Was surprised to find no mention here of the Ricoh GXR leak (video).

I'm still a bit confused about the concept, but it sounds like an innovative amalgam of the compactness of micro four thirds and the flexibility of an MFDB. The camera consists of a back which has the LCD and an accessory shoe, and you attach an integrated lens/sensor combo to it. I'm not entirely sure what the advantages of combining the lens and the sensor are (sensor optimized for the lens? compact? dust-resistant?).

Ricoh has some of the most innovative cameras out there already, but this is taking it to another level.

Looks horrible. Nice way to take a compact camera and make it a HUGE system.

It has a nice gun-metal finish and looks like a tool, which are quite appealing. Not sure what you mean by the huge system, but physically it's smaller than EP-1.

It's definitely an interesting concept.

The zoom unit seems to have the 1/1.7" sensor (9.5mm diagonal) of the Ricoh GR Digital III (and Canon G11, S90) and the 5.1-15.3mm true focal length range lens of the Ricoh GX-200. It is easy to be smaller with a sensor of less than one fifth the area! On the other hand the far larger macro unit seems to have the far larger Sony 12MP APS-C EXMOR sensor.

The sealed lens-sensor units offer quiet leaf shutter lenses, allows different sensor sizes for lenses with different purposes, and keeps dust out.

Its an awesome concept, I'm just afraid the performance will be lacking for the price.

Sounds interesting indeed. It is comforting to see that some brand liks Ricoh are still trying to be creative in the compact cameras domain. They have a near cult following here in Japan.

It also shows that the sensor isn't worth much in today's compact cameras... the problem being that the base of the camera is also not worth much probably.

In the end, the main value is the ability to carry 2 different sensors on a given trip, but the prices listed are similar to standalone cameras... carrying 2 sensor/lens set might also make the thing not a lot less compact that a 4/3...

We shall see.

Cheers,
Bernard

It is now more than a rumor...

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0911/09111001ricohgxr.asp

Cheers,
Bernard

The concept is definitely interesting, and the body seems to be really high end in construction (being all metal) - but the price..??? Who is going to buy that thing ?

Street price in Japan (Yodobashi):

Body: 45,000 Yen,
A12 (50 mm): 68,000 Yen
S10 (24-72): 36,000 Yen

Availability is announced for mid-December.

This being said, Yodobashi is typically on the expensive side:

Yodobashi price for GRIII: 72,000 Yen
Cheaper online retailed: 58,000 Yen

So I expect the GR street prices to go down at least 1015% in the coming weeks. That will leave us with a body+A12 at around 95,000 Yen or 700 Euro.

Cheers,
Bernard

But "This camera unit uses a 10.00 megapixel 1/1.7-inch CCD sensor" just like the G10 and G11 !!!

In that case, I prefer to stay with a Canon because their 5X zoom is lighter and more compact and the ND filter.

Thierry

The concept, albeit interesting, is not new, it has been tried by Minolta in the late 1990's. The problem I see with it is that it treis to be too many things at the same time, with the inherent compromises. Lets see:

1. If you want a zoom, you have to compromise on the sensor size. You will end up with the image quality of a G11 or LX3 or GX200, at almost twice the price?

2. If you want to use a larger sensor, it is even more expensive, and it is bigger than a GF1 or EP1/2 plus pancake prime lens. At least with the latter you can use a zoom lens and keep the large sensor.

I see one niche in there: people who
- always want a compact camera
- sometimes want a decent zoom range, and so must accept a small sensor to keep it compact (the S10 option).
- sometimes want the good low light performance (or shallow DOF) of a larger sensor combined with low minimum f-stop, and must accept a prime of wide to normal focal length to keep it compact (the A12 option).
Or variants like wanting two small sensor units, say the S10 and a super-zoom.

I do not see much appeal to those who want to use a larger sensor with a variety of lenses (better served by m4/3 or some other EVIL option) or who only want one lens in total (better served by a one-piece digicam).

this niche is further narrowed by dependence on Ricoh for lenses. too narrow for me