Ricoh Ricoh GR firmware version v2.03 released

[Livnius]

Yeah I'd most appreciate any further improvements which give me the shooter more control over SS and ISO in the various modes...the more user control the better.

Stuff like small incremental improvement to DR, noise and AF speed are always welcome however small those improvements are.

For me the biggest gripe I have is one that can never be addressed...I'm not a fan of the little mode dial lock ! The way I have my GR set up it's the only button or dial that I find a little awkward and requiring 2 hands. I like the look of the little push button mode dial lock oh the new EM1. Really, a properly engineering mode dial with just the right amount of resistance should never accidentally turn....like the EV dial on the RX1, easy enough to turn but stiff enough that it will never turn by accident. Engineer the dial right and do away with the lock button I say. Maybe in the next GR.

 

[Chrisnmn]

Hey guys i dont wanna start a rumor of the dpreview-mu43 sorts, but after the update, im personally noting a lot of AF hunting in macro mode and some "locked" targets which are out of focus. really weird. and im talking of taking picture outside at 3 o clock on a sunny day. please tell me its me and not that something went "wrong" on the AF-Lock system after the update? anyone?

 

[stillshunter]

Hey guys i dont wanna start a rumor of the dpreview-mu43 sorts, but after the update, im personally noting a lot of AF hunting in macro mode and some "locked" targets which are out of focus. really weird. and im talking of taking picture outside at 3 o clock on a sunny day. please tell me its me and not that something went "wrong" on the AF-Lock system after the update? anyone?

Sorry to hear that Chris. I took the GR for a walk today - being post-FW update - and didn't experience any issues out of the ordinary. I used macro on 3 separate occasions with no hunting at all. Hope a battery-out reset sees you back to normal.

 

[mrmachine]

Now, if they'd just increase the minimum shutter speed you can select in Auto ISO and aperture priority to 1/500 or 1/1000 or allow for a max ISO setting in TaV mode....

I agree, max ISO in TAv would be great, with aperture or shutter shift. TAv is an excellent combo mode that almost removes the need for auto ISO shift settings and Av/Tv modes at all, but having no way to prevent the camera from jumping straight to unusable ISO levels as you move into different lighting conditions (outdoors to indoors or shade) is a real problem. I'd much rather have a shot taken at a slower shutter speed or aperture and keep ISO under 6400, than have unusable files at 25600 ISO, and it can be easy to miss the fact that your shots are at such a high ISO until it's too late.

 

[mrmachine]

There has apparently been some minor tweaking to the colour of the DNG files, some slight noise improvements at ISO3200 and some minor DR improvements in shadow areas. None of these I really expect to be very noticeable to the naked eye though.

Can anyone confirm if these colour tweaks fix the red shift when opening DNGs in Aperture or any OS X program that relies on the operating system's RAW file support?

 

[mrmachine]

Can anyone explain the new "max aperture priority" in P (shows as Pa when active in P) and M modes? Does it just mean the camera will always prefer f2.8 for new shots, unless you adjust it?

 

[Ray Sachs]

I agree, max ISO in TAv would be great, with aperture or shutter shift. TAv is an excellent combo mode that almost removes the need for auto ISO shift settings and Av/Tv modes at all, but having no way to prevent the camera from jumping straight to unusable ISO levels as you move into different lighting conditions (outdoors to indoors or shade) is a real problem. I'd much rather have a shot taken at a slower shutter speed or aperture and keep ISO under 6400, than have unusable files at 25600 ISO, and it can be easy to miss the fact that your shots are at such a high ISO until it's too late.

That, and the shutter button confirmation issue they just solved with this firmware update, were the two reasons I ended up buying the Nikon A instead of the GR. The Nikon has it's own issues in manual mode - you can cap the ISO, but there's no shutter or aperture shift, so if you hit the ISO cap you've set, the photo just underexposes from there. BUT, in aperture priority mode, the Nikon allows the user to set a minimum shutter speed as high as 1/1000. That's higher than I need, but the max of 1/250 that the Ricoh allows is slower than I need. So, with the Nikon, I set the max ISO at 6400 and the minimum shutter speed at 1/500. It will maintain that shutter speed as long as possible, but once the ISO is pegged at 6400, if it needs more light, it starts reducing the shutter speed as needed. Which is the same logic I'd use if I was setting the ISO/shutter speed tradeoffs on the fly. But it's one major variable I don't have to think about because it does exactly what I'd do if I was thinking about it. As noted, the same thing could be accomplished with the GR if they'd allow you to cap the ISO in TaV mode, in combination with shutter shift. But they don't seem to see that as a problem. Or they could simply raise the minimum shutter speed that can be selected in aperture priority mode, but they've been using 1/250 since the earlier GRD models, so that seems to be in the corporate DNA. Too bad - there was so much I liked about the GR, but I just find the Nikon easier to shoot with, given these constraints with the GR... I'm sure these cameras will be improved in the future and maybe some future iteration of the GR will have these capabilities...

