Overview of Questions | Answers

On this page, I collect some questions regarding the Ricoh GXR and the M-mount expansion unit; the body, the other camera units, and more general questions are covered on a separate page. For the convenience of the readers, some questions may be redundant with items listed on my experience and characteristics pages.

 

Overview of Questions

For more questions and information please also look at the following pages on the Ricohfoum:

 

Answers

Which M-bayonet lenses can I use on the GXR M-mount unit?

Ricoh publishes a list of approved lenses at the bottom of their M-mount unit page (Mounting Check Results for Each Lens). There is also a list of (in)compatible lenses at Ricohforum that is continually updated and much more useful than Ricoh's list. Among the manufacturers who offer Leica M lenses (but not all of them are compatible with the M-mount unit) are:

Last, but not least, you can search the Ricohforum or the Ricoh forum at dpreview for (in)compatible M-mount lenses or, even better, ask the forum members whether the lens that you consider to use is compatible with the M-mount unit.

Also note that a multitude of manual lenses can be fit to the GXR M-mount unit using adapters (Noviflex, Chinese, others...).

How can I check whether a lens can be used on the GXR M-mount unit?

If there is no other information, you can use the "check device" that Ricoh supplies with the M-mount unit. You can use it to check whether the rear part of a lens protrudes too far so that it might damage the sensor.

    

Photos: The check device that Ricoh supplies with the M-mount expansion unit

Can I use Leica R lenses on the GXR M-mount expansion unit?

I was asked this question by nicolabotta. In advised him to also post this questions at Ricohforum and the Ricoh forum at dpreview.com. Several dpreview forum members confirmed that it is possible to use Leica R lenses at the GXR with an adapter. Here is the respective thread at dpreview, and here is my own reply:

I did a Web search and found this page: nemeng.com/leica/017e.shtml (Leica R & M lens mount adapters ?)

It says that you can use Leica R lenses at an M-mount Leica (or any other M-mount camera), not vice versa. They recommend this only for wide angle and fisheye lenses, because there is no focus coupling. But this argument is not valid for the GXR because it is not a rangefinder camera - you focus using the EVF or LCD screen (and focus assist plus magnification).

However, I assume that the R-mount lenses are a little bit large and heavy for the small GXR (I have no idea…). You can find an R-to-M adapter (LEM/LER) on the Novoflex Website (www.novoflex.com/index.php).

How is manual focusing supported on the GXR?

The GXR M-Mount unit offers only one method for focusing manually: The user sets the focus manually by turning the focus ring of the (manual) lens.

Manual focusing is furthermore supported in several ways:

Enlargement was considerably improved and focus assist introduced with firmware update 1.40 that accompanied the introduction of the M-mount expansion unit.

         

Photos: No magnification (left), "Enlarge Part" (center), and "Enlarge All" (right); in the latter case, a small display indicates where the enlargement is located in the image

         

Photos: No focus assist (left, focus assist mode 1 (center) and mode 2 (right)

Is focus shift an issue with the GXR?

Many rangefinder lenses have focus shift, which means that the focus shifts (or moves) to a slightly difference distance when you change the f-stop. Particularly, the Zeiss Sonnar f1.5/50mm has been blamed for having noticeable focus shift - which Zeiss countered with a technical note.

Therefore some GXR users (and forum posters) are anxious whether this will be a problem or not. I will cite the answer provided by Godfrey in the Ricoh forum at dpreview:

Someone else (regrettably, I forgot who) added that you should no longer change the aperture after focusing. It is also a problem to open the aperture after focusing because you may leave the "sharp zone" if the focus was not "spot on" (I find it harder to focus exactly then the lens is stopped down).

How can I lock exposure? How can I lock focus? Or what?

Lock Exposure

For locking exposure alone, you can use the "AE Lock" (automaticexposure lock) function. You can use it only if you assign it to one of the two function buttons Fn1 or Fn2.

Lock Focus

There is no need for a "lock focus" function for manual lenses. In a sense, focus is always locked for these lenses, which has its advantages. Thus, pressing the shutter-release button down halfway, simply locks exposure. Then reframe the picture and press the shutter-release button completely to take the picture.

After word

Actually, there is a shortage of function buttons on the GXR body since the recent firmware updates. In my case, the following functions compete for function buttons: (1) AE Lock, (2) Focus assist, (3) Magnification (Enlarge Part or Enlarge All). And there are many more functions to choose from, like JPEG>RAW, for example.

Which are the list of settings stored during the shutoff that we can recover from the body or the module?

I was asked, which are the list of settings stored during the shutoff that we can recover from the body or the module at our choice via the function "Start Settings Readout" in the "Setup" menu?

After several e-mails to and fro with Mr. Wutzke from Ricoh and two (or more) e-mails sent by him to Japan, the answer to this question is as follows:

"Pure logic" led Mr. Wutzke and me to conclude that the settings are stored in the same way either in the body or in the camera unit. Finally, Mr. Wutzke confirmed that ALL the settings that a user can change are stored.

I am not completely convinced that this answer is correct, but at the moment, this is "THE" answer.

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10.06.2013