I received the rumor two weeks ago and I didn’t post it because I wanted to check the rumor. But there is no need anymore for that because today Ricoh officially announced the development of a Leica M-mount unit for its [shoplink 16935]GXR camera[/shoplink] system. So that was the mysterious “Expansion Unit” displayed on the roadmap and the Micro Four Thirds module we saw many times ghosting around the web was simply fake (but we already suspected that!).
P.S.: I think I should post more of this FT2-FT3 rumors I do receive. Because sometimes they turn out to be correct and if I wait to much time someone else will post them before me 🙁
35 Responses
Too bad it won’t have a Kodak sensor, and I really hope Ricoh scraps the AA-filter…
I would also love to see the AA-filter dropped from every digital camera. it is probably the worst common practice in digital camera design.
To my understanding, AA filter is a must have for pretty much any device which does analog-to-digital conversion.
I for example got first expanded explanation of why and what AA filter is from a sound engineer: analog of AA filter is also integral part of pretty much any sound recording circuit.
“Since the color subsampling of a [Color Filter Array] by its nature results in aliasing, an optical anti-aliasing filter is typically placed in the optical path between the image sensor and the lens to reduce the false color artifacts (chromatic aliases) introduced by interpolation.”
From this Wikipedia article on demosaicing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demosaicing
Funny that M9 doesnt have one and I dont see any false colors or any problems. 🙂 Moiré problem can easily be solved via SW. AA filters are not necessary, plus it makes cameras cheaper.
> plus it makes cameras cheaper.
Look again at the M9 price tag, please. Probably you have miscounted the zeros.
Oh yes, dropping away the AA filter must be the thing that drag M9 price up …
(try “made in germany”, “full frame”, “rangefinder”, “compact”, “niche”, or maybe just “leica”)
unless you have better info on a given subject, you should always post everything with whatever you consider an appropriate rating, could be as low as “FT0”, especially in times when rumors are scarce. this is of course my opinion, other readers/members might think differently.
What I want to avoid is to overpost rumors from untrusted sources. I don’t want that people starts to think I do invent rumors. It’s hard to keep a balance. The good news for you is that I have a new reliable Ricoh source 🙂
Anyway, I am going to post new rumors this week. One is FT5 (and a “bad” news).
Hi admin,
just wanted to let you know that I appreciate your work.
Oh, and I’m putting my money down on it beeing Nikon _not_ joining the M4/3 club with their EVIL offering.
tobi
Yes Nikon will NOT join m43.
They would be pretty stupid if they did. 4/3 sensors are thanks to its size always behind in terms of ISO. APS-C and bigger please.
Some ffs make full-frame digital rangefinder already. 😀 (in decent price.. like A850 from Sony)
I see your logic, but hope you’ll post at least some of that stuff. Just give it a low rating and no one will complain. Why don’t you make a “FT0 rumor of the week” or something? That’s not too much and won’t flood site with invented rumors ( but your e-mail will be flooded :)).
Yea, I think you should post more low rated rumors. I don’t think a rumors site should be about being right all the time. It makes it more interesting if there is more speculation. At the moment most posts are actually deals and reviews. More low rated rumors would help the balance.
At the moment we must be close to an Olympus announcement but are hearing very little.
Exactly: post more of the rumours, and reserve the FT4 + FT5 for the checked and confirmed stuff. We know whtat the ratings mean.
You do seem to have built up a good rep so far. Other sites take your FT5 rumors as news now. So there is a logic to not just publishing everything that you receive.
BTW the M-mount unit does not mean that a m4/3 mount unit cannot be revealed later on, right?
I don’t want to kill my reputation 🙂
I hope people understand that I am doing everything with a good faith and that it’s har to work on reliable rumors!
Admin, you are doing it all right. 1-3 posts per day IMO is already better than I would have expected from a rumor site. E.g. MacRumors might have 3-5 front page pots per week.
yes more FT2 and FT3
… and please invent some OriginalFourThirds rumors, I’d like to see the spec of the E-621 and E-31
Dream on. I personally gave up. Expecting anything from Oly is (let’s be honest) waste of time.
/me hugs E-620 + 12-60
Yes Admin, as I can see lately, you are afraid to post low rated rumors… the essence Your site should be.
Don’t worry about the critics many people post in comments. Rumors can but not must come true. If someone wants news – well.. should go to dprev or other photo-web sites.
Anyway
great work so far!
PS
I think it is the right time You should post all 12-50 and G3 rumors You have 😉
+ E-P3 spec
+ modular system
+ Oly’s weather sealed pancake triplet (wide-standard-portrait)
want…E-P3… specs… dribble… dribble… dribble… slluuuuurrp!
ok! 🙂
http://www.ricoh.co.jp/release/2011/0201_1.html
Here’s the official press release(in Japanese).
Wow…
But yes admin, please post more ft2/3 rumors.
Admin, you should also take into account that people DO visit this site because of the rumours. Some are dumb enough to think that FT2 is 100% true but most of understand that if you put FT2 out we know that its simply a rumour at that point.
If you stop posting rumours theres a risk in loosin some readers (because I guess its mainly because of these rumours that people do visit!)
Most of us also understands that you do put alot of effort into this site and which we appreciate alot!
OK Henrik! I have quite a few FT2 rumor I could post. But now I am going to post a FT5 rumor…
FT5, bad news, has to be another 12MP MFT
LOL! Agreed. That’s why we want the untrue rumors — they give us hope! The reality has become a bit disappointing. 😉
Google for X100. Wrong reality, but better than nothing.
Uh… how about the actual news…
An affordable m-mount digital camera is now on the horizon?? Very very interesting. Wish it was full frame as I’m not sure what the point is of using expensive leica glass on crop sensors…
Leica M8 is 1.3x crop.
A FF rangefinder sensor will have to deal with problems of off axis incident light at the edges of the sensor due to the short FBD of the format and the optical formula of the lenses. Not to mention the huge cost involved in making ginormous sensors.
APS-C is a good compromise, perhaps even the best one at the moment. Sensors are affordable, and there are a lot of suppliers, a large market, and good R&D efforts. A smart move by Ricoh.
This is nice news… only question is – how much would a GXR body + M mount cost and what benefits would it have over a NEX / m43 with Leica M adapter?
I would like to know if Ricoh will add IS to this M mount unit
don’t beat yourself up over it… an option if the volume of ft2\3 is too high would be to have a section for it!