Ricoh GR DIGITAL II
Tokyo, Japan – Ricoh Co., Ltd. (president: Shiro Kondo) announced today the development and release of the GR DIGITAL II. This compact digital camera succeeds the high image quality GR DIGITAL released in October 2005.The multi-award winning GR DIGITAL was launched as the successor to the GR Series of 35mm compact film cameras (first released in 1996) popular for their superb image quality. Its depictive performance that satisfied even professional photographers was condensed into a compact 25-mm thin magnesium alloy body has been highly accepted by a wide range of users including high-end amateur and professional photographers in the two years since its release. The new GR DIGITAL II retains the concept of the GR DIGITAL that is the idea of being a high image quality compact camera that achieves excellent resolving power from edge to edge, low noise, and low color aberration. It tops that off with, expressive power, operability, and expandability for even higher image quality.
Main Features of GR Digital II
- GR DIGITAL concept was inherited, and even higher image quality achieved.
- The GR DIGITAL II is equipped with the newly developed GR ENGINE II image processing engine to keep the excellent resolution, tone characteristics, and color saturation of the GR DIGITAL, while achieving dramatic reduction in noise.
- A new 1/1.75-inch CCD with 10.01 million effective pixels is employed to achieve improved resolution with an increased number of pixels.
- High image quality that meets the needs of professionals is achieved by coupling with the F2.4 aperture, f:5.9mm focal length (equivalent to 28mm on a 35mm camera) GR LENS popular for its high resolution feel and low distortion.
- Highly expressive photos can be taken thanks to an acceleration sensor that measures camera tilt along the perpendicular axis and the newly developed image processing engine, GR ENGINE II.
(1) Equipped with an electronic level.
- With the addition of an acceleration sensor, the GR DIGITAL II could be equipped with an electronic level function that allows users to know if the camera is level while looking at the LCD monitor. Adjusting levelness when taking pictures of buildings or scenery takes further advantage of the characteristics of GR LENS with its small distortion.
- With the level indicator display on the LCD monitor, composing photos with horizontal or vertical lines visible is possible without looking away from the camera when shooting.
- A level sensor sound to let you know if the camera is level during shooting can be set.
(2) Square format photography enabled.
- A 1:1 aspect ratio (vertical/horizontal ratio) image size that allows for easy photography of square format images is included.
- Square format is achieved where one can enjoy photography different from standard rectangular images. That aspect ratio has been well received with classic 6×6 medium-format and Ricoh Caplio GX100 cameras.
- RAW mode also is compatible with 1:1 aspect ratio (vertical/horizontal ratio).
(3) A variety of monochromatic expressions possible with black-and-white (TE*) settings.
- Color, color depth, contrast, and sharpness of an image can each be adjusted in +/- five steps.
- Color can be selected as desired from sepia, red, green, blue, and purple.
*TE=Toning effect
- Enhanced operability while inheriting a design to accompany photographers wherever they go.
- The function button allows for one-push mode switching. Settings can be registered to switch from “JPEG to RAW,” “color to black & white,” between “Snap and AF,” and others for quick switching of modes when sudden photo opportunities present themselves.
- Functions registered to the Fn button can be saved to the My Settings Mode.
- By displaying the depth of field in the focus bar, the distance range of the depth of field can be confirmed in advance.
- The 2.7-inch, 230,000-pixel display with a high 160º viewing angle is easy to view from both low and high angles.
- Writing time for RAW mode has been reduced and shooting during RAW image writing has been achieved.
- Image writing time in RAW mode has been reduced to as short as approx. 3.8 sec. And with boosted buffer memory, the next shot can be taken while the first is still being written. (RAW writing time for GR DIGITAL was approx. 11 sec., and continuous shooting was not possible.)
- A manual pop-up flash operated by a sliding switch is employed to prevent accidental flash operation. The camera is equipped with a flash exposure compensation function that can compensate light intensity from +2.0 EV to -2.0 EV.
- An information display mode shows specific information of your choice on the screen even when the LCD monitor is turned off thereby increasing its ease of use when using the external viewfinder.
- The mode dial is equipped with two My Setting modes. Just aligning the mode dial to a My Setting allows the user to switch to a preregistered shooting setting of choice.
- The GR DIGITAL II has been equipped with an ADJ. lever to assign functions with a push after setting values are chosen from the operation menu in ADJ. mode.
- Automatic horizontal or vertical rotation of images according to the camera position has been achieved and can be viewed during playback on the LCD monitor.
- Approx. 370 shots can be taken with one charge of the included rechargeable battery (DB-60). (The GR DIGITAL could take approx. 250 shots.)
- A thin, compact size was achieved, measuring 107.0 × 59.0 × 25.0 (W x H x D) and weighing 168 g, while ease of use was improved.
- Expandability is increased with a wide range of optional accessories.
GR DIGITAL optional accessories can continue to be used with the GR DIGITAL II. And the new GT-1*, GV-2, and GC-2 can also be used with the original GR DIGITAL.
(1) A tele conversion lens (GT-1)* equivalent to 40mm on a 35mm camera has been added to the lineup for shooting with a standard frame.
