Ricoh GR

Ricoh GR Digital III continues 28mm-equivalent, high-priced lineage

Having given its GR Digital II camera more than a year on the market, Ricoh has seen fit to now upgrade that model by latching on another digit and what it claims to be the "greatest ever GR image quality." It wouldn't be much of a step forward if that wasn't the case, but let's see what else the Japanese company hopes to tempt us with. The wide-angle 28 mm/F1.9 GR Lens is all new, while the high-sensitivity 10-megapixel CCD and the GR Engine III image processor are likely evolutionary steps from the previous generation. Collectively, they promise improvements in all the areas you'd expect: faster focus, less noise and better low light images. There's also a 3-inch 920,000-dot VGA display, video recording at 640 x 480 / 30 fps, SDHC expandability and a complete lack of optical zoom. The veracity of Ricoh's claims can be tested from mid-August in the UK in exchange for £530 ($870), while the full press release and specs are already available at the read link below.

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Ricoh's 500SE GPS Camera

Ricoh's Optimized 500SE GPS-Enabled Digital Camera

Ricoh America's Corp. announces the release of hardware and firmware enhancements to its 500SE GPS-ready camera.

 

Ricoh America's Corp. announces the release of hardware and firmware enhancements to its 500SE GPS-ready camera.

To provide the best solution for GIS workflows that require quality images, Ricoh has announced the new SE-2 GPS module line for the 500SE to provide superior GPS reception, capabilities and accuracy. The SE-2 modules, designed by EKA Technologies, Inc, incorporates state-of-the-are GPS components into a small, power-efficient, and ruggedized housing that attaches to the side of the 500SE, providing an all-in-one geo-imaging solution.

The SE-2 represents Ricoh’s commitment to provide cutting-edge technology to its customers,” said Jeff Lengyel, national manager for Ricoh’s Camera Division. “Unlike other GPS cameras and imaging devices with built-in GPS, the 500SE was designed with a modular approach to ensure the camera’s capabilities follows the rapid technology curve in the GPS industry.”

The new modules are available in two versions. The SE-2g provides GPS capability while the SE-2c offers GPS and a 3-axis compass for direction (azimuth) information.

Key advantages of the SE-2 modules are its small form-factor, significant power saving capabilities and faster GPS fix times, due to it new helix antenna. The SE-2c and SE-2g are also less expensive then previous modules with a MSRP of $169.00 and $399.00 respectively.

To further enhance the camera’s data-collection capabilities, Ricoh has also announced a new firmware release for the 500SE that allows it to collect up to ten attributes of field data via an easy-to-use on-board data dictionary or by utilizing the camera’s barcode scanning capabilities. Additionally, an unlimited number of data dictionaries may be stored on the camera to provide a virtually unlimited amount of data to embed into images as they are captured. This image ‘meta-data’ becomes attribute data in GIS mapping applications. The new firmware also allows up to three attributes as well as GPS position, azimuth and UTC (satellite time) to be imprinted directly onto images as they are captured

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