Ricoh GXR unit camera system launched
Ricoh has launched its new GXR interchangeable unit camera system that comes with a body and two detachable camera lens units.
Photo: Ricoh GXR camera front view
The Ricoh GXR introduces an interesting concept of portability, where each camera unit contains a lens and an image sensor of optimum type and size for the unit, and an image processing engine.
Thus, the body of the Ricoh GXR contains only the battery, flash, and LCD screen.
The camera lens units can be changed using a smooth and corrosion-resistant sliding mechanism of the Ricoh GXR that ensures secure attachment and removal of the camera units.
Photo: Body of the Ricoh GXR camera system
The camera also assures better dust proofing since the lens and sensor are encased in one airtight camera unit.
The camera offers maximum ISO3200 sensitivity for all camera units assuring blur-free photos. Users can choose between two settings, AUTO and AUTO-HI.
The AUTO setting allows the camera to choose the ISO setting, while the AUTO-HI feature allows the user to select the maximum automatic setting allowed.
Photo: Ricoh GXR camera back view
Users can also choose between image settings, such as Vivid, Standard, Natural, Black & White, B&W (TE), and Setting.
Another feature of the Ricoh GXR is a quick-shooting function called the Full press snap that that allows users to take a shot immediately without the autofocus function.
Users can choose between these focus distances: 1 m, 1.5 m, 2 m, 2.5 m, 3 m, 3.5 m, 5 m, or infinity.
Photo: Ricoh GXR camera with A12 camera unit 1
Another feature is multi-pattern auto white balance that ensures that optimum white balance is applied to multiple areas, which may have different color temperatures.
The Ricoh GXR features M-continuous plus that allows continuous shooting when the shutter-release button is pressed, recording 30 still images shot just before the users remove their fingers from the shutter-release button.
Photo: Ricoh GXR camera with S10 camera unit 2
Some important specifications of the Ricoh GXR camera are:
Flash Auto: (flash fires when lighting is poor or subject is backlit), red-eye, on, slow sync, manual, off
Picture display: 3.0-inch transparent LCD; 920,000 pixels
Shooting mode: Auto, program shift, aperture priority, shutter priority, manual, scene (movie, portrait, sports, landscape, nightscape, skew correction)
Storage: SD/SDHC memory card, internal memory (86 MB)
File format
Photographs: JPEG (Exif Ver. 2.21)*2, RAW (DNG)
Movies: AVI*3(Open DML Motion JPEG compliant)
Compression: JPEG baseline compliant (photographs and movies)
Shooting options: M-continuous shooting (M-Cont Plus), Self-timer, B&W (TE), Color space selection, noise reduction, histogram display, framing grid, depth-of-field indicator, and tilt indicator.
Operating system Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4, Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3 / Professional Service Pack 3, Windows Vista Service Pack 2
Camera Unit 1: GR LENS A12 12.30 mega pixels, 50 mm fixed focal length, CMOS 23.6×15.7 mm, GR Engine III, 1/2x Macro
Camera Unit 2: RICOH LENS S10 10.00 megapixels, 24-72 mm wide-angle, CCD 1/1.7 inch, Smooth Imagine Engine IV, 1 cm Macro
(via Ricoh)