Originally posted by anthony mazzeri I think it's still important to differentiate between Ricoh and Pentax when it comes to mirrorless, because Ricoh did indeed have a well-received mirrorless offering before the Pentax acquisition - the GXR Mount A12 which used the Leica M-mount. Which they have since abandoned... for what? They're certainly not been working on any Pentax models because there's not one iota of Ricoh DNA yet to be seen in any Pentax camera yet, not even a glimpse of Ricoh's excellent firmware.
The fact remains that the entire Ricoh team previously responsible for the ongoing GXR A12-28, A12-50, A-16, P10, S10, Mount A12, G700, GRD, CX and PX series before the Pentax acquisition have so far only come up with the single, solitary GR since. As good as this one camera is, they've gone from a rate of 5 complete cameras a year to just this one in four years so it does raise the question of what else have they been doing with their time these past several years? Obviously it must be some sort of ongoing 'project X' that's requiring all their efforts.
My prediction is a Ricoh MILC, likely a KAF bellows-mount.
Ricoh bought Pentax because they saw the GXR with M mount makes no sense. K mount has future, it can be expanded and many innovations put into it. M mount is what it is, same as screw mount from the Spotmatic era.
So from any practical point, GXR was axed because Ricoh has K-mount, 645 mount, Q mount. Good riddance.
GR was the only camera worth preserving, yes, as it is Ricoh's best. It should be preserved and improved upon.
Likewise, many cameras Pentax had are now gone, those endless compacts, etc. Even the latest MX-1 seems to be .. what .. gone too?
Anyway, life goes on. I look forward to a 35mm-50mm GR (thereabouts). If they don't deliver it, then Ricoh, even with Pentax, haven't learned a thing.