The Ricoh GR Lens A12 28mm f/2.5 Camera Unit 4 is designed specifically for use with the Ricoh GXR System. Camera Unit 4 is a completely enclosed camera and lens that slips into the GXR body for full functionality. The body provides the LCD screen, ports, and controls. Together they result in a system that provides dust-free digital shooting.
That being said, Camera Unit 4 is more than a lens. As the name implies, it's the camera. In addition to the 28mm lens, the unit embodies the sensor, the processing engine, and pretty much all the internal workings of a digital camera. The body gives the unit power and a way to maneuver through menus and operate the controls.
Features of the unit, aside from the fixed focus 28mm lens, include multiple metering modes, numerous capture functions, and even an HD movie mode. So, along with being an innovative option in the world of digital photography, the unit is a simple, yet evolved image making machine. A manual focus ring puts more creativity at your fingertips as well. And features like noise reduction, TTL flash (using an auxiliary flash), and the option to add a cable release give you even more tools to stretch your vision with.
A Superb Balance of Quick-Shooting and Power of Expression - 28mm Fixed Focal Length Lens
With this 28mm fixed focal length lens, the more pictures you take, the more you will experience the joy of expressing yourself through photography. Why? Because this is a camera unit that can handle both a quick-shooting style and a slower style that aims for expressive images emphasizing perspective. Deep depth of field enables pan-focus shooting by stopping down the aperture. The satisfaction of being able to trip the shutter the instant the camera is pointed is one of the attractions of a wide-angle lens. At the same time, there are also dynamic composition possibilities, such as getting in close so the subject is large while an expansive background stretches out behind. With ordinary wide-angle lenses there are problems with image degradation near the edge, but by giving top priority to image quality in the design, such worries have been eliminated in GR LENS A12 28mm. This is an excellent choice for use as your regular lens
High Resolution and High Contrast All the Way to the Edge
GR LENS A12 28mm F/2.5 optics feature a newly developed 6 group, 9 element configuration. The use of two aspherical lenses as well as a special low-dispersion lens has made it possible to effectively correct for various types of aberrations. The wide-angle lens phenomena of image degradation and loss of resolution and contrast at the periphery have been suppressed to provide sharp image depiction across the entire photo. In addition, the adoption of a floating lens structure has made it possible to provide superior optical performance at all focal distances. This lens achieves image quality worthy of the GR LENS name
Use All the Power of the Lens - Large CMOS Sensor
The larger the image sensor, the more beautiful the bokeh and the greater the expressive power for a sense of atmosphere and three-dimensionality in the image. GR LENS A12 28mm has a large 23.6 × 15.7mm CMOS sensor. With this ample APS-C size, you can take full advantage of the optical performance of the GR LENS. Widen your range of expression with techniques such as shooting with the large F/2.5 aperture wide open to blur the background. GR ENGINE III is featured as the image processing engine. Through its intelligent processing of the rich image data provided by the high-performance lens and large image sensor, GR LENS A12 28mm creates low-noise, high-quality images with superior tone gradations and resolution
Quickly Catch the Subject - High-Speed, High-Precision AF
The speed at which the image sensor output signal is read has become a bottleneck for speeding up AF done using the contrast AF technique in which the image sensor does the focus detection. The GR LENS A12 28mm CMOS sensor can handle accelerated AF speeds. The adoption of a new drive mode has also contributed to this camera unit's quick, satisfying AF. When spot AF is selected, a "pinpoint" setting can be utilized for the AF area. The resulting smaller-than-normal AF area lets you precisely focus on a single point
Continuous Shooting and HD Movie Functions for Diverse Expression
Nimble continuous shooting functions shoot at up to 4 frames/second even when RAW image size is selected (noise reduction set to "Off" or "Weak"). The shooting of high definition (HD) movies up to a size of 1280 × 720 (aspect ratio 16:9; frame rate 24 frames/sec.) is also possible
Manual Focus Ring Enables Subtle Focus Adjustments
With the manual focus ring, you can smoothly make fine focus adjustments after AF focusing is done. Focus quickly and easily even when moving up close to the subject and shooting at a wide-open F/2.5 aperture to get beautiful bokeh. GR LENS A12 28mm F2.5 does not have macro shooting, macro target, auto macro, or macro minimum shooting distance display functions
Noise Reduction for Beautiful Results at High Sensitivities
