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GXR A12 mount production HOLD!

O

olch

New Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2011
Messages
70
RICOH just announced that m mount production is on hold due to flood in Asia.

Notification

Effects of Thailand flooding on Ricoh brand digital camera production

November 10, 2011
Ricoh Company, Ltd.

We would like to send our heartfelt condolences to those affected by the flooding in Thailand.

Since Ricoh does not produce digital cameras in Thailand, the recent flooding has not directly damaged our manufacturing bases. However, production of some parts has been halted at manufacturers we outsource production to and at suppliers. The effects of that production halt are thus starting to be seen in supply of parts.

A lack of parts has already occurred for some products (GXR MOUNT A12), and effects could be expected to expand to other products, depending on future circumstances.

We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause to customers and ask for your understanding. Investigations on the situation and its severity will continue, and we are working to minimize effects to our customers.

http://ricoh.com/r_dc/info/111110.html
 
Read it again more carefully
:)

Since Ricoh does not produce digital cameras in Thailand, the recent flooding has not directly damaged our manufacturing bases. However, production of some parts has been halted at manufacturers we outsource production to and at suppliers. The effects of that production halt are thus starting to be seen in supply of parts.
Click to expand...
 
My copy of A12 50mm and S10 says "Made in Thailand". See the bottom of your modules ;) So there must be a significant amount of GXR parts made in Thailand? I was quite surprised to see that, because I only knew about the china-based Ricoh factory.

Well, this news about hold production is definitely not a very good news and especially now, only weeks before the Christmas. But that's life. I'm sure it's only a temporary problem. Fuji faced a very similar issue with their X100 right after the start of X100 mass production.
 
I guess it's the Sony sensor with it's shifted special micro-lenses.

Yesterday the news said that the government in Thailand thinks about giving up Bangkok as their capital.......very very sad this situation for the people over there.....
 
now it seems the a12 mount module is on permanant hold due to it being replaced with an a16 mount module
with the same apsc module as found in the sony nex 5n

ive only had my mount module about a month and a half, what speedy product cycles ricoh has!
 
ricohlizer":3esdngiy said:
now it seems the a12 mount module is on permanant hold due to it being replaced with an a16 mount module
with the same apsc module as found in the sony nex 5n

ive only had my mount module about a month and a half, what speedy product cycles ricoh has!
Click to expand...

mmhhh, I don't think so. Ricoh has very conservative release intervalls for their digital cameras. The new Sony sensor has impressive datas but the overall package is more important. And here Ricoh shines with it's 12MP sensor. The sensor and the electronics behind him are carefully designed, especially for the more symmetrical lenses with M bajonett.
For the next 12-18 months I see no new APS-C sensor to replace the current one........(jus my guessing.....) :?
 
The way I understand it, the A12 sensor is being discontinued by Sony, so Ricoh has to play along with that decision.
 
if you go to mirrorless rumor you will read that the new a 16 m mount sensor , the one used in the nex 5n , a well regarded sensor for its nice high iso ability will be announced \ released in january of 2012

i know ricoh is a conservative company but when they want to change a model or do an upgrade they can sometimes be quicker than othe r camera companies , consider the cx series for example and how quickly it went from cx1 to cx6
 
There is some speculation, backed up by a recent Zeiss white paper, that the lack of an AA filter fronting the sensor is primarily responsible for the better performance of symmetrical wide angle lens designs on the Mount A12 as compared to the NEX-5N.

If this is indeed the case, and Ricoh sticks to keeping the AA filter out of the Mount A16, perhaps that's all that needs to happen to carry on the quality we are used to seeing from our RF lenses on the Mount A12.

The consensus seems to be the GXR treats rangefinder lenses, in general, better. As I've shot both, I can attest to this - problematic lenses on the 5N like the Zeiss Biogon wides suffer from smudged edges and corners; on the GXR Mount A12, the files are crisp to the edges. The difference is obvious, you don't need to pixel peep to spot this.

A Mount A16 will benefit from much improved noise performance and sensitivity. The difference between the Mount A12 and the NEX-5N is quite large in both regards. I've used both; sold off my 5N because overall the GXR/Mount A12 meets more of my needs, but I can't say that I would not be happy to get that noise performance and sensitivity back.

Unlike Sony's NEX series, the Mount module is purposely designed for M / adapted LTM rangefinder lenses, so it seems very unlikely that Ricoh would adopt a sensor without specifically confirming that the new sensor and its implementation in the Mount module by Ricoh performs as it needs to.

I'm not at all worried that Ricoh would be acting rashly by adopting the 16MP sensor so soon after the release of the Mount A12. Actually my emotional response is completely opposed, since Ricoh was forced to act by circumstance, I'm impressed that they are able to move so quickly on a product that I care about.

Now... how about a GXR-II body...
 
Having been out of photography for over 2 years, and coming from a Canon 40D 10MPix (and 10D 6 MPix) camera, the M-mount is better than what I was used to. It has over 10 stops of range, While I could only get around 8 from the 40D and 6.5 to 7 from the 10D. Using Lightroom 3's default noise removal settings, the GXR-M is very, very usable at ISO 3200, even for color shots. The 40D was OK, and the 10D was unusable at 3200.

Therefore, personally, I would rather see a new GXR II body, with built in EVF in 2012, and a full frame A21-M module in 2013.
 
I was going to post a list of mostly minor things that would make the GXR system even sweeter but thinking better of that now, the important thing, to me, about the GXR Mount A12 getting a new sensor - or the new zoom module apparently coming - is that it signals Ricoh continues to invest in the entire system.

I may not purchase either but keeping this great little system alive is important to me.
 
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