Ricoh has a new patent for an 18.3mm f/2.8 lens, most likely designed for the rumored GR IV camera
Ricoh has filed a new patent application for an 18.3mm f/2.8 lens, most likely designed for the rumored Ricoh GR IV camera. The patent application JP2025-069515A was filed on 18 October 2023 and was just published online:
“The patent application includes eight numerical examples. All of these examples have a radius of 14.13mm for the image circle and a very short back focus of 0.7mm. These are therefore lenses intended for use with an APS-C compact camera with a built-in lens. In other words, a Ricoh GR.
Examples 1 to 3 and 8 are 18.35mm f/2.85 to f/2.89 lenses
Example 4 is an 18.35mm f/2.39 lens
Example 5 is a 15.7mm f/2.88 lens
Example 6 is a 17mm f/2.78 lens
Example 7 is a 16.41mm f/2.79 lensMost of the corresponding lens diagrams resemble that of the 18.3mm f/2.8 of the Ricoh GR III, except for the addition of a seventh lens element, which is an aspherical element.”
Source: Mistral75 via PentaxForums