(2) An external viewfinder (GV-2) equivalent to 28mm on a 35mm camera has been added. It is even compatible with 1:1 aspect ratio image size photography. (The currently available external viewfinder (GV-1) is equivalent to 28mm and 21mm on a 35mm camera.)
(3) A soft case (GC-2) has been added to the lineup that can accommodate GR DIGITAL II with the GV-2 attached .
*Upcoming product
Included in Box
| Rechargeable Battery (DB-60) |
| Battery charger (BJ-6) |
| USB Cable |
| AV Cable |
| Hand Strap |
| Software CD-ROM |
| Instruction Manuals |
Specifications
| Item | Specifications | ||||||
| Imaging Sensor | 1/1.75″ primary-color CCD with 10.01 million effective pixels(total pixels: 10.3 million) | ||||||
| Lens |
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| Digital Zoom Magnification | Approx. 4.0X digital zoom. Approx. 5.7X auto-resize zoom (VGA images) | ||||||
| Focus Mode | Multi AF (CCD method)/Spot AF (CCD method)/Manual focus/snap/Infinity (focus lock and AF auxiliary light also available) |
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| Shutter Speed 1 |
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| Exposure Adjustment |
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| ISO sensitivity (Standard Output Sensitivity) | AUTO/AUTO-HI/ISO80/100/200/400/800/1600 | ||||||
| White Balance Mode | Auto/Outdoors/Cloudy/Incandescent Lamp/Fluorescent Lamp/Manual Settings/Detail, White balance bracket function | ||||||
| Flash |
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| Picture Display | 2.7-inch Transparent Amorphous Silicon TFT LCD, approx. 230,000 pixels | ||||||
| Shooting Mode | Auto Shooting Mode/Program Shift Mode/Aperture Priority Mode/Manual Exposure Mode/Scene Mode (skew correct/text/movie)/My Settings Mode | ||||||
| Picture Quality Mode 2 | F(Fine)/ N(Normal) / RAW (DNG file format) 3 | ||||||
| Number of Recorded Pixels |
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| Recording Media | SD memory card, SDHC card, Multi media card, Internal memory (approx. 54MB) | ||||||
| Storage Capacity/ Time 4 (Built-in approx. 54 MB storage) |
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| Recording File Formats |
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| Other Major Shooting Function | Continuous/S-Cont/M-Cont, Self-Timer (delay: approx. 10 sec./ approx. 2 sec.),Interval (shooting interval: 5 sec. to 3 hrs. in 5-sec. intervals)7, Color Bracket,B&W(TE), Color Space Set, Noise Reduction, Histogram Display, Grid Guide Display, Depth of Field Display, Enlarge Photo Icon, Electronic Level, Hot Shoe | ||||||
| Other Major Playback Function | Auto Rotate, Three-frame View/Grid View, Magnifying (up to 16X), Resize | ||||||
| Interface | USB2.0 (High-Speed USB) Mini-B cable, Mass storage 8, AV output | ||||||
| Video Signal Format | NTSC, PAL switchable | ||||||
| Power Source | Rechargeable Battery (DB-60) x 1, AC Adapter (AC-4c option), AAA Alkaline Batteries x 2, AAA Oxyride Batteries x 2, AAA Nickel-Hydrogen Batteries x 2 | ||||||
| Battery Consumption 9 | When CIPA-standard compliant DB-60 used: approx. 370 pictures When AAA alkaline batteries used: approx 45 pictures10 | ||||||
| Dimensions | 107.0 mm x 58.0 mm x 25.0 mm (W x H x D); does not include protruding parts | ||||||
| Weight | Camera: Approx. 168 g (excluding battery/SD memory card/strap); Accessories: Approx. 30 g (battery/strap) | ||||||
| Operating temperature | 0°C to 40°C |
| *1 | Maximum and minimum shutter speeds differ by shooting mode and flash mode. |
| *2 | Image-quality modes that can be set differ depending on the image size. |
| *3 | Simultaneous recording of a JPEG in Fine/Normal or Normal640 mode at the same size as the RAW image. DNG is a type of RAW image file format. It is a standard file format advocated by Adobe Systems. |
| *4 | Estimated number of shots/time that can be recorded. |
| *5 | Up to 90min. or 4GB can be recorded in one shot. |
| *6 | DCF compliant; DPOF supported. DCF is an abbreviation for Design rule for Camera File system standardized by JEITA. (Full compatibility between devices not guaranteed.) |
| *7 | With Flash off. |
| *8 | Mass storage supports Windows Me/2000/XP/Vista and Mac OS 9.0 to 9.2.2/Mac OS X 10.1.2 to 10.4.9. |
| *9 | The numbers of photos that can be taken were measured using conditions compliant with the CIPA standard. Actual number of photos that can be taken will differ greatly depending on conditions of use. |
| *10 | AAA alkaline dry-cell batteries made by Matsushita Battery Industrial Co., Ltd. were used |
| * | Windows is a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S.A. and other countries. |
| * | Mac OS is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. in the U.S.A. and other countries. |
| * | Adobe is a trademark or registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and other countries. |
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