Since high-quality images are possible even with ISO sensitivity set quite high,
you can obtain beautiful pictures even in nightscape and indoor shooting
Performing with Light and Shadow - When Using External TTL Flash GF-1
The Camera Unit utilizes an original TTL flash technique to provide precise flash exposure with auxiliary flash
Great for Preventing Hand-Motion Blur - When Using Cable Switch CA-1
The cable switch is effective for scenes where hand-motion blur tends to occur and also for long exposures when using a tripod for nightscapes or macro shooting
AE/AF Target Mode - Frame Photos However You Want
In both normal and macro shooting, the AE (exposure) and AF (focus) targets can be shifted alone or together to any position on the screen
Other Functions
- 16:9, 4:3, 3:2, and 1:1 options. [Aspect ratio setting]
- Continuous shooting of up to 30 images at approximately 24 frames/second (Image size: 1280 × 856) [M-continuous plus]
- Shooting capacity of approximately 320 images when attached to GXR body
Additional Specifications
Effective pixels: Approximately 12.3 million; Image sensor: 23.6 x 15.7mm CMOS sensor (total pixels: 12.9 million pixels); Focus range: Approximately 20cm-infinity (from the front of the lens), Construction: 9 elements in 6 groups (2 aspherical lens elements with 2 surfaces), Zoom: Digital zoom: 4.0x (3.6x for movies), Auto resize zoom: Approximately 5.9x (VGA), Focus mode: Contrast AF-based multi and spot AF, MF, Snap, Infinity (focus lock and AF-assist); Shutter speed: Photographs: 180-1/3200 second (upper and lower limits vary according to shooting and flash mode), Movies: 1/30-1/2000 second; Exposure control: Metering: TTL-CCD metering in multi (256 segment), center-weighted, and spot metering (TTL metering with auto exposure lock), Mode: Program AE, aperture priority AE, manual exposure, shutter priority AE, move target function, Exposure compensation: Manual (+4.0 to -4.0 EV in increments 1/3 EV or 1/2 EV), auto bracketing (-2 EV to +2 EV in increments 1/3 EV or 1/2 EV); ISO sensitivity: AUTO, AUTO-HI, ISO: 200/400/800/1600/3200; White balance: Auto / Multi-P AUTO / Outdoors / Cloudy / Incandescent Lamp 1 / Incandescent Lamp 2 / Fluorescent Lamp / Manual Settings / Detail; white balance bracketing; Flash: Range (built-in flash): Approximately 7.8"-9.8' / 20cm-3.0m (ISO auto) from front of lens; Shooting mode: Auto / program shift / aperture priority / shutter priority / manual /scene (movie, portrait, sports, landscape, nightscape, skew correction) / "My Settings"; Continuous mode: Number of pictures shot in Continuous (Picture Size: RAW): Noise Reduction on weak or off: 4 pictures
Noise Reduction on strong, or MAX: 3 pictures, Number of pictures shot in M-Cont Plus (1 set): HI (1280 x 856): 30 pictures (24 frames/sec), LO (4288 x 2848): 15 pictures (3 frames/sec); Picture quality: FINE, NORMAL, RAW (DNG); Image size (pixels): Photographs: 16:9 - 4288 x 2416, 3456 x 1944, 4:3 - 3776 x 2832, 3072 x 2304, 2592 x 1944, 2048 x 1536, 1280 x 960, 640 x 480, 3:2 - 4288 x 2848, 3456 x 2304, 1:1 - 2848 x 2848, 2304 x 2304, Movies (24fps): 1280 x 720, 640 x 480, 320 x 240, RAW: 16:9 - NORMAL: 17,800KB/frame, FINE: 19,515KB/frame, VGA: 15,587KB/frame, 4:3 - NORMAL: 18,387KB/frame, FINE: 20,157KB/frame, VGA: 16,124KB/frame, 3:2 - NORMAL: 20,946KB/frame, FINE: 22,967KB/frame, VGA: 18,337KB/frame, 1:1 - NORMAL: 13,991KB/frame, FINE: 15,333KB/frame, VGA: 12,273KB/frame, Large JPEG: 16:9 - NORMAL: 2,222KB/frame, FINE: 3,816KB/frame, 4:3 - NORMAL: 2,315KB/frame, FINE: 3,960KB/frame, 3:2 - NORMAL: 2,615KB/frame, FINE: 4,493KB/frame, 1:1 - NORMAL: 1,761KB/frame, FINE: 3,009KB/frame, Medium JPEG: 16:9 - NORMAL: 1,475KB/frame, FINE: 2,509KB/frame, 4:3 - NORMAL: 1,574KB/frame, FINE: 2,662KB/frame, 3:2 - NORMAL: 1,744KB/frame, FINE: 2,968KB/frame, 1:1 - Normal: 1,186KB/frame, FINE: 2,003KB/frame, 5M: 4:3 - FINE: 2,287KB/frame, 3M: 4:3 - FINE: 1,474KB/frame, 1M: 4:3 - FINE: 812KB/frame, VGA: 4:3 - FINE: 197KB/frame; Battery life: Based on CIPA standard DB-90: approximately 320 shots CIPA; Dimensions: Camera unit only: 2.7 x 2.3 x 2.0" / 68.7 x 57.9 x 50.4mm (according to CIPA guidelines), When mounted on the GXR body: 4.5 x 2.8 x 2.2" / 113.9 x 70.2 x 55.6mm; (according to CIPA guidelines); Weight when mounted on camera body: Approximately 0.9 lb / 410g (battery and SD memory card included); Operating temperature: 32 to 104°F / 0 to 40°C; Operating humidity: 90% or less; Storage temperature: -4 to 140°F / -20 to 60°C
Additional Specifications Continued
System requirements: Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4 / Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3 / Professional Service Pack 3 / Windows Vista Service Pack 2 / Windows 7, CPU: Windows 2000 / XP: Pentium III 500MHz or more, Windows Vista / Windows 7: Pentium III 1GHz or more; Memory: Windows 2000 / Windows XP: 256MB or more, Windows Vista / Windows 7: 512MB or more; Available disk space on hard drive at installation time: 160MB or more; Display resolution: 1024 x 768 dots or greater, CD-ROM, USB port