Ricoh GXR a few Questions

Whilst learning a lot from the foregoing thread, I've been playing with my own settings on the GXR. I have a question to ask (of course :rolleyes:) I have my iso set for Auto sub set 1600/1/60th. I though that this would mean that it wouldn't use a shutter speed lower than 1/60th but this doesn't seem to be the case. The setting says "change shutter speed" and then the options. Can anyone explain how this works please?
 
Whilst learning a lot from the foregoing thread, I've been playing with my own settings on the GXR. I have a question to ask (of course :rolleyes:) I have my iso set for Auto sub set 1600/1/60th. I though that this would mean that it wouldn't use a shutter speed lower than 1/60th but this doesn't seem to be the case. The setting says "change shutter speed" and then the options. Can anyone explain how this works please?

I thought that was the case too. Curious to learn.
 
I have the same issue. It's different then the GRD.
I'll try to figure it out later and post my findings,
Thanks youse...I thought it was my lack of manual reading that caused the issue.
I'll be back later with something...
 
My guess, and its ONLY a guess, is it will raise the ISO as far as it can while maintaining that minimum shutter speed, so maintaining that speed is its top priority, but if it just runs out of light at the highest possible ISO, THEN, as a last resort, it will drop the shutter speed. This is how the X100 works, AFAICT. I've never handled a GXR, but I can't imagine how else it would deal with this...

-Ray
 
Ray, I thought the same thing. It seems that the GXR thinks differently.
The other simple issue is in M mode, Auto ISO is fixed at 200.
Maybe in a firmware update it will be addressed. I'll be at the camera an MANUAL and try to figure this out.
Thanks for the explanation as its logical.
 
My guess, and its ONLY a guess, is it will raise the ISO as far as it can while maintaining that minimum shutter speed, so maintaining that speed is its top priority, but if it just runs out of light at the highest possible ISO, THEN, as a last resort, it will drop the shutter speed. This is how the X100 works, AFAICT. I've never handled a GXR, but I can't imagine how else it would deal with this...

-Ray

What Ray says is how it has worked for me on my GXR. I have my ISO Setting set to Auto-Hi 3200 ISO with minimum shutter speed of 1/30. I figure with 28mm lens I can hand hold to that speed. If I've had too much coffee I can easily switch to Shutter priority and set something higher. Or see my next setting.

I have the ADJ. Direct ISO Control turned on. This way I can quickly roll the Adj dial and change my ISO setting from Auto Hi to a fixed ISO on the fly.

When using Aperture Priority I have Auto Aperture Shift turned ON.

When using Shutter Priority I have Shutter Speed Auto Shift turned ON.

(Note: to make the above adjustments in the Menu you have to have that mode selected for you to see that option to adjust. They're both on page 3 of the Shooting Menu Adjustments page)

I'm also playing with reviewing the image on the EVF vice LCD so that I have the option of doing my "chimping" without my eye ever leaving the eye piece depending on what I'm doing. Can't remember where I found that setting.
 
Just got my GXR, as I am charging the battery it looks to me like it uses the same battery and charger as the Fuji X100 does anybody know if this is true
 
Just got my GXR, as I am charging the battery it looks to me like it uses the same battery and charger as the Fuji X100 does anybody know if this is true

Haha, that is funny. I guess they are both OEMing from a 3rd party?

I did just receive the GXR Wasabi batteries from Blue Nook and they work great ($25 for 2 with a car charger), just like they do for my m4/3 gear.
 
Question for GXR owners about snap focus. When you set the GXR at a particular focus range, say 3 meters, does the GXR automatically set aperture? And if yes, can the user change the aperture setting, or is it locked?

How deep is the DOF generally when in the snap focus mode? Is there a DOF scale telling the user that everything from 3 - 6 meters is in focus or something like that?

I suppose the user has to be a very good distance estimator to use snap focus?

Thanks!
 
Question for GXR owners about snap focus. When you set the GXR at a particular focus range, say 3 meters, does the GXR automatically set aperture? And if yes, can the user change the aperture setting, or is it locked?

How deep is the DOF generally when in the snap focus mode? Is there a DOF scale telling the user that everything from 3 - 6 meters is in focus or something like that?

I suppose the user has to be a very good distance estimator to use snap focus?

Thanks!
You'd generally want to take control of the aperture when you're using snap focus, either using aperture priority or manual modes, so you can control the depth of field. There is a DOF scale showing anytime you're in snap or manual focus mode (similar to the ones on the X100 and X10, but on the side of the screen rather than the bottom, and without the illusion of accuracy that the Fuji's give you). Just came out of a long discussion about this elsewhere (and a short one here) - the DOF scale on the GXR sounds like its accurate. The DOF scale on the GRD3, however (I don't know about the 4), is WAAAAAAAAAAAY the hell off, leading you to use a much smaller aperture than you need and limiting the use of snap focus to really good light situations if you're actually dumb enough to believe it (as I was).

A lesson I'm learning the hard way is to always check the DOF scale on a camera if you plan to rely on them, because I have yet to find one that's accurate. The ones on the LX5 and X100 are a bit conservative, which is not a bad thing for setting zone focus, but makes it impossible to use for finding the hyperfocal distance. The one on the GRD3 is so far off as to be far worse than useless. It's so bad it should be shot, except that it would be hard to do that without wrecking the whole camera, so maybe just a lethal injection. :cool: I have to turn my attention to the X10 on this question soon, because I use the DOF scale for zone focus a lot, and I think it's pretty far off also and you need to know this. Bottom line - to use any sort of zone focus (whether through Ricohs snap system or just setting it up manually) you need to really get to know your camera. Go to DOFmaster and make a DOF table for a bunch off apertures and focal lengths to get a feel for what it should be able to do, and then go use it enough to get a feel for what it really can do in the field.

The idea of any sort of zone focus system, which snap focus is just a shortcut for, is to shoot with a large enough area in focus, that you DON'T need to be a great distance estimator. If you know, for example, that an area between 3 and 15 feet is in focus, you're in good shape for a lot of close street shooting because you don't have to worry much about focus on a shot by shot basis. The larger sensor on the GXR limits the DOF and makes snap focus mostly useful in pretty good light. The small sensor on the GRD3/4 makes snap focus useable in nearly any conditions, because you have pretty good DOF even with the aperture wide open. After looking at the capabilities of both cameras in this regard waaaay too carefully over the past couple of days, I've concluded I'm not gonna get a GXR, but I might upgrade the GRD from the 3 to the 4 to get what appears to bean extra stop of sensitivity out of the sensor - to be able to shoot at 1600 rather than limit myself to 800 as I do with the 3.

The only time I use zone focus is shooting on the street or maybe shooting fast moving kids at play within a defined area, where you don't want to have to take the time to focus each shot. If I wasn't into street photography, I seriously doubt I'd ever use snap/zone focus. It made more sense for more applications in the days before auto-focus, but with today's cameras, I think it's a pretty specialized tool.

-Ray
 
Armando, just something to look at...
Hopefully you'll get this...
GXR with 28mm f5.6 focused at almost 10'
DOF from 4.7' to Infinity.....
5.6, hmm ya still have many more stops to go.
 
Does anybody here have the GXR with the S10 module? I'm curious to know whether the shots off the S10 (24-70 with a 1/1.7 sensor) are as good as those of the GRD3. REasoning is this... I'm tiring of the pesky reseating of the battery since I broke its clip thing, and now it takes several attempts to get it to work, so am looking to either GRD4 *or* GXR with the 24-70 module as a starting point.
 
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