On February 6, 1936, an imaging company was born in Japan. The company was named Riken Sensitized Paper but later came to be called Ricoh. This company was born out of pure innovation, inspired by research at RIKEN zaibatsu, one of the world’s largest natural research institutes. Ricoh has had a history of success. All their products, mainly cameras, are top notch and always offer something that is exceptional. It is from such a rich tradition of producing cutting edge machines that inspired Ricoh to produce Ricoh GXR, the World’s first interchangeable unit camera system.

What this means is that this camera features a body that does not have the image sensor, a component that comes as a single unit together with the lens. This unit is called the camera unit, while the body is just the body unit or simply the body. This is a great design, but is it just a gimmick or an important breakthrough? Let’s find out.

The design

Without doubt, the talking point about this camera is its unique design. The camera body contains the battery, the LCD screen and the flash. The camera unit on the other hand has the lens and an image sensor of varying type and size to fit each the unit. The unit also features an image processing engine.

When Ricoh GXR was launched, there were two camera units that accompanied it. These units were S10, which features a 24-72mm zoom lens and 10 megapixel 1/1.7-inch CCD sensor, and the A12, which features a 50mm macro lens and a 12.3 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor. Later on, Ricoh released P10 28-300mm module, A12 28mm module and in 2012 March, A16 24-85mm unit was released. Each camera unit is attached to the body by easily sliding it to the front groove of the GXR.

Each camera unit is unique in its own ways and warrants a separate review but for the sake of this article, we will do a general review of the camera. The complexity of the design means that even the functions and other settings comes with a whiff of complexity as well. The camera features four main external controls that form the bulk of creative controls for the camera. The mode dial is located on the top panel of the body though it can be controlled from the rear and not from top. Just below the dial is the adj. dial which together with the mode dial helps one to select between various shooting modes. The choices include full auto, program shift, aperture-priority, shutter-priority and full manual. You can also use these controls to navigate various settings for each selected mode.

Another important control on the GXR is the Direct button, located on the far left above the LCD screen. By pressing this button, a graphical representation of most vital settings appears on the screen. And with the help of the navigation pad, you can make changes to the settings accordingly. GXR is undoubtedly the world’s most customizable camera. The user can save the ‘current settings’ and later access them via Mode dial as MY1, MY2 or MY3 option. There are also two Function buttons located around the navigation pad which aid in controlling focus type, the manual flash amount and exposure compensation.

The X factor of the GXR

Ricoh GXR is a camera that has all the functions of a professional camera but the size of an entry level DSLR. The camera is sleek and small in size as compared to its counterparts and the functions it harbours. Its size makes it a perfect travel camera that offers high quality photos.

The camera is compatible with VF-2 Electronic Viewfinder, which helps in focusing if you don’t intend to use the LCD. The viewfinder is however purchased separately but it offers sharper and high quality images than the previous VF-1. The viewfinder is attached to the hot shoe on top of the camera.

One of the greatest selling points of most Ricoh cameras is their responsiveness. Ricoh GXR is no exceptional. The camera is ready to fire from sleep in just 1.5 seconds. And with the 24-72mm module on, the camera takes just half a second to focus if the light is sufficient. The 50mm unit is a bit slow but since the camera unit comes with a focusing ring, focusing can be fasters especially if being handled by someone with experience.

Final take

Ricoh have really pushed the buttons with this new camera system. The quality of photos with each camera unit is top notch. This is a system that makes you feel like you have many cameras in one. The camera is a great buy but with a price tag of around Rs. 56,000, an amateur may find it on the pricy side. However, upon handling the machine, that feeling fizzles into the excitement of owing a great camera.