According to the swedish magazine Kamerabild Ricoh will release a Ricoh MicroFourThirds modul for their GXR
If true that would become a damn interesting camera for all of us! The camera alone sells for $549.00 on amazon
Source: Kamerabild.se (google english translation)
[poll id=”35″]
16 Responses
even it is FT4, I think it is impossible.
the image posted is actually the same image i created for fun some months ago. it was originally posted at dpreview forum. i doubt this swedish magazine has something for realy, otherwise they would have use real images not fake ones.
btw here is the orignal posting at dpreview: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1041&message=33663080
i just photoshopped an original GXR image and made it look as if it had a mFT mount-module.
Congratulations Oluv,
I am wondering, did they use your photoshopped version in the magazine without your knowledge? I’m guessing it was just for fun, so you of course didn’t get Ricoh/Oly permission to copy and modify their product photos. Still, a little flattering that they picked up your very well done photoshop job and have believed it’s a real product.
Would I be in favor of such a product? You bet! I think Ricoh would sell a lot of cameras if the sensor module didn’t cost more than $500.
Do I think Olympus should make their E-5 modular? You bet!
Cheers,
Seth
Both can be true if the Swedish editor says that he shot the picture and Oluv pretends that he created the original image! The image from the Swedes shows some japanese catalogue/magazine and I guess they photographed the page without caring to translate the Japanese text which might as well say something like “look what we found on dpreview. nice artwork!”… That’s the problem nowadays when everyone can call himself an “editor” and his blog a “magazine” without doing some basic journalistic investigative work!!!
It is really strange，A12 already equipped an APS-C CMOS，why bother to make a m4/3 module？
Every know that APS-C creates better depth of field.
The rumors sounds 30% reliable except Ricoh wants to cut cost to make it as low cost as possible.
(If she buys all the old stocks from panny or oly…haha)
Interesting new concept “better depth of field” in the post from mochapaulo. Can anyone explain how it works? It’s also fairly difficult to understand why an APS-C module with a fixed lens should make a m43 module uninteresting.
Yes, I love the “Every know that APS-C creates better depth of field.” Many professional photgraphers need more depth of field, wich 4/3 provides. Others want less. There is no “better”. This isn’t Nintendo vs Sega anymore, and not everything written on the Rebel Sx forums is gospel.
Lots of FF photgraphers would love to have Zooms like the 14-35 f2 and 35-100 f2, FF equiv of 28-70 and 70-200 with f2 light and f4 DOF, so they can gather the light and not stop down! It’s all relative.
In any case. Intersting concept. Doubt Ricoh would ever do it.
Curious to see how many people answer no to the poll question :”Would you be interested to buy into the GRX system if they release a m43 module?”
Beyond discussing if it’s real or not, people should be quite enthusiastic about such a possibility. Ricoh’s are quite fine camera with very nice UI tricks that are to be praised. On top of that, it would almost certainly lead Ricoh to make lenses too e.g. bring a third lens maker. Something intensely needed at the moment. Besides, Ricoh is this kind of “outsider” brand that is likely to produce niche lenses…
Now if you ask if I think Ricoh would do that? not now.
Just my two cents.
@Neonart,
1- I don’t think there are so many photographers that are looking so hard for more depth of field that they’d be ready to give up the very thin depth of field they can achieve with full frame cameras.
“He who can do more can do less.”
Don’t forget that with smaller sensors, another factor comes into play : diffraction limit. So landscape photographers willing to maximize their DOF aren’t necessarily helped by 4/3.
2- Judging by current 14-35 f/2 size, not so many FF photographers are idealistic enough they would love to have an equivalent 28-70 f/2 lenses able to cover a full frame sensor because it would just be too damn large and heavy.
Heck, even now,
Canon 24-70L f/2.8 is 950g and 83x123mm
Olympus 14-70 f/2 is 900g and 86x123mm
I’d love Ricoh make m4/3 module, hopefully with AF, IBIS and strong enough processor. That’s third manufacturer, more options for us. If they release modules for other mounts, you get to choose fast primes from another system and use m4/3 module with its small zooms.
If this modularity craze catches on and Olympus, Ricoh and some other manufacturers produce their modular cameras that can take lenses from various mounts, the photography world and end users are going to benefit hugely. Just imagine the possibilities!
Even if the sensor is m43-sized, as a combined sensor-lens-unit this modul wouldn’t be compatible with m43 – neither with the bodies nor witth the lenses. So, in my opionion it doesn’t make sense at all to call this a “m43 modul”.
Super ecitxed to see more of this kind of stuff online.
Ah, i see, my error. It’s really ‘just’ a mount modul. That’s indeed interesting.
Ah, my error, it’s really about ‘just’ a mount modul.
@Sylvain: It’s difficult to believe that more than a tiny fraction of GXR-buyers would be landscape photographers, and in general most people are interested in enough DOF, not as small (or wide) DOF as possible. However some need a lot, some need a shallow DOF, and most don’t care at all. So there can’t be a general “best” or “better” DOF. If you take diffraction limit into acount (and you should) then things pretty much evens out, a FF allow you to use a smaller aperture, but have less DOF at any given aperture than mFT or APS-C. If you take into account that most lenses aren’t at their best at small apertures then mFT will have an advantage for wide DOF. Nobody makes lenses with significantly larger apertures for mFT than for FF so FF have an advantage there, if you really need less DOF than mFT (or APS-C) offer.
As for the poll, I answered no beacuse there wasn’t a maybe option. A mFT module should IMO have been the first module for GXR, it would have made GXR a much more interesting system. However, Ricoh can’t be said to excel at AF-speed or Video mode on GXR and a module system generally add complexity, price, weight and size for a given feature set. So Ricoh would really have to offer something else in addtion if the they want me to buy a GXR with mFT module. They haven’t done so so far, although the 28-300 module is slightly tempting.