What's new
GR User Forum

The spot for all Ricoh GR camera users

Register for free, meet other Ricoh GR users, share your images, help others, have fun!

Tell your friends about us!

Anything new from Ricoh?

wok64

wok64

New Member
We had the new Pentax announcements but nothing new from Ricoh, yet. Did I miss something?

Wolfgang
 
Well either we get a CX7 Pfft, or we get a CX7 replacement wunderkam, or we get a show-stopper of some description.

Noteworthy most other manufacturers including Pentax have put their drawcards on the table.

Even Leica has come clean with a suspiciously Ricoh-like 920mp screen, live view and focus peaking assist. No way was focus peaking going to work on the M9 screen - meanwhile the M9 soldiers on with what was left in the parts bin as the "M-E". Once the parts run out the M-E "simplicity" is bound to die - anyone want a "standard-model superseded M9" - nice camera no less. Is this the camera that Ricoh was rumoured to be assembling back in March? Or is Ricoh package-assembling a Sony lcd and sensor with focus peaking for Leica in a camera chassis? As the new "M Typ240" does not arrive until 2013 there is no so much chance that this was what Ricoh was doing to help. In any case this must be the first indication by Leica that perhaps that the digital camera has progressed to the point that the optical RF does need a little assistance to help framing/focusing - they top this off by showing a great big ex-slr lens on the body. Heh! Leica RF does B-I-G lenses. How quaint. Especially seeing that the GXR-M has been capable of doing this for a while but most will not try this as the GXR-M is "a Leica RF copy" and therefore "should" only use tiny RF lenses (which it does very well and naturally). I now have a Zeiss myself (says he confidentially) - unfortunately it is the Sonnar 200mm f2.8, have not had time to really try it out yet. I must line up some porters and go for an expedition (grin).

... back to the subject .... So why is Ricoh so shy? It can only mean "Pfft - nothing" or "hey we are going to stop the show!".

Hope it means the latter, as they are creating some tension here and if it is a "Pfttt" it will be a big Pfttt.
 
ricoh were always good in letting nothing leaked, so i dont think it is about being shy...this is a company were all men stands to that !

tomorrow is the day...

:D
 
Someone said that there was a trade-preview. Must have been all on non-disclosures or nothing to disclose.

Hopefully the trade journos are all back in their hotel rooms trying to get their popped eyes back into their sockets and wondering where to start to write. Maybe Ricoh had not yet unpacked?

Anyway we must believe that no-news means that there is "some" news.

Ricoh the "talk of Photokina"? Would be interesting, worth millions in free advertising for the brand.

Leica released something virtually on the eave which was quite interesting, Sony got out early with the RX100 and RX1 to make sure they were noticed. Common sense would indicate that everyone is heading for the Sony or Leica stand, unless Ricoh has something reasonably radical they will pass quite unnoticed.

On saying this I note that Leica's new connections with Sony are fairly obvious - sensor (?) hi-res lcd screen and the focus peaking assist that I suggest is more a Ricoh "invention" shared with Sony and Leica than coming from Sony.

Might be some upcoming teeth knashing over lack of focus peaking in oher brands. "With auto-focus you don't need it! (so there!)"

Of course they presently just ignore it's existence, Leica guys will probably sniff at the idea of using an lcd or evf to frame and focus via electronics and focus peaking instead of the experience of a pure clear optical RF window. Many will just "struggle on" with the RF ovf to spite it. "Nothing beats the photographic experience of a big bright optical glass viewfinder". Nor does it.

Strange that just when Fuji invents a hybrid ovf Leica starts he process of leaving a pure ovf. Touche.

What Ricoh might have surely should be interesting. Methinks Sony-Leica-Ricoh are in cahoots and are not going to mess up the scheme by directly competing in similar product markets. Everyone to their own niche ...

Tom
 
Tom Caldwell":3spo3n75 said:
Even Leica has come clean with a suspiciously Ricoh-like 920mp screen, live view and focus peaking assist. No way was focus peaking going to work on the M9 screen - meanwhile the M9 soldiers on with what was left in the parts bin as the "M-E". Once the parts run out the M-E "simplicity" is bound to die - anyone want a "standard-model superseded M9" - nice camera no less.Pfttt.
Click to expand...

Pfttt.. I just don't get Leica, they could have put that $50 920Mp screen in there from day one with the M9. DPreview refer to the ME as a "stripped-down" M9 yet it cost around the same as the M9 was anyway - they are all too much $$$. I always said Leica should have made an M9 with no RF, take the whole top deck off, a FF X1 if you like.

Me.. I'd rather a few options like a GRD, DP2M and others rather than one Leica for less money.
 
Tim,
What ya have to understand is that when Leica introduces a new model, in their minds it's already perfect. There is nothing the camera needs.
All these things about upgrades, firmware issues, grips, RF, screens...everything comes at Leica, not from Leica.

I'm not justifying this attitude but simply shedding light on a principal that the camera and lenses are built upon. I for one, stand with them on their attitude.

