New Ricoh GRDII enhancement FW 2.30 announced

[odklizec]

Ricoh just today announced (through the dc.watch.impress.co.jp) an availability of new feature enhancing FW for GRDII. The FW will be available to download from April 22nd.

UPDATE
The FW can be downloaded here:
http://www.ricoh.com/r_dc/download/firmware/grd2/

The feature enhancements are partially from GX200, CX1 and one newly invented. If I got the google translation right, the feature enhancements should be as follow...

- Full manual flash mode, with an option to set the amount of flash in steps from 1/4 to 1/45 in 12 steps. (GX200 feature)
- Flash 1st and 2nd curtain. (GX200 feature)
- WB fine tuning is now saved in My Settings. (new)
- Number of "today's" shots is displayed at Power OFF. (CX1 feature)

I personally hope that there is fixed bug that appeared in the last GRDII firmware...the one with rotated and zoomed preview. The same bug is in the latest GX200 FW.
The above problem is fixed in 2.30.

Unfortuantely, there is still not (and I doubt there will ever be) a true Noise Reduction OFF switch or an option to use all apertures with all shutter speeds as it was possible with GRDI or GX100. I personally don't use flash with GRD, so the only truly useful thing for me is the option to save the WB fine tuning in My Settings. But I'm sure, someone will find these Flash improvements very useful!

 

[thelps]

Re: New Ricoh GRDII enhancement FW announced (not available yet)

I see the firmware is now available. http://www.ricoh.com/r_dc/download/firmware/grd2/

Thank you Pavel for the early notification.

I am curious on one point..

"Setting the Flash Timing (Synchro Settings)
You have an option to choose a flash timing from the 1st curtain and or the 2nd curtain."

I thought the GRD would have a leaf type shutter and hence there would be no control over the curtain sync?

Am I missing something in my understanding here? :? Or does the GRD have a focal plane type shutter?

 

[odklizec]

Re: New Ricoh GRDII enhancement FW announced (not available yet)

Nono Tim, both GRD and GX have a proper diaphragm shutter! So there should not be a problem with 1st/2nd curtain. To be honest, I thought there is no problem with leaf type of shutter either? I was under the impression that the leaf-type shutter can sync with any flash speed?

 

[thelps]

Re: New Ricoh GRDII enhancement FW announced

Pavel, I referred to the Ricoh site, here near the bottom of the page http://www.ricoh.com/r_dc/gr/gr_digital2/features.html

This is the type of shutter the Ricoh GR has, correct me if I am wrong but this is like a leaf shutter to me? :? . I am still unsure where "the second curtain" comes in? :? :?

I think you are correct that a leaf shutter can sync at any speed but as there is no curtain at all, how can it sync with the 2nd curtain? I am either confused or dont understand something here

 

[odklizec]

Re: New Ricoh GRDII enhancement FW announced

I see. Well, the wikipedia says this about leaf shutter...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_(photography)#Leaf_shutters

and this about diaphragm shutter (which should be used in GRD and GX)...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_(photography)#Diaphragm_shutter

As far as I remember, this 1st/2nd curtain should be a very common thing in many advanced digital compacts. So I guess it's not a problem for leaf/diaphragm type of shutter?

 

[thelps]

Re: New Ricoh GRDII enhancement FW announced

I think I get it now - maybe. The flash syncs and goes off just before the closing cycle of the shutter leafs. I suppose most people coming from an SLR background with focal plane shutters understand the term "second curtain". I will try a test image or two after my firmware upgrade!

 

[Habeascorpus]

Re: New Ricoh GRDII enhancement FW announced

About the option "number of today's shot":
Did you noticed the displayed number is double than the shots you made?
I means when I shoot 100 pictures in a day, the display said 200...
I think probably because I register by RAW, the camera is counting the files number, and because each RAW is attached with on JPEG, the count is double...
When I read announcement of this option, it seemed unnecessary to me. But since I tried it, my opinion is done... :x

 

[odklizec]

Re: New Ricoh GRDII enhancement FW announced

Yeah, I noticed this RAW + JPEG doubling too. And I too consider it annoying behavior. It should definitely display only the number of "shutters" and not the number of recorded files.