Ricoh redefines the digital camera

By Raquel P. Gomez

JAPANESE firm Ricoh created a new digital camera category when it came out with the GXR, featuring an interchangeable camera unit system.

The new digital camera allows a user to change lenses by using a slide-in mount system to attach camera units to the body.

The unit contains not only the lens, but also the image sensor and image processing engine—parts that are usually found in a typical digital SLR camera.

The camera body contains the operation controls, LCD monitor, recording media and power source.

According to Martin Shock, sales and marketing manager of Ricoh Asia Pacific Operations Ltd, the GXR is a “revolutionary” camera system.

“It gives the photographer the power of expression since he can select the camera unit that best fits his objectives,” Shock said.

The GXR positions itself in the middle of the compact point-and-shoot digital camera and the bigger SLR camera categories.

Shock mentions the evolution of digital SLR cameras. Units now come in super compact forms. The units possess what is called the micro-four thirds technology—a new camera technology and category that has discarded the mirror lens (found in big digital SLR) to make a camera’s body slim and small. Also, the lens mount has been made smaller to fit in “micro-four thirds” interchangeable lenses.

Ricoh’s new camera technology, which has totally veered away from the micro-four thirds trend, features lens, processing engine, and processor inside a camera unit that are perfectly “tuned in” to provide the best possible image quality, Shoick said.

The GXR features a highly rigid magnesium body and multiple camera units that can be changed to best fit the scene to be photographed.

Ricoh also announced the availability of a third interchangeable unit for the GXR—the LENS P10. It has a 10.7x optical zoom lens, a back-illuminated CMOS sensor and a newly developed noise reduction function. It features a 28-300 mm wide angle shooting and continuous shooting speeds of up to five frames per second when shooting in RAW.