Setting up lens names and details

[britinjapan]

I`ve just learned how to set up the lens details - but have not attempted it yet. It`s in the `Key Custom Options` menu (the middle one), third setting down - `Edit my settings`, MY1, `Lens Info input`.

My question is - as there are only 3 MY settings, does that mean that I can only input 3 lenses details?

Also, if I chose a different aperture, does the camera recognize that and change my EXIF data automatically?

Thanks for any views

 

[Tom Caldwell]

You can probably set up six lenses with a bit of juggling considering that there are six "box modes".

It can be a useful feature for some with only a few manual lenses that they use frequently.

However I find it fiddly and tedious to use/change with the lens set up data buried quite deeply in the menu.

I have suggested that a better way to do this is to leave the box and my modes the way they first were and excise the essential data that records lens names and capabilities into a subset database with more slots to add lenses but less data stored.

This could work something like the Pentax situation when manual lenses are installed (ie: using M mount module). The camera would remember the last lens used and proffer this to the user at startup (simply half-press to accept). If there was a new lens in use the user could rapidly switch to "unrecognised lens" if in a hurry to shoot. Or delve into short menu that would allow the particulars of the new lens in use to be either entered or selected from a scrolling list of previously entered lens data by use of the front dial. This list should be capable of being edited at will. Furthermore the user should be able to scroll through the current captures and add the lens actually used to the exif data whilst it is still remembered.

Someone else suggested a good idea and that was the use of the front scroll wheel (?) to quickly "set" the current lens aperture used to be recorded in exif. This would be an 'honour' system and merely a method to make it easy for a committed user to 'record' the aperture actually in use. The range of apertures available could be associated max-min with the lens the camera is set to be using - thereby only asking for an actual possible aperture to be selected form a list to be recorded. In any event this could be a very quick and intuitive way to get a manual lens aperture included in the the exif record on the GXR M mount.

To my way of thinking such a combined set up would be quick and intuitive (and used) in practice and frankly the present system is too cumbersome and inflexible to seriously interest me.

Tom

 

[odklizec]

Unfortunately, the current M mount implementation of recording actually used aperture/shutter speed is not ideal. This was me who suggested the possibility to set the aperture/shutter speed via the front wheel/adj wheel, as it now works in other Ricoh cameras. Except in the M mount module, it would just record such set values to EXIF. In other words, one would not need to go the custom settings after each shot just to change the shutter speed/aperture EXIF record.

I will probably request this suggestion one more time, because I consider it really useful. Eventually, you all could make such request! The more people will ask for this FW addition, the better chance to see it implemented

 

[Ario]

Actually the number of lens data set which can be stored is pretty large: 3 lenses in Myset + 6 lenses in the in-camera database (box) + 6 lenses in the SD card.
You can then save in your computer HD an unlimited number of SD sets and then pick and save on the SD card the one you are going to use in a particular shot session.
Ario

 

[Tom Caldwell]

Unfortunately, the current M mount implementation of recording actually used aperture/shutter speed is not ideal. This was me who suggested the possibility to set the aperture/shutter speed via the front wheel/adj wheel, as it now works in other Ricoh cameras. Except in the M mount module, it would just record such set values to EXIF. In other words, one would not need to go the custom settings after each shot just to change the shutter speed/aperture EXIF record.

I will probably request this suggestion one more time, because I consider it really useful. Eventually, you all could make such request! The more people will ask for this FW addition, the better chance to see it implemented

Thanks Pavel, I was not sure where I saw it but knew that it was not my original idea. I will now remember where it came from. The front wheel sets shutter speed in "S" setting and is useful for this so I put a "?' mark to signify that it was not a definitive answer but might need some re-arrangement of ideas.

When we are at it and with the increasing number of cameras with two wheels in use can we also campaign to bring back the front wheel. The jog lever works and is a form of substitute for a wheel but not nearly as good. If there were a front wheel then there would be more opportunities to use it as a controlling device with a simple spin rather than successive "jogging".

Tom

 

[Tom Caldwell]

Actually the number of lens data set which can be stored is pretty large: 3 lenses in Myset + 6 lenses in the in-camera database (box) + 6 lenses in the SD card.
You can then save in your computer HD an unlimited number of SD sets and then pick and save on the SD card the one you are going to use in a particular shot session.
Ario

Ario - I do agree with what you are saying but the use of a such complex system to store a minimal amount of information on each lens is a case of cracking a nut with a sledgehammer linked to a treadmill by a series of pulleys. It could be so simply and intuitively implemented and yet we have this half-buried set of data surrounded by recovering it from the Box Modes and various SD cards in the field with the camera in use.

