Ricoh GXR system is rather unique since it uses a swappable cartridges that encapsulate the lens and the sensor in one piece. The last GRX product announced was a cartridge with a Leica M mount. A Micro Four Thirds GXR unit was also rumored last year.
Ricoh filed a new patent in Japan for several interesting GXR units that are completely different than the current lens+ sensor combos:
- GXR Hard drive storage unit:
- GXR printer unit:
- GXR projection unit:
- GXR wireless unit:
- GXR scanner unit:
Previous patent were filed for a new Ricoh GXR 35mm f/1.8 Macro element.
Update: Ricoh showed prototypes of some of the units described in this patent during the CP+ show in Japan in March 2010.
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17 Comments
poor ricoh, always innovative, forever unappreciated. I loved my XRM- back when they sold cameras in the US
I think these ideas blow and that’s coming from one of the world’s biggest Ricoh fanboys. I have literally about a dozen of their cameras.
No rumor in this. They have shoved mocups of these units at fairs.
I quess they just wanted to show how expandable their system could be – nobody would seriously use all of these units. Plus it’s nice to patent everything you come up with.
Really? I don’t remember seeing anything but lens+ sensor cartridges in the past but I could be wrong.
No they had talked about this unit at the very beginning and even show some basic mock ups at some fairs in Japan
But that probably means we are getting closer to the real thing
I think the hard drive storage unit could be very interesting if it has enough storage ( min 320 GB)
Harold
Very innovative thinking.
But why didn’t they make them already? They are late and losing interest. I think a swapable sensor AND swappable lens should have been the way to go from the beginning.
And the portable printer should have been made by HP or Polaroid or someone and implemented right away with a cross-over budget.
Wonder what happened.
That’s right; I remember now.
“Plus it’s nice to patent everything you come up with.”
That is probably what is behind this… take the rest of the industry through the legal system when THEY do this kind of thing, even if you don’t have a workable product of your own on the market.
Hey… it’s a strategy that many companies use to great profit.
They should do a Polaroid unit.
Or a lomo film unit.
+1 for a Lomo 32mm fullframe unit!
http://www.dpreview.com/news/1005/10050701ricohgxraccesories.asp
Here you can find the original announcement of these ideas for different modules.
Thanks, I do not remember seeing those, I updated the post.
WOW~ I like the Printer idea~
Hard drive storage…I bet it won’t sell cheaper than the photo wallet as secondary storage.
Now GXR likes a digital photo frame more than a camera, if it doesn’t have lens on it. It will be much better if the display is touchscreen.
I like the ideas…. and I hear more and more about how good Ricoh cameras are…. mostly from pro-photographers and advanced amateurs.
The scanning unit especially would be very interesting: just figure being able to digitalize transparency slides and film negatives *easily* AND *in very high quality* and have DNG raw data files instead of crappy jpegs….. I would immediately buy the system alone for that. Good scanners are too cumbersome, slow and expensive and involve too much effort in post processing.
I guess it will not be too long until I jump and buy my first Ricoh (most likely GRD3) just to try it myself.
Ricoh needs 35mm (real 35mm, not 50mm) EQ, a portrait lens and the promissed zoom..all with a new sensor from sony, either 16mp or the upcoming 24mp…
That photo printer would be brilliant if they used real film like the Pivi Instax printer. I can’t stand the Polaroid Zinc.
I like the HDD even if no one else does. Think about it, pop the lens off and put it on, then back up your photos. Good idea