The GR’s 28mm Ambition

Yesterday, the camera world was set ablaze by a single rumor — Ricoh, long dormant, is about to drop a bombshell: the Ricoh GR-E camera. The new model will reportedly feature the world’s first full-frame curved sensor, packing 36 megapixels (matching the Pentax K-1), paired with a 28mm f/2.4 prime lens, with max ISO soaring to 51,200.

But the most thrilling number is the body dimensions: 122.0mm (W) × 64.7mm (H) × 39.8mm. It’ll slip into a coat pocket without a second thought.

Without any add-ons, the GR fits comfortably into the front pocket of a pair of men’s jeans.

The rumor sent shockwaves through the community. The GR series, which has been amassing a cult following since the film era, is actually getting a “once-in-a-lifetime” update?

The Taste of the Street

Let’s get one thing straight: the GR series is Ricoh’s crown jewel. It’s not just the compact, low-key pocket-camera form factor, the brilliantly efficient one-handed controls, or the sharpest 28mm prime lens in history. It’s the ultimate endorsement from the godfather of street photography himself — Daido Moriyama, whose mantra is, “I am a dog, wandering the streets, taking photos like I’m shitting.” That alone gives every rebellious, artsy young photographer a reason to own a GR.

Daido Moriyama’s signature-edition GR1v has long since been traded at astronomical prices.

Moriyama famously favored the GR21 with its 21mm prime lens.

Over 21 long years, the GR series has spawned 4 film cameras and 7 digital models. Its classic, understated character has never wavered.

From 1996 to 2011, the full GR lineup — plus the GR (2013) and GR II (2015) — makes for 11 generations in total.

Sure, in China’s photography scene, street photography is destined to remain a niche pursuit — a hundred years couldn’t match the three great legions of Sanlitun telephoto-lens “shoot the models” warriors, Forbidden City corner-tower tripod warriors competing for the best spot, or Summer Palace lotus-flower warriors. But none of that dampens the enthusiasm of the countless young photographers who slip a GR into their pocket and hit the streets.

Ricoh has clearly drawn confidence from the GR. Even their ads are steeped in the street-poet spirit of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. Nostalgia + capability = a classic camera. That’s an unshakable truth.

The Curved Sensor

The prime-lens-plus-curved-sensor combination has been a hot topic among geeks ever since patents and research results emerged from Nikon, Canon, and Sony. Because the image-quality improvements this pairing can deliver represent a banner-level revolution.

Optical imaging is, in essence, analogous to the human eye. The pupil is the aperture. The curved retina is the sensor. But CMOS sensors have an inherent flaw: once light passes through all the distortion and chromatic-aberration corrections of a lens, edge sharpness can never match center sharpness due to vignetting.

Ricoh’s GR already leads the compact-camera class in edge-to-edge sharpness and distortion control.

Of course, curved sensors have a weakness. Since the curvature is a fixed value, a single curved sensor can only correspond to a single focal length. A zoom lens? Not unless Sony or Samsung one day develops a “flexible variable-curvature CMOS sensor.” As an aside: ever since university, sitting through Sensor Principles and Applications, I’ve stubbornly believed that the ultimate revolution in sensor technology will come through chemistry, not physics. Yeah, that’s venturing into sci-fi territory.

A Die-Hard Fan’s Take

As a hardcore GR fan, here’s my take on the GR-E rumors.

From the GR to the GR II, the upgrades were modest — Wi-Fi, app-based remote control, and dual-channel audio for video recording (as if anyone actually shoots video with this camera). I once owned a GR myself, but first-gen users were never clamoring for an upgrade. Given the image-circle constraints and the pocket-camera DNA, many believed APS-C was the GR’s ceiling — though of course, everyone secretly daydreamed about whether full-frame was even possible.

The GR limited green edition.

Now, the answer appears to point toward the curved sensor.

From a competitive standpoint, once the GR-E launches, it will become a direct rival to the Leica Q — and could even ripple into Sony RX1R II territory. Not only that, if Fujifilm’s X70 successor comes in overpriced, it’ll face serious headwinds. And looking at the broader picture, with Nikon and Canon poised to enter the full-frame mirrorless arena, this speculation gets genuinely terrifying the more you game it out.

Textbook-level one-handed control — one of the GR’s standout strengths.

Of course, the biggest question mark remains curved-sensor cost control. Rumor has it the GR-E will be priced at “just” $1,800. Personally, I think that number is… conservative.

Regardless, the GR-E rumor has lit a fire in the hearts of fans everywhere. Here’s hoping we’ll see it officially unveiled this year.