Darren, I don't know how your comments relate to the quotations by John and Aahz Maruch that you included.
The Ricoh GXR is a unique camera system, and Ricoh has not been very good at explaining what it's all about. The concept is this: Build a compact, light camera as a pair of modules: - The first module is the body unit ... this is where the storage, IO, and user control interface lives. It is the same for all configurations of the camera. - The second module is the camera or mount unit ... this unit can be pretty free-form. At its basic, it is a sealed unit which combines a lens and a matched sensor. The name of a camera unit includes a letter code to indicate the sensor format (P = 1/2.3", S = 1/1.7", A = APS-C), a Megapixel count (10, 12, 16) to indicate the sensor resolution class, and a lens focal length equivalent range (28-300mm, 24-72mm, 24-85mm, 50mm Macro, 28mm). The notion being that you can build a compact ultra-zoom with a small sensor up to an APS-C sensor with a prime or short zoom and stay within a relatively "compact, light" range. So you have camera units P10 28-300mm, A12 50mm Macro, A16 24-85mm, etc. Camera units implement full AF features and capabilities, and all have leaf shutters. The mount unit decouples the lens from the sensor. This is the A12 Camera Mount, which means an APS-C 12Mpixel sensor fitted with a focal plane shutter and a Leica M-bayonet lens mount. The sensor in this mount unit is optimized to work with M-bayonet type RF lenses with 28mm mount register, but you can also use third party mount adapters to fit nearly any Leica Thread Mount or SLR lens to the A12 Camera Mount. Pick a body unit and any camera/mount unit, put them together, you have a camera. If you've chosen any of the camera units, what you have is a sophisticated compact AF camera with excellent customizability and controls. If you've chosen the A12 Camera Mount, what you have is a compact, digital, manual focus camera body that is optimized to work with M-bayonet lenses of your choosing. If you want to use a K-mount lens, you would purchase a Pentax K to M-bayonet mount adapter and fit that to the mount unit, then fit your lens. With any combination of body and camera/mount unit, you can also add an EVF (Ricoh VF-2), use the LCD, or fit an optical viewfinder of your choice. What does this system gain you over a K5 II? Mostly size and flexibility of configuration. It happens to work extremely well, when configured as body unit plus A12 Camera Mount, with some of the finest lenses around anywhere, of whatever mount, and yet in two seconds can be reconfigured to be a pocketable ultra-zoom point and shoot. Snap the body together with any camera unit and the mode dial set to the green camera, and you need to know nothing at all to use it. Fit the A12 Camera Mount, a Summicron-M 35mm f/2 ASPH lens, or a lens mount adapter and a Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4 macro lens, and you have a manual focus super-high-quality camera suitable for the advanced amateur or pro demanding use. Ricoh's vision of the GXR system once included several other interesting units, like a unit for radio controlled photography, a hard-drive storage unit, a pocket-sized printer, etc, that were never brought to market. The GXR modular camera concept is more complex and expensive than a simple point and shoot or a traditional "body = sensor and shutter, add lens" model. It has unique qualities and value if you choose to make the effort to learn about it. Your other comments about Ricoh vis a vis their acquisition of Pentax, well, I'm not one to speculate on what Ricoh ought to be doing with their brand and products. I only care about what they have produced in interesting, high quality camera equipment. The GXR is one of those products. G On Sep 11, 2013, at 6:56 PM, Darren Addy <[email protected]> wrote: > From all accounts the GXR is a very good camera system, but I don't > understand it (at all) and when you have something that is radically > different than everything else out there, the burden falls upon the > marketing department to make it clear. I look at the GXR modules on > Amazon and it is not clear to me what mounts they work with. If I come > to the GXR with K-mount lenses I want to put on it, which module do I > use? Do I need an adapter? What do I lose and what can I keep (A > metering, AF? ) No clue. When I look at "GXR mount A-12" for instance, > I have no idea what "A-12" stands for. Description says "Universal > mount handling Leica M lenses and more"? Really? "and more"? What > might the "and more" include? It's $500 and it isn't a lens. And it > isn't a body. Then I see A12 lenses like the 28mm f2.5 for $540. Do I > need the "GXR mount A-12" in addition to this? > > I have a very low tolerance for feeling stupid (funny, since I feel > that way most of the time) and products like this make me feel like > I'm back in DOS land and have to crack the manual for every little > thing or I get a "syntax error". Not that I'm actually looking at the > GXR, since I don't see how hit gains me a single thing over my K-5 ii. > But if this is an example of how Ricoh is going to lead Pentax > marketing to the Promised Land, let's just say I'm not holding my > breath. > > > > On Wed, Sep 11, 2013 at 3:19 PM, Aahz Maruch <[email protected]> wrote: >> On Wed, Sep 11, 2013, John wrote: >>> >>> Every piece of Sony consumer electronics equipment I have ever owned >>> failed & had to be replaced exactly one day after the warranty expired. >> >> Timex bought Sony??? -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
