Originally posted by Mistral75 - his first sentence implies that the AF points have a larger coverage
I think that is very likely.
In the
image posted by alfa75ts it looks like one can see very unusually wide markers that might denote the outer AF areas.
To the best of my knowledge this would mean that this feature -- very large frame coverage with AF areas -- wouldn't come to an FF camera, it would be unique to the APS-C flagship.
If a future FF model would increase the megapixel count so that it reaches the APS-C equivalent (like the K-1 does with respect to the K-5) then, functionally, one would get the same (just like the K-1 has an unusually large AF area coverage with respect to an APS-C frame). There would still be the difference that the AF areas would not cover all of the viewfinder, though (in an optical viewfinder).
Originally posted by Mistral75 and/or some of them have a higher precision
Seems less likely to me. Otherwise, I believe, we would have seen this offered by others before. Potentially, others have always opted to have more AF areas rather than higher-precision ones? If that's the reason for why we haven't seen better than f/2.8-base PDAF accuracy then Ricoh could prioritise accuracy over quantity.
Originally posted by Mistral75 his second sentence implies either (i) there is no grid ('mark of the autofocus area'), therefore the camera has an OVF with an LCD overlay
Yes, an LCD overlay seems much more likely than a hybrid viewfinder.
Not that the two options exclude each other, but Ricoh has implemented an LCD overlay before so it seems plausible that they would use that technology again whereas a hybrid viewfinder would be very revolutionary (for a DSLR).
I wish one day Ricoh will launch a camera with a hybrid viewfinder but I don't think this upcoming model has one. I would encourage everyone to have fun with speculations but just to enjoy seeing where our imagination can take us, as opposed to setting up expectations that cannot realistically be met by the very small Pentax division that apparently isn't prioritised highly by Ricoh. If Ricoh were 100% serious with Pentax, why would it take so long to see the 85/1.4mm? Or a very fast wide-angle prime? Or why wasn't the APS-C flagship ready for the 100th-anniversary celebration?
Lots of unknowns and I could be wrong, but it does not seem warranted to expect technology (a hybrid viewfinder) that would have the potential to be disruptive. After all, such a camera would be the best of both worlds. One could have a great OVF experience but would also be able to turn one's DSLR into a MILC on the press of a button. Such a camera would provide the best of both worlds.
Very few advantages would be left to a MILC. MILCs still would have smaller registration distances which
- help with camera compactness, and
- allow the adaptation of a wider range of lenses.
Having said that, w.r.t. 1., what is the point of having a smaller body if the space of the mirror box just moves into the lens? Sigma has a number of lens models where the optics are the same for both DSLR and MILC versions, except that the MILC versions have an extra "tunnel" added to replace the mirror box. Overall, that reduces compactness of a system because now one has many "mirror boxes" compared to before when there was only one.
I also believe that with current sensor technology -- despite micro-lenses there is still a challenge with rays hitting the sensor at opaque angles -- some lenses will need optics to achieve or approach telecentricity. I'm no expert, but I think the number of lens designs that can currently truly exploit a smaller registration distance is very low.
W.r.t. 2, adapters are a pain in the neck in several ways. They complicate handling, they often reduce the feature set available (including eliminating eye-AF), and they need to be manufactured to extremely high tolerances in order to avoid unnecessary alignment issues.
So, again, I hope we are all just having fun speculating what could essentially happen if there were no real world constraints, but are all acutely aware that the recent development speed on behalf of Ricoh does not warrant expectations of an industry-disrupting camera. I don't want to be a party-pooper, it just always bugs me when the curtains are finally lifted and everyone is highly disappointed because their hypothetical feature did not materialise, when the overall outcome actually deserves a lot of enthusiasm.