April 26, 2005 – Ricoh today announced the GX8, a compact digital camera that boasts more megapixels than its other models. Packing in 8.2 effective megapixels on a 1/1.8-inch type CCD, this Ricoh hosts a wide range of manual and automatic options to please the majority of photographers. The Ricoh GX8 succeeds last year’s 5-megapixel GX and will be available only in Asia.
The 4.49 x 1.14 x 2.28-inch Ricoh GX8 aims for the higher end of compact digital cameras with compatibility with conversion lenses, telescopes, and features such as a hot shoe and cable release. Shooting in JPEG or TIFF formats, this camera has manual and priority modes, along with an additional eight scene modes – including unique Text and Motion settings. The GX8 can focus as close as 1 cm in macro mode and even has a flash setting for the macro mode so subjects aren’t blown out by the intense lighting.
Offsetting such features as the 64-1600 ISO range, the Ricoh GX8 also has characteristics of a compact camera. It weighs 9.2 ounces with the batteries, card, and wrist strap included. It also has a 3x optical zoom lens and 1.8-inch LCD screen with 130,000 pixels. Ricoh’s new camera is constructed of aluminum and has a rubber handgrip on one side. The press release stated that it can start up and take its first shot in 1.3 seconds, but its burst mode is less impressive at 1.7 frames per second. There is no information about availability or pricing yet.
