Ricoh GXR interchangeable unit camera reviews

 

Original posting
OK, you have to admit you never heard of THIS before (at least I haven't).
Ricoh boldly introduces 'interchangeable unit' camera to the consumer world. If similar concepts were used in the past I have not heard of them, at least not in mass markets.
The 'unit' essentially includes the imaging sensor and lens.
I think the concept is all wrong. I like Ricoh as a company, and their innovative products, but I have a feeling they went a little too far this time.
Somehow, this reminds me of a PDA, PDAs died, people want either cellular phones, or PCs, nobody wants something that's neither.
What can this concept really offer? it will not be as compact as compact digicam, and the 'replaceable' units will not be as economic to replace as DSLR lenses (at least not if you're after a decent sensor).
Honestly there is only one advantage I can see here - unlike replaceable lenses, the replaceable unit would probably be dust sealed, so you'll be able to replace units in dusty environments (in some countries ALL places are dusty) without fear of the sensor collecting dust specks.
As said earlier I don't believe this is advantage enough to make this product line profitable for Ricoh.

---

December 19, 2009 - update
Ricoh's initial offering includes two 'Camera units': the compact S10 zoom, and a large sensor A12 fixed focal length macro unit.

	S10	A12	P10
Sensor size	1/1.7"	APS-C	1/2.3"
Focal length multiplier	4.7	1.515	5.71
Equivalent focal length	24-72mm	50mm	28-300mm