[PONCET]

Helllo
I've just buyed a RICOH GR III and i'am very desappointed by the "macro" use.
Can we deactivate totally the macro mode ? i'am not sure.
Here is my problem :
I take picture without using the screen but the range finder and, to save the battery, I deactive the screen. So, often, ill-advisedly, I press the button (^) on the rear control and the macro mode is actived . Why isn't possible to deactivate this mode or to change the setting on the back botton (^ ).
For a best use, the deactivation of macro mode in the drag-down menu should to allow to deactivate totally the macro mode, even on the back botton.
Thanks for your answer or advices.
Best regards

[Ishpuini]

Left and right buttons can be customized, but not the up button unfortunately...

I guess all you can do is try to get used to it? I'm sure in the end your muscle memory will help you not press the up button accidentally?

On the dozen or so cameras that I have used, there has been the odd button that I accidentally pressed from time to time. I always got used to it, however frustrating in the beginning...

I must say that I haven't had this problem with the macro/up button, but I always shoot using the screen (I completely switch off the camera between shots to save battery) so I always see where the camera focus is. Perhaps it also helps that I use the up button often to change snap focus distance. As such this has become a conscious move for my thumb.



Wim

[PONCET]

Left and right buttons can be customized, but not the up button unfortunately...

I guess all you can do is try to get used to it? I'm sure in the end your muscle memory will help you not press the up button accidentally?

On the dozen or so cameras that I have used, there has been the odd button that I accidentally pressed from time to time. I always got used to it, however frustrating in the beginning...

I must say that I haven't had this problem with the macro/up button, but I always shoot using the screen (I completely switch off the camera between shots to save battery) so I always see where the camera focus is. Perhaps it also helps that I use the up button often to change snap focus distance. As such this has become a conscious move for my thumb.



Wim

Thanks for your advices.
After all, the rangefinder is useless, what a pity !!

Other question, please :
In according to you, what's the best personnal functions for street pictures : :
-P, M, AV ou TAV
-ISO auto or not
-Snap (at what distance?) or autofocus

What are the functions which can be ineffective to save the battery?

Best regards

[Ishpuini]

Thanks for your advices.
After all, the rangefinder is useless, what a pity !!

Other question, please :
In according to you, what's the best personnal functions for street pictures : :
-P, M, AV ou TAV

There's no TAv (except for M + Auto ISO).
Personally I'm always in Av. That's what I've always been used to (using the aperture ring in the old days), and it's possibly my only photography habit that hasn't changed over the decades...

-ISO auto or not

I try to keep my ISO as low as possible generally. However, if I'm in changing light that may get me in too long exposure times, I often go into Auto ISO. The GR III makes this very easy, because pressing Fn when adjusting ISO switches between Auto and fixed. I've set the minimum shutter speed to 1/10s for Auto ISO, so I have to keep that in mind when deciding between upping the ISO or switching to Auto ISO. If I want faster speeds, I up the ISO, but Auto ISO if I want maximum IQ that I can hand hold for a relatively static scene.

-Snap (at what distance?) or autofocus

This is down to personal preference... I see a lot of people prefer having AF and using full press snap focus at relatively short distance (as close as you are comfortable getting to your (unsuspecting?) subjects). I understand this is great for pure (intrusive) street photography, but that's not really my personal style.

I personally prefer taking off AF from the shutter button. I tried first to have AF on the Fn button (point select AF) and I enabled Touch screen AF as well. I found I used the latter almost exclusively. Full press snap focus doesn't work however if you take off the AF from the shutter release, so I was switching to snap focus mode every time I preferred that...
Until I found out that Touch screen AF overrides the snap distance when in Snap focus mode. Hence my Fn button is now the ND filter switch, and I'm constantly in Snap mode with Touch screen AF to override in case of critical focus (focus distance returns to snap distance after touching and releasing the shutter, picture or not).
My distance varies a lot. It sits mostly at 2.5m or 5m, depending on the light and the aperture I set. Being in Snap mode shows a distance and DoF scale on the screen, which I use as a guide.

What are the functions which can be ineffective to save the battery?

I keep the camera switched off as much as possible. It switches on so fast, which means I can push the power button while moving the camera in front of me and have it powered up and ready by the time my eye catches the screen. I'm a relatively selective shooter, so this gets me more than one day on one battery mostly, even when I shoot 10-20 image sequences in burst (I do this for low light static scenes, so I can remove high ISO noise by stacking/blending, as well for heavily cropped shots (e.g. 50mm crop mode) to be able to up the resolution through the same PP technique).

I'm not sure what feature is the most battery hungry. Many if not most blame the SR, but I've never noticed much impact of this on battery life in my Pentax DSLRs that share the same system. Of course, in the GR III it works all the time the screen is on, so perhaps it burns through more juice? Another culprit could be the touch screen. A few years ago I was investigating the smart watch market and noticed a big difference in battery life when comparing watches with touch screen and without touch screen.


Hope this helps?

grtz, Wim

[PONCET]

Hello

Thanks for your answer and your useful informations.
Even if I prefer, with this camera, take street pictures than static pictures, I'm going to use a part of your tunings particularly snap mode either than AF
and Av with ISO auto.
I'm going also to try to deactive touch screen mode to save perhaps the battery.

In the future, I hope that RICOH wil improve battery capacity and will change the macro mode with possibility to deactive completely this function on the back bottom (^).

Best regards

Christian

[clackers]

In the future, I hope that RICOH wil improve battery capacity

They won't put a bigger battery in, Christian, it would make the camera larger.

It's a mirrorless, so carry an extra battery like I do with my Sonys when walking around.

