In what has to be the oddest new camera technology announcement of 2009, Ricoh unveiled its GXR system. It’s not a mirrorless interchangeable lens  system, as was rumored around the blogosphere, but what the company catchily calls an “Interchangeable Unit Camera,” where the “Unit” in question is a lens/sensor module which slides into a housing that includes the rest of a point-and-shoot’s pieces–920,000-pixel 3-inch LCD, controls, hot shoe, and flash. A tiltable EVF that fits in the hot shoe will be optional.

When it ships in the beginning of December, Ricoh plans to have the body and two camera units. Also, according to the company, it promises to deliver a new camera unit every quarter, starting with a nonspecific telephoto in the second quarter of next year. More