I like the Ricoh concept of powerful functional simplicity. Powerful this lens details storage feature might be but it is far from truly useful in practice other than by those who are a lot more dedicated than I am. I simply don't use this useful feature, it is too much trouble for me.

I never was one for notebooks to record the lens details of images captured in the good old days either. Auto capturing on EXIF was revolutionary. If it cannot be easy and intuitive then I simply cannot be bothered - which is a pity as I am now back to guessing which lens I was using and how it was set.

I have suggested a simpler system that would allow for easy application in practice - it would allow a greater number of lenses to be stored in-camera and also allow a quick set-up and the ability to go back and "label" current captures with the EXIF of the lens currently mounted once it's data had been entered in a spare moment.

If this means that a Box Mode has to be sacrificed to provide more internal memory storage space then so be it. I don't think I need six box modes with a set of manual lenses, but I might just be able to access 50 manual lenses and would like to be able to record their data in EXIF permanently on camera body. Nor do I need to burden an individual lens database recording with a whole suite of box mode entries. In fact if you were to set up your box modes differently for individual lenses the number of box settings necessary would expand to lottery proportions very quickly. It would also become a situation where you would need to keep that notebook handy on where to find your set up data was for the particular lens in use and the specific set of fine tuning lay. The present system simply falls apart at anything over a very small number of possible lens installations.

If 50 possible lenses seems a lot then such a recording system that might cover the lens-crazies would very comfortably cope with the low number of lenses that most sensible people own.

If you fully embrace the GXR as a system for lenses then there is a big wide world out there beyond M mount and LTM. I have ventured to M42, PK and FD as well but surely I have hardly scratched the surface, there are quite a few mount systems that I have not explored. Even though my lens acquisition syndrome is about sated I still seem to have many more possibilities than the Box Mode system could possibly cope with. Mmmm ... must try that Tokina 17mm f3.5 in PK that I have been looking at on my desk for weeks ... Oh! if life were easy and simple then some fool would go out there and make it complicated (smile).

The GXR-M mount module must have the greatest ability to deal with a variety of lenses from the Holga level to the most exquisite LM mount Leica. It is it's crowning glory and in many ways it is somewhat wasted by being solely used on made for rangefinder lenses. However it does work very well in that role just as much as it might easily handle a Canon FD 200mm f2.8 (and does). (Or a Tokina PK 17mm f3.5).

Tom

 

[Ario]

Tom, I am with you, any improvement is always most welcome, but I suspect the there is some bottleneck in available memory (otherwise I do not understand the reason to limit to 6 the available slots in the card).
Ario

 

[Tom Caldwell]

Tom, I am with you, any improvement is always most welcome, but I suspect the there is some bottleneck in available memory (otherwise I do not understand the reason to limit to 6 the available slots in the card).
Ario

Ario

I have done a bit of serious programming myself. Working at the firmware level is really hard and using blunt tools. Also there are great constraints due to memory considerations and nobody is going to be very forgiving in the case of a problem. I guess it is not so much the money as programming geek brain fatigue. It was easy to add a few more field lines in the existing box modes but much harder to create yet another accessible data subset that would interface with the rest of the firmware seamlessly. I think my ideas are good and seem a quite natural extension. However in practice it might be a fairly time consuming programming exercise and there are probably other more pressing issues on the Ricoh firmware plate.

I wish we could be told: "we hear what you are saying and like the idea. now just give us some time to get it into place". We could then be patient and wait for it to happen. However like all these similar things it is a means of shouting long and hard and constantly as if we believe that Ricoh HQ is full of deaf people. On receiving no confirmation that our message has been recorded there is nothing left to do but to constantly repeat it until it suddenly appears as a firmware upgrade.

Meanwhile the present system works, sort of, and it is surely better than "the nothing" that the opposition has on offer.

One of the biggest problems with software of all descriptions is that something that alters things here can cause unexpected alterations somewhere else, so major changes need careful steps and rigorous testing lest there be a disaster there waiting to be unleashed by some unwitting naive user to the consternation of all.

Tom