Its seems typical that this year we should see the release of the Ricoh GXR, the first camera from a new concept of interchangeable lens and sensor units. So far it’s been a year of new products, we’re had the introduction of a new micro lens mount with the Olympus Pen and we’ve seen our first camera with a built in projector in the Nikon S1000. Both of those are unusual and as is this. Long have I dreamed of a small compact DSLR and for a while I thought the Pen might be a solution I was thinking of, with its more compact design and a decent choice of lenses it is almost there as a backup for my Nikon system.

Then the Ricoh GXR, a compact with the audacity of posing as a DSLR, and you know what? It does a good job. Just a little smaller than the Pen it has the potential to be a very interesting product, with interchangeable lenses and sensors you currently have a choice of either a 24-70mm with compact sized sensor or a 50mm Macro with SLR sized. These sealed units guarantee that gone are the days of dirty sensors and that rather than replace your body as you improve your lens line up you always remain with the latest sensor technology.

With the promise of a series of fast primes expected in the New Year, the line up is expected to expand rapidly.

Obvious questions have been asked why Ricoh didn’t make the entire line up with the larger sensors? The simple answer is the cost of the units, the 50mm macro is pitting itself directly against Canon and Nikon units and Ricoh, I think anyway, are testing the water with both formats.

Much like its direct completion of the Olympus Pen or Panasonic equivalent the GXR does away with the traditional built in view finder with an electronic optional available there are no surprises here with the exception of a 920,000 pixel LCD rivalling that of the high end Nikon/Canons and far exceeding the nearest compact. For any SLR user this takes some getting use to, you may want to consider the VF-II digital finder which just slips into the hot shoe, much like the Panasonics.

I’ve always had mixed feels with Ricoh; I always feel I should like them but always end up being disappointed by either reliability or image quality. It was a great relief that the GXR seems to have excellent image quality from both lenses, especially the 50mm with the larger sensor, which produces almost noise free images at 3200. No it’s still not a D3s but it is definitely better than a lot of DSLR’s and is incredibly sharp obviously benefiting from all-in-one unit.

The metal build quality from GXR feels good in the hand as you would expect from a camera like this, with a nice solid hand grip. All the buttons are a decent size and the menu is easy to navigate and understand. In fact my only complaint on the design is the lens release button which is a bit too recessed making it a little difficult to use.

Overall even this pre production model is excellent with the exception of the autofocus which was dire but I have been assured by Ricoh that this will be resolved for the release of the camera and assuming its to a decent standard this is definitely one worth considering.

For more information or place a pre order please visit 
Ricoh GXR Body only
Ricoh GXR Body with A12 50mm f/2.5 macro
Ricoh GXR Body with S10 24-72mm f/2.5-4.4 VC