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GXR A12 28mm manual focus inquiry

G

gxrman

New Member
Hello everyone,

Need your help to figure out whether my unit is faulty. This is the behavior:
- Change into manual focus mode.
- Activate the magnify focus aid to be able to check focus.
- Turn the focus ring all the way to infinity.
- Now turn the ring to focus to around 2 meters. What I am seeing is that the actual focus of the unit stays at infinity or somewhere there, until I go down to 1m where it will suddenly catch up with proper focus.
- The behavior does not happen the other way, i.e. starting from 0.2m and going up.

Can anyone confirm if they can see this problem on their unit. Otherwise, I love this camera, it is a great joy to use.

Rami
 
Hi Rami and welcome here! I tried to reproduce your steps and I'm afraid, I can't reproduce anything wrong? True, the A12 MF is a bit slow (with both units) and the effect of rotating the MF ring may be unnoticeable between 2m and Infinity. It's just a combination of wide angle lens and slow focus-by-wire operation of MF ring. This is why I don't like the focus by wire much and why I think the pure manual focus lenses have a great advantage over the digital (AF based) lenses.

I would suggest you to try the Fast MF mode. While in MF mode, press and hold the Macro button. Now try to rotate the focus ring. The focus should be now noticeably faster and much more responsive, but on the other hand, less precise. Do you still experience your problem with fast MF?
 
Thanks Pavel,
Maybe I wasn't that clear in how I described the behavior. The idea is that rotating the focus ring does not have an effect when I rotate from 3m down to 1m, i.e. focus is stuck at 3m, I even tried to take photos and they don't show OK. Try this, take a photo of an object at 3m. Then focus to 1.5m and take another photo - all in MF mode. In my case, the second photo will be out of focus (focus still at 3m). The fix is to turn the ring down to 1m, when the focus will actually change and then things are working again. So if I was going to describe the different states, things would look like this in MF mode. I took photos and this is actually how the focus is working at least on my unit.

Focus distance 5m, actual focus 5m, now turn the focus ring to 3m
Focus distance 3m, actual focus 3m..
Focus distance 2m, actual focus 3m..
Focus distance 1m, actual focus 3m..
Focus distance 0.8m, actual focus 0.8m... now turn focus ring up to 1m
Focus distance 1m, actual focus 1m... up
Focus distance 2m, actual focus 2m
 
I believe I got what's your problem. But I'm afraid, I can't reproduce anything like that with my A12 28mm. Unfortunately, I can't test it that detailed right now, but as far as I remember, the focus motor is heard on every turn of the focus ring, so in my case, the focus is definitely changing, no matter what.

First question, what's your FW version? Do you have installed the latest available (1.43)? If not, please install it.
And next question, did you try what I suggested (the fast MF mode)?

I would also suggest to uplaod somewhere a full resolution, unmodified JPEG photos describing the problem. E.g....
1) Focus distance 5m, actual focus 5m..
2) Focus distance 3m, actual focus 3m..
3) Focus distance 2m, actual focus 3m..

I can check what's the actual focus distance, so we can be sure the focus is wrong. Simply put, if your description is correct, photo #3 should have EXACTLY the same focus distance as #2. I can check that from Ricoh private tags in EXIF. Just post somewhere (or send me to support(at)ricohforum.com) the full resolution unmodified photos.
 
Thanks again, this is great!

Well the fast MF mode does not help, it is the same behavior. Actually, since you mentioned the focus motor, there is a quick way to check about this and that is: Try focusing down from infinity, when you reach 3m slow down, now notice the motor noise and in my case nothing happens going down from 3 to 1m then it picks up again. Mind you, all works well going up from 1 to 3m!! I will send the photos but I have RAWs so I need to figure that out, any ideas where I can post these?
 
If you don't hear the motor noise between 3m and Infinity, then your unit is most probably faulty. I definitely hear focus noise all way from 0.2m to Infinity and even if I try your steps (going from Infinity to 3m). So if it's not your case, your unit is most probably broken.

BTW, you still missed to answer the question regarding your FW version ;) Are you sure you use the most recent version both on body and module (body should state 1.40 and module 1.43)?

As for uploading RAW files, try for example dropbox or yousendit.com service.
 
OK well this is definitely not good news!

Yes I have updated the FW version to the latest just a few days before.

And again thanks for all the help.
 
Hey, i had a same problem, i noticed it at close distance "macro" focusing. It only happen in manual focus and only when focusing from far to near, not the other way around. The is always an abrupt motor noise indicating sudden catch up.

Let me know if what is the feedback from the service center .

And yes i have been using the latest firmware.
 
I am sending the camera for fixing in Germany based on their recommendation. Will post back after it is done.
 
i have sent in my for repair. The guy at service centre immediately pick up the problem even though is the first time he sees it. It is now ship to Hong Kong for repair..2 weeks has past and i am still waiting, miss my 28mm...
 
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