[dave arthurs]

This started happening recently with my GR - the lens is closed on startup until a blank photo is taken to get it to open up. Not a serious issue so far, more a pain as I have to point the camera at the sky or bright light otherwise it won't open quick enough.
Would this be a dust issue in the lens shutters area?

I've seen posts about cleaning the back of the camera by opening it up - any ideas how to clean the front of the camera around the lens area? maybe a can of compressed air? or vaccum cleaner on really low?

[Romasato]

Ah - what a coincidence! My GR started having the same problem a week ago while travelling and I you beat me to posting about it here It was a quite cold night and my battery was running out - so I was turning the camera off and on again to save on the battery - and on some occassions it would just be dark screen, I thought might be the cold weather causing it... but it was not humid or anything.

So it is the same problem - looks like the diaphragm leafs do not move away on initial startup, but it is inconsistent - sometimes on startup it does open. So I get a dark screen (since sensor is covered and gets no light). It is inconsistent and when it happens the options are either a) taking a photo (so leafs are forced to move) or b) turning it off and on again (as they say in IT Crowd .

I've contacted the seller via Amazon and they've told me Ricoh GR provide 2 year manufacturer warranty. Luckily I bought it less than 2 years ago (Aug 2013), so will be calling the service centre for more details later today. Hopefully they can repair it quickly...

Here is the URL with more details: http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.uk/en/service-centre.html

[dave arthurs]

It's an odd one alright, as if you point the camera at a bright light it opens faster to make that first dud shot with the closed shutter, so not sure if that means dust or a mechanical issue. If they tell you what the issue was let me know!
The warranty seems to state it needed to be stamped by the original retailer which I can't get.

[miklog]

This started happening recently with my GR - the lens is closed on startup until a blank photo is taken to get it to open up. Not a serious issue so far, more a pain as I have to point the camera at the sky or bright light otherwise it won't open quick enough.
Would this be a dust issue in the lens shutters area?

I've seen posts about cleaning the back of the camera by opening it up - any ideas how to clean the front of the camera around the lens area? maybe a can of compressed air? or vaccum cleaner on really low?

I researched the problem throughout different forum threads and summed it up in a blog post: michaelkowalczyk.eu/ricoh-gr/ricoh-gr-ii-closed-shutter-problem