My instant GR1 addiction - and help needed!

[mani]

Bought a Ricoh GR1 last week and I have to say I'm LOVING it. I've never had a point-and-shoot before - it's been on my mind to get something compact like an XA4 or a Rollei 35 or even a T3 - but as soon as I held the Ricoh and discussed the different settings with the seller I was totally captivated. The simplicity combined with just the right amount of photographic control and also the 28mm field of view is exactly right. It just seems like Ricoh totally nailed what a photographer needs, and decided to add nothing more. Perfect.

I exposed a roll of Portra over the next few hours, and looking at the negatives I'm only nervous that the lens is too sharp. I know that sounds ridiculous, but for a lot of my shooting in the past I've favored an 'old-fashioned' look with lenses like classic Summicrons, so what appear to be razor-sharp exposures may not actually suit my style. But on the other hand, I'm thinking they may extend my style... I'll find out when I scan.

Anyhow, the camera is in beautiful condition. Everything looks perfect including the LCD. The lens is crystal clear and all the electronics seem to be in triple-A condition - the sound of the focusing and winding is really quiet, with no strange clicks or whirrs. The seller assured me that the camera had been back to Japan 2 years ago and given a service, but he didn't have the paperwork to prove it, so other than the perfect LCD I don't think the assurance was worth much.

Now comes the only drawback - one that I didn't even notice in the flush of excitement when I was handling the camera indoors - there's an area of separation at the bottom of the glass inside the finder. It manifests itself as a slightly darker patch over the focus icons, and causes a slight unsharpness in the bottom 20% of the finder. The effect is so subtle in use that, as I said, I stupidly didn't even notice it until I went out into the bright sunshine after buying the camera.

For a few minutes I debated whether to take the camera back straight away, but there really is something addictive about this camera, and I already couldn't bear the thought of not having it. So I have a couple questions for the Ricoh experts:

1. does the separation deteriorate over time, or is it the result of a knock or some other disturbance that's done its damage, and won't get any worse?
2. Can it be fixed? I know that Ricoh don't fix these anymore - I don't need people to recycle that information - what i want to know is whether anyone (preferably in Europe) knows how to fix these sorts of simple faults and may have a stock of commonly problematic spares (the finder separation is a known issue for the GR range).

Really appreciate any help with my addiction!😱

 

[maitani]

GR1 are superb, soon you'll be looking out for a GR21 🙂

for the separation issue, it's unlikely to get worse over time, if it doesn't harm usability for you, I would just keep using it.

 

[btgc]

I remember reading here on RFF (I think, thread with Japanese tradition influenced imperfect pictures) how seller of scissors before wrapping buy made some scuff or like that. When things are perfect people get scared to use them. Minor defect makes them more human.

Enjoy your GR and don't sweat too much. Sun will burn out, Earth will fall apart. Nothing is eternal so let's enjoy while can.

 

[mani]

Thanks for the input guys!

I think it's really true that a camera without any imperfections becomes somehow too intimidating to use - the last couple years I've tended to leave my Millennium M6 at home because I don't want to scratch it - so maybe this little fault in the GR1 is a blessing in disguise!

Maitani - if it doesn't get any worse then it's really not a hindrance to everyday use. Naturally I kick myself that I didn't notice it while buying - at the very least I might've tried to haggle the price down a bit - but on the other hand I might not have bought it, at all. Right now I'm glad I did.

 

[mani]

Just as a follow-up now I scanned the first test roll: wow! Those negatives really are sharp, and with a lot more contrast than the classic lenses I'm used to.
Have to see how this camera fits into my way of shooting...

 

[jarski]

Put scratched old filter in front of lens if too much sharpness is a problem 😛

 

[mani]

Too much sharpness is really a first-world problem! I'll do my best to shoot a few frames out of focus as well. 😀

 

[Nowhereman]

mani - you've got instant wabi-sabi. Step 2: look at the work of Moriyama Daido, who made this camera famous — no issue of excessive sharpness there.

 

[mani]

Thanks for the wabi-sabi link - very interesting reading. The GR1 certainly qualifies as a 'flawed beauty' - and this one seems to embody more quirks than most.

Having had a perfect LCD display for a week, yesterday I switched it on and several sections were not displaying. Switched it off feeling somewhat let-down, and then when I switched it on again just minutes later, everything was back to normal (and remained so).

Hmmm many ups and downs with these old Ricohs, it seems. I'm still really enjoying using it though. I wonder if I can tolerate all of these anomalies.

As the Wikipedia article says "understanding emptiness and imperfection was honored as tantamount to the first step to satori, or enlightenment." Seems like I have a way to go before attaining that state... 😱