Originally posted by tim60 How are you focusing, manual or auto. Either way, are the critical aspects calibrated properly?
tried both (phase AF only - don't much care for "live view"); and frankly, I have no idea - relying on Ricoh's assertion that the firmware upgrade takes care of that.
Btw, as to the question of whether the filter has to be installed - no information I could find on that anywhere, and the instructions are ambiguous. Under "features", it says, "The filter attachment which can be mounted on and removed from the lens is equipped. [sic] You can attach the supplied C-PL filter to adjust the polarizing effect with the operation ring." That seems to suggest that you can remove the filter optionally.
On the other hand, the instructions also say (under "Caution"): "To maintain the optical performance, be sure to attach a supplied filter when using the lens. Only the supplied filter can be used for the lens." That seems to imply that the presence of either supplied filter is required.
I sent Ricoh a request for "support" to clear up that ambiguity, as well as a question about the performance of the aperture. The instructions say you get a round aperture from f/5.6 through f/11, but the numbers go up to f/45 (must be a pinhole) - does that mean that the aperture is not round at smaller settings?
I'll update this thread if they come back with answers. In the meanwhile, I stuck the UV filter back in, and I'll experiment with it a bit more - it's a bright sunny day here right now, so I'll go out and see if the filters make any difference. The front of the lens is threaded, so I got a UV filter to go there, but may be that's a shouldn't-happen, too.