New GRDII firmware 2.04 released!

[odklizec]

EDIT: actual FW version is 2.04:
viewtopic.php?f=41&t=1056&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=30#p5460
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Tomorrow will be released new feature enhancing firmware for our beloved GRDII! At the moment, there is available only the Japanese news at dc.watch.impress. Here is (rather cryptic) google translation:
http://72.30.186.56/babelfish/translate ... F8210.html

I'm not quite sure about these additions. But it seems to me that there are at least two feature enhancements that I personally asked for - separated sound of level and the possibility to move between the zoomed images. Especially the second one (preview with zoom) could be a very useful feature allowing to judge the image sharpness. I hope I got the description right?

Unfortunately, no news about NR. But we don't need to loose our hope! There was no note about "forced NR ON" fix in continuous mode in latest FW! So there is still a chance they did something with NR level in this new FW? We will see tomorrow. Stay tuned!

 

[odklizec]

Re: New GRDII firmware to be released!

Hehe this one is cool! Are you nervous about the strong green led light in "power" button? It seems it can be turned OFF with this new FW

This is what babelfish translation says about new FW features and my comments:

Strengthening the my setting mode - I did not get this one entirely. But it seems to bet the major addition. It should allow some advanced changes in My Modes, currently not possible with actual FW.

Indicatory magnification ratio when playing back even with up-down dial modification possibly - this one should allow scrolling between the images zoomed at certain level. Very useful addition!

Spirit level sound putting out just alarm possibly - this should allow just electronic level sound. Currently, you can have the level sound only with shutter sound, which is pretty annoying.

Illumination of LED lamp of power source button/setting of going out possibly - allows to turn the power led OFF. Nice! Finally, we can unstick a piece of electric tape from it

I hope I got them right? We will see tomorrow. Some nice new features. But still..NR OFF and +-2BKT would be much more appreciated?

 

[odklizec]

Re: New GRDII firmware to be released!

The news about new GRDII feature enhancing FW is now official!
http://www.ricoh.com/r_dc/press/release ... al2_f.html

It seems I got most of the robotic-translation right But I still did not understand what is the first addition for:

(1) It is now easier to switch shooting modes when shooting in My Settings Mode.
My Settings Mode enables the photographer to make the desired shooting settings in advance. This update enhances camera usability by making it possible to switch shooting modes without turning the mode dial when shooting in My Settings Mode.

(2) It is now easier to display enlarged images in playback mode.
For image playback mode, this update makes it possible to change the image magnification level using not only the Enlarged View button but also the up-down dial. In addition, it is also possible to keep the image enlarged when advancing to the next image using the ADJ lever. These functions are convenient to use when checking image content in playback.

(3) It is now possible to specify only the level sensor sound and beep sound even when operational sounds (such as start sound and shutter release sound) are turned off. This expands the possibilities for shooting using the level sensor.

(4) It is now possible to specify whether the power button LED lamp should turn on.
The power button LED lamp normally turns on when the power is on, but it is now possible to switch to a setting where this lamp is always off.

I'm really glad about 2, 3, because these two are perfectly usable. I often take two or three consecutive photos and I'm really missing an option to check the sharpness between the images. Sure, one can zoom the picture in..zoom the picture out..select another picture and repeat this procedure. But it's not very user friendly procedure

 

[odklizec]

Re: New GRDII firmware 2.0 to be released!

The firmware is now available on Ricoh Japan web! But I would strongly suggest you to wait for its appearance on Ricoh International web.

If you still wish to try the FW ASAP, you can get it here (translated page):
http://209.85.135.104/translate_c?hl=en ... ingr2.html

 

[odklizec]

Re: New GRDII firmware 2.0 to be released!

OK, I now understand the first addition related to My1/2 modes. There is a new menu item allowing to change the actual shooting mode without the need to jump out of the My Mode, selecting the new mode and resaving the My Mode. This new menu item is available only in My Mode:


Here is the new menu allowing to turn the Power led light OFF:


And finally, here is the changed Sound menu, with newly added option for Level sound only:


Zoom level and image position stay unchanged in playback mode if switching between the images using Adj lever.

 

[georgechen]

Re: New GRDII firmware 2.0 to be released!

I did the firmware upgrade last night. Here's the new reading post Firmware 2.0 update:

MAIN: V 2.00
BKUP: V 1.01
MONI: V 1.01
ADJD: V 2.00
EXTD: V 1.00
CPU1: V 1.00

I am curious if this is correct since I ran into some error during the update, but the 2nd try update seems to be fine. Thanks!

 

[odklizec]

Re: New GRDII firmware 2.0 to be released!

Hi georgechen and welcome here!

Yes, I see exactly the same values.

 

[georgechen]

Re: New GRDII firmware 2.0 to be released!

Thanks! Since the firmware update first pass failed so I was a little concern.

Like I said, the 2nd time went smoothly.

 

[Shiro Kuro]

Re: New GRDII firmware 2.0 to be released!

I tried several times and could not get the firmware to upgrade the camera ........
I am using a mac OSX 10.5.2
camera purchased here in the U.S from PopFlash...
any ideas ?
Thanks

 

[georgechen]

Re: New GRDII firmware 2.0 to be released!

might want to try a different SD card? Re-download the software? I am on OSX 10.5.2 as well.

 

[VinceF]

Re: New GRDII firmware 2.0 to be released!

