What's new
GR User Forum

The spot for all Ricoh GR camera users

Register for free, meet other Ricoh GR users, share your images, help others, have fun!

Tell your friends about us!

my GX100 lens wobbles..is that normal?

iv'e read severel posts like this one!....on my ricoh the lens wobbles if i shake the cam gently, and it has some give if pushed, i geuss this is to prevent any damage if knocked....im not at all concernd with the amount of wobble i have on mine,however one post on dp mentioned that the widest part of the lens moves and wobbles on his camera....so much so that not all of his shots are in focus.....this, im sure is not right and should be returned to the shop, site where it was bought. the best way to see if your wobble ok normal is to compare it against at least 1 other gx100....good luck with that one! the shop where i got mine sold 6 in one morning and luckly for me i reserved the last 1! hope this helps Pavel!
 
No, in fact it is not normal. As electromechanical engineer I have to say that lots of cameras have this problem. They promote it as normal, but in fact it is the cheapest way to make their system that is responsable for those inconvenients as lens wobbling and lots more in the digital camera industry. It is quite simple, make a fixed setting and do the test by focussing on an object. Now you give a little shake against the camera (eniugh to have the wobbling) and you will see that it is not the same picture. Simple as that.
 
Although I agree it's not nice behavior, the lens wobbling is normal comparing the GX100 with other cameras and brands. This is just how the whole industry works and neither me or you can do anything with that. None camera is perfect. See the 5000USD Leica M8 and the well known problem with IR sensitivity. Do you expect to see such kind of problem from 5000USD body? ;)

So it's like that.. You will have to live with some limitations and not ideal design or you will have to find better camera in similar price/feature range. But just between us, there is currently no similarly sized and equally powerful camera. No sorry, there is not! Many people would say G7 or G9. But comparing the excellent 24mm/2.4 lens (even wobbling) with 35mm/2.8 is just silly. Just see this non-scientific test and you will understand that there is no match..
http://aminphoto.blogspot.com/2007/06/g ... -2_13.html

The corner sharpness and CA performance is clearly better with wobbly GX100 lens. As for me, I would gladly live with wobbly lens of that performance :D
 
Yes, I agrre with you that it is not worser than other camera systems. I just want to say that they save on everything they can and this is for all digital cameras. I have to say that you are right when we compare the build quality from the Ricoh with others. Here Ricoh seems to be much better as well as for the lenses they use. The only thing I can not agree from Ricoh is the noise in the pictures and I am nt a noise freak, I even like a natural grain, but too much is too much. Anyhow, compared with other cameras the GX 100 is quite better for the rest and I mean much better!!
 
It seems not only to be a bad behavior this lens wobbling, but I discovered also the black spot on my pictures (the reason for it). I carefully blowed out with compressed air the spaces between the wobbling lens and see what happend!!! The black spot was gone. You have to know that I am using all the time (95%) the extension tube HA-2 and on top of it a UV filter. So, I ask myselves where that dirt can come from??? It has to be in the camera when assembled, if not I am afraid that you can not use the GX100 in normal conditions without having sooner or later this problem. The black spot is gone now, but now I have to check where the dirt is situated in the camera. I asked Ricoh what they will do with it and I wait for an answer. As told before, the way Ricoh thinks is nice, but I have to say that in many reviews the GX100 is marked as average or just recommanded. I have to agree this. In fact a good camera, but with lots of stupid things that can be avoided when they study more a model before selling.
 
Since this is my first posting, I would like to congratulate the administrators with their initiative for this forum. I hope we can exchange insights on photography and, especially, photography created with this recently introduced little gem called the gx100. I bought it in july and think it is a wonderful travel companion.
Now, I too have had some doubts on the lens wobble issue. It seems to me that, in off mode, the lens unit has a very slight moveability in its housing. Something you can just slightly feel when you move the camera sideways, gently. I contacted Ricoh about and they said that it was normal, their unit presented the same characeristic. To me, it seems it bit off, this has to be solid in my opinion. I must say that when turning on the camera, the lens extends and seems to lock itself into position. And I have had no focusing problems or sharpness defects (other than those caused by myself). But it seems to me that we, as a forum, might want to start up a dialogue with Ricoh on this, as this is a very special camera. I even bought all the accessories, only the wide-angle unit not yet. And I do use the EVF, the bw, the 1:1, raw..
Now, I will try to upload some of my first pics with this camera. Please have a look and comment on them, I would appreciate that.
Cheers to all of you !
 
I checked further the results regarding the wobling lens. I can say with 100% sure that it is affecting the final result of the picture in some situations. Semms not to be normal to me when it is affecting the endresult = the picture. I will open now lyselves the camera completely as I am very interested as electro-mechanical engneer to see how this is made in fact. For those people who are wondering how to open the GX100, it is very simple and is in fact a piece of cake to do so. Reaching the sensor is quite easy to eventually clean it. Note that dust will enter the lens anyhow sooner or later. The options I was reading in this forum "blowing with air" seems totally wrong. dust will be blowed all over than instead of taking it away!!!
 
I was doing a travel to Egypt and I discovered some strange things with the wide lens on the GX100. Youb heare saying all the time here that the lens wobbling is not affecting the picture, but I can now say for sure that it is. On the wide lens you have even vigneting when you move the camera and one time you will have the vignetting on the right upper corner and the other time on the lef upper corner So, be carefull or crop the images when finished!!
 
So, the wobble wobble of the famous gx100 lens still annoys me. I cannot accept this as normal. Has anyone sent his-her camera to Ricoh to have it adjusted, and how are the results ? Cheers !
 
Hoi Wouter,

My GX100 has had service twice because of dust and both times they replaced the lens. The wobbling is almost gone and the lens has a much tighter fit.
 
Last time took only a week, but the neirest repair service in Europe is in Germany. I don't know about South America. Groeten uit een koud, maar droog Nederland.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top