[Norpa]

Helllo
I've just buyed a RICOH GR III and i'am very desappointed by the "macro" use.
Can we deactivate totally the macro mode ? i'am not sure.
Here is my problem :
I take picture without using the screen but the range finder and, to save the battery, I deactive the screen. So, often, ill-advisedly, I press the button (^) on the rear control and the macro mode is actived . Why isn't possible to deactivate this mode or to change the setting on the back botton (^ ).
For a best use, the deactivation of macro mode in the drag-down menu should to allow to deactivate totally the macro mode, even on the back botton.
Thanks for your answer or advices.
Best regards

Hi there, first post for me here hoping someone from Ricoh/Pentax will read this. Just wanted to say that I am experiencing exactly the same frustration. That damn button is really hampering the entire GR experience. Everywhere you read that this camera is so deeply customizable, even the product manager expresses customization as one of the main driver for their vision (link), so the question is: why I cannot disable this damn button. Who is using GR for macro? Who? Here an anecdotal evidence: I borrowed the camera twice to my wife and every time she concluded saying "this camera didn't work, I had to reset it entirely" [destroying all my U-settings] ... little did I know she was referring to the damn macro button. Just recently I noticed I was making exactly the same mistake throwing a "this little thing doesn't focus" not noticing the stupid flower on the screen. I hate it, hate it.

[WTBGR]

A not so elegant solution might be to set the 4-way Contoller function to 'AF point change Priority' that way if you hit the up button it will just move your AF point and not put the camera into Macro Mode. You can find this setting in C menu Page 2. To set ISO, Macro, Drive Mode, or WB you would need to hold the OK button down for a SEC to toggle the mode and then you can change those items.

Hope that helps.

[Norpa]

Thanks for the heads-up, probably my fault, but it doesn't seem to work. GRIII v.1.30

[Norpa]

Hi there, fast update I understand what you mean but the workflow is not acceptable: you set the priority to change AF point, with that said the camera if still in AF will still have the macro button active, so you need to press a point and in that moment the 4 keys take priority in shifting the AF point disabling the damn flower for beginners. Nope I think this is not a solution, since the entire concept I wanted to explore was to shoot in focus zone and without the display.

Maybe I should cover the entire damn control wheel with something... such a pity.

[Sandy Hancock]

It's happened to me a couple of times, but rather than rant against Ricoh I developed ways to work around it.

Personally - I use touch screen point AF almost exclusively - if the camera doesn't focus, it's in macro mode. The lens looks different in macro mode anyway, so if you're paying attention you'll notice.

Get to know your camera. Enjoy its unique capabilities. And carry a spare battery.

[WTBGR]

Hi there, fast update I understand what you mean but the workflow is not acceptable: you set the priority to change AF point, with that said the camera if still in AF will still have the macro button active, so you need to press a point and in that moment the 4 keys take priority in shifting the AF point disabling the damn flower for beginners. Nope I think this is not a solution, since the entire concept I wanted to explore was to shoot in focus zone and without the display.

Maybe I should cover the entire damn control wheel with something... such a pity.

Hi, not sure if you've done this correctly. You need to change the 4 way controller to AF point change Prioity. See attached Pictures.

Once you have done that, the only way you could 'accidentally' hit the Macro button is to hold the 'OK' button for 1 second, and then hit the Macro button.

[Norpa]

@Sandy thanks for the suggestions, for sure I will adopt a sort of workaround, but I hope we can agree saying that functionality is misplaced.
I am not trolling Ricoh, I am simply reporting a missed expectation against their claims.

Ricoh statement:
GR III - Ricoh

GR III - Ricoh

Flexible customization. Frequently used functions can be assigned to the ADJ lever and Fn button. Other controls can also be customized for fine tuning camera operation, making the camera easier to use and to match your shooting style.





Here the product manager explaining the philosophy behind the GR concept
GR Community Japan & Tomohiro Noguchi Interview! - YouTube


Who knows, maybe someone will read this post and will include this request in the next program increment.


@WTBGR

this is exactly what I set, but unfortunately with automatic auto focus it won't affect the macro button, only clicking the touchscreen you will enable the spot focal point and therefore change the macro button functionality. Until then it will stay active.

[WTBGR]

@Sandy thanks for the suggestions, for sure I will adopt a sort of workaround, but I hope we can agree saying that functionality is misplaced.
I am not trolling Ricoh, I am simply reporting a missed expectation against their claims.

Ricoh statement:
GR III - Ricoh

GR III - Ricoh

Flexible customization. Frequently used functions can be assigned to the ADJ lever and Fn button. Other controls can also be customized for fine tuning camera operation, making the camera easier to use and to match your shooting style.





Here the product manager explaining the philosophy behind the GR concept
GR Community Japan & Tomohiro Noguchi Interview! - YouTube


Who knows, maybe someone will read this post and will include this request in the next program increment.


@WTBGR

this is exactly what I set, but unfortunately with automatic auto focus it won't affect the macro button, only clicking the touchscreen you will enable the spot focal point and therefore change the macro button functionality. Until then it will stay active.

@NORPA

This setting has nothing to do with the touchscreen. It changes the way the 4 way controller behaves.

Please try this:

Make sure the camera is not in Macro mode.

1. Make sure that the 4 Way controller is in AF point change priority.

2. Without hitting the 'OK' button press the up pad and the focus point should move up (do not use the touch screen to change the focus point)

[Norpa]

@WTBGR thanks appreciated your help.

Important step 0: change AF mode to "Select AF" otherwise it won't work.

however, I don't like it