[ via Digital Imaging ]

Ricoh GXR with the S10 Unit

Ricoh has announced today a new “Interchangeable Unit” camera where you change the lens and image sensor as an integrated unit. The non-interchangeable body shell consists of the handgrip, battery compartment, memory card compartment, LCD, flash and controls.

In the Ricoh GXR, each unit “optimizes” the sensor used for the particular lens. For example, there is a unit that uses a large APS sensor and fixed focal length lens. Each unit also comes with its own shutter mechanism, aperture, and image processing engine.

Units currently available are:

• A12 – 50mm F2.5 Macro lens with a 12.3MP (23.6 x 15.7mm) CMOS sensor
• S10 – 24-72mm F2.5-4.4 lens with a 10MP (1/1.7-in.) CCD sensor

Currently, only the A12 50mm unit uses a large APS-size sensor. The S10 24-72mm unit uses a tiny 1/1.7-in. sensor with a meagre 3x optical zoom. You might as well get the A12 and crop to get the “zoom”.

If future units feature zoom lenses using the same large APS-size sensor, then the question becomes, Why pay twice for the same sensor (and processor and shutter) when you are just swapping lenses?

If some European magazine or association gives this camera an award, I’m going to scream…

Seriously, some reviewers like this idea very much and if you do, too, then go for it! Certainly it gives you one body and controls to get used to. I’m just a bit skeptical about the whole value proposition, preferring an interchangeable lens system with a large sensor irrespective of the lens attached to the camera.

According to Imaging Resource, Minolta first came out with that [not so] brillant idea and IR concluded the Minolta Dimage EX1500 Zoom could well be “the first ‘obsolescence proof’ digital camera!” — and, umm, the camera is nowhere to be seen today and we all know what happened to Minolta. Ricoh should be careful not to repeat history.

Read the Press Release »

Canon PowerShot S90

“Highly Recommended.”

PhotographyBLOG has published their review of the Canon PowerShot S90IS [QuickPrice Check], with 10MP resolution (1/1.7-in CCD), 3.8x wide-angle optical zoom (28-105mm equiv.), optical Image Stabilization, bright f/2.0 maximum aperture, customizable Control Ring (around lens), large 3.0-in. LCD (460K dots), PASM modes, Scene Modes, RAW, High Sensitivity System (ISO 12,800), and Movie 640×480 @ 30fps.

[ Read the Canon S90 Review at: PhotographyBLOG ]

Canon PowerShot SD780 IS

“Image quality is also generally very good.”

TrustedReviews has posted their review of the Canon PowerShot SD780 IS [Specs], an ultra compact digital camera with its 12.1MP resolution (1/2.3-in. CCD), 3x optical zoom (33-100mm equiv.), optical image stabilization, an optical viewfinder, 2.5-in. LCD (230K dots), HD movie (1920×1080) @ 30fps, Smart AUTO, Face Detection, Face Detection Self-timer and Intelligent Contrast Correction.

[ Read the Canon IXUS 100 IS / SD780 IS Review at: TrustedReviews ]