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hot GXR news! A12 28mm APSC pancake, GXR M mount and more!

odklizec

odklizec

PK
Joined
Aug 11, 2007
Messages
6,036
Great news folks! Ricoh displayed only recently introduced A12 28mm APSC at CP+ show (big Japanese photographic exhibition). And the very good news is that this new APSC based module is very slim (pancake-like design)!
04.jpg

05.jpg


But that's not all! Ricoh also displayed some more or less wild GXR prototypes in early stage of development and one of them is M-mount unit!
14.jpg

It's evident this unit is in very early stage of development. But it's very good news anyway!
UPDATE: Sadly, all these GXR "prototypes" appear to be fan creations and not actual GRX prototypes/mockups made by Ricoh. It's a complete mystery to me why they are displayed at Ricoh's booth? Who knows? Maybe they are "secret" Ricoh mockups and Ricoh just testing people's reactions? In any case, the fact is that all these mockups started serious interest amongst the photographic community. I have no doubt that GXR module with APSC/FF sensor and M mount would be a huge success amongst the professionals and photo geeks.

There was displayed also the recently announced P10 (CX3 based) unit...
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You can see more photos and comments here:
http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... html&twu=1

Images displayed in this post are courtesy of dc.watch.impress (very nice source of early Ricoh news;))
 
They should have 28 mm ready for this spring, sure will help boost GXR sale. :D
 
That Hasselblad SWC is funny, does it have multiple APS-C sensors stacked to cover 6x6? :)
 
Its interesting to note that the APS-C 28mm looks like a f2.5 so I think it leaves a niche for the GRD III as a smalller camera with f1.9 28mm lens.
Now here's hoping they will make improvements on focus speed.
 
I don't know like others, but I'm very excited about A12 28mm module. The pancake-like design is total surprise to me. I would never expect so small and relative fast 28mm lens for APSC! This would make the GXR a very pocketable APSC camera. Usually, 28mm (or similarly wide) lenses for APSC are either big and not very fast. Or they are rather soft if wide open. I really hope this new Ricoh lens is built with traditional high Ricoh lens standards.

As for M mount module, I hope this one will surface soon (let's say in 1-1.5 year time frame). Many people may be disappointed by the lack of AF for this module. But I'm sure this option will be greatly welcome by many manual lenses lovers and maybe even Leica users, who may find the X1 rather expensive and limited. After my previous experience with manual lenses on digital camera, I can't really wait to try this new GXR option. Old manual lenses are usually very well built and their coating give the photos a very unique look and feel.

What's really important, Ricoh is evidently listening their users. It may take some time to introduce the final products, but it's very positive to see what they are working on.
 
That 28mm looks good enough to buy. :D

Wow, is that camera dirty! Surely, they must be worried that dust will get on the sensor! :lol:
 
Anyone have an idea what the new letter in front of the new zoom module, "P" stands for. The S seems to mean 1/1.7 sized sensor, an A seems to mean APS-C (not sure if it's Canon or Everyone else), what could P mean?

Perhaps M4/3 size sensor?

Does it mean something completely different? Were they just watching Wheel of Fortune when the picked and name?

Who ever loaned the Leica 35 'Cron for the mockup is really into photography. It's a version VI, the Bokeh King, very sought after in M circles.

B2 (;->
 
BillBingham2":1rziff0d said:
Anyone have an idea what the new letter in front of the new zoom module, "P" stands for. The S seems to mean 1/1.7 sized sensor, an A seems to mean APS-C (not sure if it's Canon or Everyone else), what could P mean?

Perhaps M4/3 size sensor?
Click to expand...

A for APS-C sensor
S for small sensor
and
P for pico sensor?
 
An A12 28mm f/1.7 would be fine. Even beter an A12 35mm f/1.4; for me the ideal walk around lens.

I hope they fix also the AF-speed soon. If this problem not resolved within a reasonable time, then I'm afraid that this intriguing modelar system is doomed to die.

By the way, I can not imagine that there are photographers who are interested in the S series modules for this camera. Such a beautiful camera with a small CCD lens/module is pearls before swine. For me is the APS-C the bare minimum for serious photography.
 