-Ray

 

[strawhat20]

Hey guys i dont wanna start a rumor of the dpreview-mu43 sorts, but after the update, im personally noting a lot of AF hunting in macro mode and some "locked" targets which are out of focus. really weird. and im talking of taking picture outside at 3 o clock on a sunny day. please tell me its me and not that something went "wrong" on the AF-Lock system after the update? anyone?

Actually, I was going to ask if people who have upgraded have experience the opposite. To me, it seems AF is faster in non-macro and also less hunting or about the same in macro mode. It also could be the way I have the camera setup. Snap Mode by default, I then use the AEL/AFL button to lock focus, equivalent to back-button focus on DSLR. I also noticed that using AEL/AFL button, I don't have to press the macro button to shoot in macro mode, it will focus down to 10cm.

When I'm out and about tomorrow, I'll try some of the other modes to see if AF speed is any different.

 

[mrmachine]

Actually, I was going to ask if people who have upgraded have experience the opposite. To me, it seems AF is faster in non-macro and also less hunting or about the same in macro mode. It also could be the way I have the camera setup. Snap Mode by default, I then use the AEL/AFL button to lock focus, equivalent to back-button focus on DSLR. I also noticed that using AEL/AFL button, I don't have to press the macro button to shoot in macro mode, it will focus down to 10cm.

When I'm out and about tomorrow, I'll try some of the other modes to see if AF speed is any different.

I haven't noticed a change in AF speed either way (although I haven't really looked for a change). But I also love using the AEL/AFL button to lock (and hold) focus (only, not AEL). This is an awesome feature, very similar to a back focus button on a DSLR.

It gives me a full time auto focus button (even in SNAP mode) that will drop me into a faux custom SNAP / manual focus mode. But another favourite aspect of using the AFL/AEL button this way is that as you noted, it will first attempt to lock focus at normal distance and it will fallback to macro distance.

Armed with this knowledge, there is basically NO reason to ever usually use the macro mode. It's quicker and easier to just press AFL/AEL lock from SNAP or AF mode when you want to take a macro shot. And if your subject isn't actually super duper close, it will lock AF much faster than macro mode. It also removes the annoying hunt, realise it's too close, switch to macro and refocus flow, by automatically falling back to macro if regular AF fails.

This is not new in the recent firmware update. I've been using it like this for a while now It's also great when using the focus and re-frame technique, as your exposure will be set for the actual framing rather than the framing at the time focus was locked.

Update: After a quick test, it does feel like macro focus is faster. Could be the placebo effect, though, as I don't have the old firmware to compare against. Normal AF is a little harder to judge.

 

[monk3y]

I haven't noticed a change in AF speed either way (although I haven't really looked for a change). But I also love using the AEL/AFL button to lock (and hold) focus (only, not AEL). This is an awesome feature, very similar to a back focus button on a DSLR.

It gives me a full time auto focus button (even in SNAP mode) that will drop me into a faux custom SNAP / manual focus mode. But another favourite aspect of using the AFL/AEL button this way is that as you noted, it will first attempt to lock focus at normal distance and it will fallback to macro distance.

Armed with this knowledge, there is basically NO reason to ever usually use the macro mode. It's quicker and easier to just press AFL/AEL lock from SNAP or AF mode when you want to take a macro shot. And if your subject isn't actually super duper close, it will lock AF much faster than macro mode. It also removes the annoying hunt, realise it's too close, switch to macro and refocus flow, by automatically falling back to macro if regular AF fails.

This is not new in the recent firmware update. I've been using it like this for a while now It's also great when using the focus and re-frame technique, as your exposure will be set for the actual framing rather than the framing at the time focus was locked.

Update: After a quick test, it does feel like macro focus is faster. Could be the placebo effect, though, as I don't have the old firmware to compare against. Normal AF is a little harder to judge.

