idea resurrected).

The interchangeable lens unit camera

Where Micro Four Thirds and similar systems aim to cut bulk by removing the mirror box, which slims down the camera body and somewhat reduces the size of the lenses (though by how much depends on the sensor size used), they still end up pretty big once you add zoom lenses (and if we're talking about long zooms or telephotos the advantage is all but lost - large sensors require large lenses). Thus the idea that these 'hybrid' cameras can offer SLR quality and versatility combined with compact camera size is simply not possible.

Ricoh's answer to this problem is, to say the least, novel. Rather than selling a camera body with a fixed sensor, the GXR system uses interchangeable lens/sensor units - every lens comes in a sealed unit complete with sensor, shutter, aperture, processing engine (there's also one in the camera body) and the motors necessary to focus the lens (and drive the zoom mechanism if present). You are, essentially, buying a new 'camera' every time you buy the lens: the GXR body is little more than a shell containing the screen, card slot, controls and flash. This radical rethink of the 'interchangeable lens' has some important consequences:

  • Different lens units can have different sensor sizes and technologies (CCD or CMOS, for example)
  • By using a smaller (compact camera) sensor the GXR system can offer very small zooms
  • Lens units can be designed for specialist applications (video optimized lens and sensor for example)
  • The overall performance of the system is essentially defined by the lens unit, not the body
  • Each lens has its own shutter


The GXR launches with two very different optional lens modules. Although the body is very thin, how pocketable the camera is depends entirely on the lens module mounted: the S10 zoom unit maintains the low profile when not in use (it collapses when powered down) but the A12 prime is a fairly large unit.

The GXR body (which is like a slightly over-sized GR or GX model) can thus be anything from a high speed compact superzoom (a la Panasonic TZ series) to an APS-C compact with a fast prime lens (think Sigma DP2 or Leica X1) simply by swapping lens units. By replacing the lens unit with a compact projector, printer or high capacity storage device it could stop being a camera completely, at least that's the theory.

Ricoh GXR: Key features

  • Unique flat sliding lens mount
  • Interchangeable sealed lens/sensor units
  • Compact Magnesium Alloy die-cast body with 'GR coating'
  • Extensive customization options and external controls
  • 3.0" 920,000 pixel LCD
  • Built-in flash and accessory shoe
  • Optional electronic viewfinder
  • HDMI connector
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