Ricoh announces GXR Lens Mount adapter

The Gadget Show  Wednesday 02 February 2011

You bring the lens, it has the sensor

Ricoh certainly drew attention to itself a year or so ago with its innovative, and ever so slightly bonkers, GXR interchangeable unit camera system – you know, the one that sees the sensor housed in the lens unit itself?

Well, now it’s gone and come up with the slightly-less-bonkers GXR Lens mount, a halfway house solution that gives you the sensor and lets you add on Leica M Mount and similar third-party lenses.

The sensor on board is a 12.3-megapixel APS-C unit, and the unit, Ricoh says, is “designed to make the best use of the optical characteristics of the lenses mounted”. It will also feature a newly developed focal plane shutter.

With the GXR line of cameras currently running to four models, this expansion unit will no doubt come in handy for those who have embraced Ricoh’s new way but still have an old stock of lenses they want to make use of.

Release is expected around the end of the summer, with prices yet to be announced.