I just ordered the GR and it is still not in my hands but I am a bit confused by one of your statement. As far as I understand when you set snap focus to a certain distance then the camera's focus will be fixed at that distance, let's say you set it at 2m. Then you press the AEL/AFL button to allow the camera to focus on a certain subject and snap a photo let's say somewhere further like 5meters away, then the next shot you don't press the AEL/AFL will the camera automatically focus back to 2m when you press the shutter button? (I hope my question makes sense)

 

[mrmachine]

I just ordered the GR and it is still not in my hands but I am a bit confused by one of your statement. As far as I understand when you set snap focus to a certain distance then the camera's focus will be fixed at that distance, let's say you set it at 2m. Then you press the AEL/AFL button to allow the camera to focus on a certain subject and snap a photo let's say somewhere further like 5meters away, then the next shot you don't press the AEL/AFL will the camera automatically focus back to 2m when you press the shutter button? (I hope my question makes sense)

You can configure the AFL/AEL button to either activate only while you are pressing and holding the button, or you can configure it to hold the lock until you press it a second time. I use the latter option, because:

a) I find it annoying to have to hold a button down while I am recomposing a shot - sometimes my finger slips off, or it makes it difficult to angle the camera, or there may be more camera shake in low light;

b) When it is holding focus lock (until a second press), it behaves just like manual focus mode, which is basically just like a custom SNAP mode with much finer grained adjustability and much more precise tack sharp focus when your subject is not exactly 1m, 1.5m, 2m, etc.

Using AFL in this way is not only good as (1) a custom SNAP mode OR (2) a quick way to jump to manual focus (and have the camera get me very close with AF then let me adjust) OR (3) focus quickly for subjects that may or may not need macro mode.

When using regular AF, I find it annoying having to re-focus after taking one shot, if I decide to take a second (e.g. because of hand-shake, or subject moved, or to re-frame slightly). With AFL, I can focus once, and then take several shots with slightly different framing, different exposures, or different position or expression from the subject, without wasting time on re-focus.

That's 4 awesome ways to use the AFL button, but 3 of them require the option to hold lock until a second press

 

[monk3y]

Hi thank you for your reply.

I am very familiar with using AFL/AEL button as I have been using it since about 4 years ago when I started shooting from DSLR days up until now. Letter B sounds like it functions the same as any other cameras as well though as long as you separate focus from the shutter button you get similar functions with other cameras. I was actually wondering at first if it would automatically snap back to your "Snap Focus" setting after you take a shot. I guess I will just have to try it out when the camera arrives for me to better understand this function.

Thanks

 

[mrmachine]

Yes, it will return to SNAP mode on release or on second press of the button, if you were in SNAP mode to begin with.

 

[monk3y]

Yes, it will return to SNAP mode on release or on second press of the button, if you were in SNAP mode to begin with.

Now that is awesome

Thank you very much. I love that!!

Sent from my GT-N7100 using SeriousCompacts mobile app

 

[blue_quartz]

The change in the Exif tag for camera manufacturer has affected DxO Optic Pro's handling of the GR's DNG files, they are already looking into it...

My original thread on their forum here: http://forum.dxo.com/index.php/topic,8248.msg46850.html#msg46850 Let's hope they can fix it soon.

 

[newmikey]

Not a DxO user but in the meantime you could use Exiftool to edit the exif manufacturer tag so it reads the original "old" tag and DxO will recognise it.

 

[nickthetasmaniac]

Hi everyone, first post here (although I recognise several of you from mu-43.com).

I've just bought a GR and I'm slowly working my way through the set-up. One thing I've noticed is that this is not working for me...

* You can now switch from playback mode to image capture mode by full depressing the shutter button...

This is what happens for me:

- I open ex. comp or any of the settings I've assigned to the 'Adj.' lever and make adjustments.
- I either half or fully press the shutter button.
- The setting adjustment screen disappears while I have the shutter depressed.
- As soon as I release the shutter the setting adjustment screen returns.

Ie. I must press 'OK' to remove the screen.

Am I missing something? This is the only real operational quirk that gets in the way of what otherwise appears to be a very intuitive UI (one of the main reasons I bought the GR...)

I've checked the fw and it was sold with v2.03 already installed.

 

[Ray Sachs]

I forget where it's located in the menu or even exactly what it's called, but there's an option for something like 'shutter button priority' or something like that. If you turn it on, then whenever you half press (or full press) the shutter button, then the exposure comp or any of the menus associated with the ADJ button/rocker will shut down and stay shut down until you open them again. This was a feature in the GXR and I think the GRD3 and I was really bummed it wasn't in the GR when initially released. It was the much smaller of two primary reasons I chose a different camera over the GR. I was glad to see they put it back in the firmware update.

I'm sure someone with the camera can point you to the specific menu item if you can't find it..

-Ray

 

[nickthetasmaniac]

Got it, thanks Ray