Ricoh's GR series point-and-shoot cameras started life as 35 mm film cameras in 1996, went digital in 2005, got a DSLR-like sensor bump in 2013 and Wi-Fi in 2015. Now the company has announced it's developing the next generation GR and will offer Photokina 2018 show-goers a sneak peek ahead of release in 2019.
Ricoh describes the GRIII as the "ultimate snapshot camera." It's been treated to a new lens, a refreshed image sensor and an updated image sensor (though no information has been given on the latter).
The new F2.8-F16 glass out front is made up of six elements in four groups (and including two aspherical lens elements), and this lets light through to a 24 megapixel CMOS (23.5 x 15.6 mm) sensor. Light sensitivity capabilities will start at ISO100, but the upper end has yet to be finalized.
The GRIII measures 109.4 x 61.9 x 33.2 mm (4.3 x 2.4 x 1.3 in) and has a ready to shoot weight of 257 g (9 oz). It features hybrid phase/contrast detection autofocus and 3-axis sensor-shift shake reduction, with the unit also used for moiré reduction. But disappointingly for a modern camera, video tops out at Full HD (1080/60p).
Elsewhere, the camera comes with 2 GB of internal memory and a single SD card slot, a 3-inch, 1,037K-dot touch-enabled LCD display panel around back and 802.11n Wi-Fi – no Bluetooth though.
Photokina 2018 opens its doors in Cologne, Germany, tomorrow, where the GRIII will preview before an early 2019 release. Pricing has yet to be announced.
Source: Ricoh Imaging