Hi everybody and thank you for this forum and the lot of informaion I've found ... and finally I've just bought a GRD II two hours ago
My concern is to download the last firmware version: when I visit Ricoh web site, I have only access to the 1.12 version.
Can somebody help me?
Thanks

 

[odklizec]

Re: New GRDII firmware 2.0 to be released!

Hi Vince and welcome here! Enjoy your new camera!

I just checked the Ricoh web and it seems the new FW 2.0 is temporarily suspended! It looks Ricoh developers found an issue in this new FW, related to recommended Sigma Flash. So I'm sure, they will release new version soon. Here is the info about FW 2.0 suspension..

[Notice for the version 2.00 update]
Some issue was found with the combination between the firmware 2.00 and the recommended flash from Sigma. We are afraid that the version 2.00 is not available for a while.

Although FW 2.0 works fine for me (I'm not using Sigma flash) I would suggest you and everyone else wait for an updated 2.0 (probably 2.1).

 

[VinceF]

Re: New GRDII firmware 2.0 to be released!

Thanks for this information odklizec, I'll wait for the new version 2.1.
The first step have been to update my GRD II with the 1.12 release, and it works well !
I have great pleasure to take pics with this camera

 

[Habeascorpus]

Re: New GRDII firmware 2.0 to be released!

Hello odklizec,

Since the firmware 2.0 is not anymore available, we will wait for the 2.1
Because you quickly catch the 2.0 before it disappeared, can you tell us if Mr Ricoh follow your « High Priority » improvements.
I mean the NR totally off function, and the +/- 2 EV bracketing ?
Or should we pray for the firmware 3.0 to get these essential functions ?



Stephane

 

[VladimirV]

Re: New GRDII firmware 2.0 to be released!

I mean the NR totally off function, and the +/- 2 EV bracketing ?

Managed to download and install it before Ricoh removed it. The NR is still not completely off but seems to be much improved now. While it's still not at GRD I levels I can now judge focus of an image on the LCD, something that was almost impossible with all the smearing before.
I really like the ability to turn off the power LED, good thinking from Ricoh. Bracketing is still the same as before unfortunatelly.

 

[Habeascorpus]

New GRDII firmware 2.01 to be released!

The NR is still not completely off but seems to be much improved now. While it's still not at GRD I levels I can now judge focus of an image on the LCD, something that was almost impossible with all the smearing before.

Hello Cristian,

It is difficult to imagine how I could judge the focus on a so small LCD. Do you mean the noise improvement makes the focus better ????????

Anyway, I just downloaded and installed the new 2.01 firmware.
Said to be exactly same as the 2.0 with the correction of the Sigma flash bug.

Odklizec has well described the improvements of the 2.0 on that post.
If I find something additional on the 2.01, I will report.

I am still missing the +/- 2 EV bracketing, so usefull for HDR.

Cheers,

Stephane

 

[odklizec]

Re: New GRDII firmware 2.0 to be released!

Ha! I only yesterday I checked the Ricoh website for an evidence of updated firmware and it was probably released later in night hours. Thanks for info!

I did not expect there will be more changes in this 2.1 than just this Sigma flash bug fix. But I really hope there will be +-2EV bracketing added, because this is the area where Ricoh loosing a serious amount of customers. HDR is highly popular in these days and +-2EV bracketing can do any low-mid-range camera. Many people who thinking about GRDII considering also G7/G9 or DP1. And all these cameras can do +-2EV (DP1 can do even +-3). This GRD 0.5EV BKT limitation is really silly I think it's more historical reason than anything else. All digital Ricohs have this limitation since film GR cameras and I really don't see any HW limitation for this.

 

[VladimirV]

Re: New GRDII firmware 2.01 to be released!

It is difficult to imagine how I could judge the focus on a so small LCD. Do you mean the noise improvement makes the focus better ????????

You can judge the focus even on a small LCD if the image you see is clear and you zoom in 8x, the NR smoothing just showed a blurred mess and it was impossible to judge almost anything by this. But even when looking at jpgs on the computer on a large screen you can now see slightly more detail and less color bleeding.

 

[Habeascorpus]

Re: New GRDII firmware 2.01 to be released!

You can judge the focus even on a small LCD if the image you see is clear and you zoom in 8x, the NR smoothing just showed a blurred mess and it was impossible to judge almost anything by this. But even when looking at jpgs on the computer on a large screen you can now see slightly more detail and less color bleeding.

Even if nothing on the official Ricoh web site talked about such improvement by the firmware 2.01, I will make some tests and check what you described.

Of course, I understand you check the focus by zooming in 8x, AFTER shooting, by using play mode ? (because NR is done during the treatment of the picture by the camera).
If so, it is too late to adjust the focus, except by making another photo, is it correct ?

 

[VladimirV]

Re: New GRDII firmware 2.01 to be released!

Of course, I understand you check the focus by zooming in 8x, AFTER shooting, by using play mode ? (because NR is done during the treatment of the picture by the camera).
If so, it is too late to adjust the focus, except by making another photo, is it correct ?

This is correct but I rather take another picture while I'm still at the scene than to discover that the shot is out of focus or suffers from motion blur when back home.

Maybe it's just a minor change they did in the NR routines but it does seem to be better now. Should've taken a test shot before and after to compare but since I did this while on holiday I did not really have time. Looking forward to read about your finidings.