I also believe that if Leica introduces this cheap camera with M mount lenses, it would be in partnership with Panasonic again.....
Leica used to be the camera that survived war. It was that dependable. The shooters using them were hardcore and didn't need or want bells and whistles.
Now we have a new generation of affluent people that buy the cameras and lenses and most couldn't use a GRD4 to save their life let alone an M9.

It's a shame what's happening but it's happening.
 
streetshooter":fi7jmurs said:
Tim,
What ya have to understand is that when Leica introduces a new model, in their minds it's already perfect. There is nothing the camera needs.
All these things about upgrades, firmware issues, grips, RF, screens...everything comes at Leica, not from Leica.

I'm not justifying this attitude but simply shedding light on a principal that the camera and lenses are built upon. I for one, stand with them on their attitude.

I also believe that if Leica introduces this cheap camera with M mount lenses, it would be in partnership with Panasonic again.....
Leica used to be the camera that survived war. It was that dependable. The shooters using them were hardcore and didn't need or want bells and whistles.
Now we have a new generation of affluent people that buy the cameras and lenses and most couldn't use a GRD4 to save their life let alone an M9.

It's a shame what's happening but it's happening.
Click to expand...

I agree with you Don, Leica has a formula that works for them and that is it. The fact that it does not suit everybody is reason enough to stick pins into, not so much Leica the company, but the bubble that certain Leica owners seem to live in. (not you Don, you are down to earth and practical). Leica make great rugged camera but they cannot forever live in splendid isolation from the march of electronic progress. Nice to see that they can adapt when the time is right.

Being in partnership with another company to get cheap effective cameras rebadged as Leicas into shops is a great low-cost way to make sure that some people can see and get their hands on "a Leica". However there was a "sort of" rumour back in March that Leica was getting 1" FF sensors from Sony for a new camera to replace the old Kodak sensored M9. The rumour also stated that Ricoh had been contracted to do at least some of the assembly for Leica. The Typ240 might be the concrete result of that rumour, the more obvious Sony parts might be inferred. Ricoh's participation? We might never know, not that it matters. None of this technical collaboration would necessarily mean we are about to see an end to rebadging Pansonics as Leicas. I doubt if we will see a Ricoh or Pentax rebadged as a Leica any time soon.

My heart did a flutter some time ago when the A12 mount module was released. Almost straight away Leica announced that they were going to make a replaceable lensed aps-c sensor LM mount camera. Nothing seems to have happened - for a tiny moment I thought that Leica might be about to rebadge a GXR-M (grin).

The most obvious reason for the higher res lcd in the Typ240 is to be able to effectively use "live-view" and focus peaking assist as well as electronically generated framing and focusing (the world stopped just for a moment - did you not notice :) ). No idea where the firmware for focus peaking came from but only Sony and Ricoh have it. Both use Sony sensors and now Leica seem to have cottoned on. It seems a Sony sensor for sure and also Ricoh sports two focus peaking modes to Sony's single, slightly different, version. Not only that but Ricoh did a firmware update and "gave" the focus peaking assist to all their GXR modules (right back to GXR day one). My guess is that Ricoh designed the focus peaking routine with some electronic help from Sony - just my guess, again not that it matters that much who "did it".

Meanwhile, rather than have the M9 fans hold off whilst waiting for the Typ240 to arrive they are not discounting the M9 at all but just immediately releasing a renamed cheaper version with all the basics, a sort of "combat level" rugged beast with the essentials and none of the frills for those that just need the basic needs of photography - should sell by the truckload.


Tom
 
Tom Caldwell":344y8o7u said:
No idea where the firmware for focus peaking came from but only Sony and Ricoh have it.
Tom
Click to expand...

I have heard that many of these Japanese companies do patent swapping, where one technology patent is swapped for another. Don't know if this is true but it explains why some have "smile mode" :D on their cameras and others don't.
 
Subject: Anything new from Ricoh?

AlbertTRAL wrote:
K module rumor alive again? Pentax Forum impressions from Photokina 2012 regarding the GXR:
http://www.pentaxforums.com/news/the-ri ... okina.html


Yes well .... maybe. I am not sure that a K mount module would be that great an idea. The flange back distance would make it quite a big beast to start with. You can fit a K mount adapter to the A12 mount for manual operations anyway.

However a K mount module would help zip Ricoh and Pentax together on a common path and there are heaps of K mount lenses about. A fully functional K mount would handle auto-focus lenses. Maybe the sensor could go as faaaa...r back as it could to get the least protrusion?

However a new idea? How about a new GXR back with evf built in, a decent "slr" grip and also a FF sensor in a K mount module? Now that would really start to get interesting. Of course the normal module mount rails and backward compatibilty to all existing GXR modules including the A12 mount module.

Such a new GXR back would necessarily be larger and probably the extra flange back distance of the K mount module would not be so noticeable. Of course the current A12 mount module in this new body would be a great mule to fit larger ex-slr lenses. I want one.

Now if new series K mount lenses could be part-buried into the mount maybe the result would be outside mounted "old" k-mount lenses and part-inside mount "new" k mount lenses - sweet.

Now why didn't I think of that before?

Of course I will be proved so horribly wrong in just a few hours.

Tom
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top