I too hope for improvements in A12 AF area but honestly, I don't expect miracles. If they were not able to make the A12 AF faster during the years of GXR development, how can they make it faster now within few months? I expect some improvements, mainly in the AF precision and reliability. But I don't expect dramatic speed boost. Definitely not the same as GF1 with smaller sensor = less DoF = easier to focus with contrast detection.

As for the fast 28mm lens, I'm afraid, it would be too big and nowhere as good as is the Ricoh standard. I consider the f2.5 pretty impressive value for 28mm lens designed for APSC. There are not many 28mm lenses starting at something less than f2.8! And even many lenses starting at f2.8 are soft. I'm very surprised by the low profile of this new A12 28mm lens. It's another thing that is not very common for such wide and relative fast lens. We can only hope it will be as good as other Ricoh lenses ;)
 
I cannot wait to get my hands on the 28mm lens unit! It will compliment the 50mm beautifully and be better for street photography for me (I usually like to get very close to my street subjects!)
 
odklizec":1g5p05gt said:
Usually, 28mm (or similarly wide) lenses for APSC are either big and not very fast.
Click to expand...
because they are not for APS-C, but for FF... the only APS-C primes (m4/3 and 4/3 excluding) around that range is Sigma 30/1.4, 3 next are 7mm off (+/-) = Nikon 35/1.8, Pentax DA 35/2.8 Macro, Pentax DA 21/3.2 and that's it (or more than 7mm off)... the rest are designed to cover FF
 
Hot from the Samsung NX10 trail where adapters are already legion and work really well. Once Ricoh get their teeth into making adapter modules they have a big bay to fill with lens mount types. They can concentrate on really old lenses with adapter rings and would need a Nikon, Canon FD, Olympus, Pentax and of course Leica adapter for a start and that does not even include more modern lenses without aperture control. But say they just stayed with the older lenses with adapter rings - to make an adapter module for all the types and I probably have not been comprehensive seems an exercise in logistics that might defeat the idea right from the start unless they just stick to the Leica mount.

However whilst we have the lego blocks out consider this possibility.

1) the camera back
2) a sensor/camera smarts universal Ricoh base adapter
3) a further fill adapter converting the base adapter to specific mounts - this must lock strongly to 2) and be a precision part
4) the lens of your choice that fits the specific adapter 3) above

Four parts to nirvana. Place the thing in aperture priority and suddenly Ricoh has the legacy lens market to play with - the camera will make a whole lot more sense until Ricoh gets around to filling up its range of sensor/lens modules.

From the Samsung point of view they at least had the smarts to come up with an adapter pretty quick and of course the enterprising Chinese workshops have a range of adapters out already - and the NX10 works really well with legacy lenses this way. Furthermore the NX10 lcd is good but not quite up to the lcd on the GXR. If the NX10 lcd is good enough to focus off then there is no doubt that the GXR is up to it as well.
 
Tom Caldwell":33f9i1mx said:
the enterprising Chinese workshops have a range of adapters out already
Click to expand...

What is the quality of these adapters like? A few posters have mentioned on the mFT forums that the cheaper Chinese adapters for mFT are more gritty and not as smooth mounting lenses. IMO the precious Leica lens mounts probably deserve the best adapter you can afford.
 
I am only using cheap Pentax k mount lenses. The Chinese adapters are well made and work fine with them.

This is just a bit of cheap enjoyment not trying to get too exquisitely artistic.
 
I think the price of many Chinese adapters is so low that one can easily buy and try another adapter if the first one is not good? And the price including shipping will be still below the price of genuine adapter? But my experience with Chinese adapters is good. I bought several cheap step-up/down rings (and split-screen for E400) and all worked great. Of course, it could be just luck? ;)
 
I have a pk->nx and a eos->nx both out of China and well made and finished both work well (dumb of course) they ar about 25% the price of Novoflex or Samsung oem adapters. But the latter two have an aperture control built in which makes them more sophisticated. But you hardly need the aperture control if the old manual lens has an aperture ring. I have a Novoflex pk->nx and it is also well made but of a different type of construction. As one might understand with a little thought the universal aperture control is just sliding lever without a graduation scale. But aperture control is available for lenses without an aperture ring.
 
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