Thanks so much for this video, just successfully completed my repair. You have to be so careful when desoldering the cable from the motor, the contacts are jut coiled wire, not proper contacts. I pulled mine up and unspooled the wire. I assumed the repair wouldn't work, but it did!
Yep, like someone else said dont give up, if u need to take the back cover off of an old graduation card or birthday card or something and cut it to a smaller rectangle😭
does this stuck lens situation correlate with an unresponsive camera too? Mine suddenly "died" after turning on with the lens stuck out and it's completely unresponsive. I'm wondering if it has one problem or two. Thank you!
Found the link to your video from somewhere and it actually worked. So I wanted to thank you for this, because I avoided a very nasty visit to the repair shop! Lens is operating perfectly now
Wow ! It worked ! Thank you so much !!! But does somebody know why that kind of issue happend ? I mean, what could be the source of this problem ? Maybe we could prevent this… Sorry for my bad english ✌️
After changing the LCD, I noticed a blue streak on it. Do you know if this is caused by poor installation or is the problem with the screen itself? The streak does not appear in the photos, so I could even leave it as it is, but I don't know if it will affect the life of the camera.
some people also suggest it could be the battery; maybe the voltage drops. Did you people checked your batteries? Mine are pretty old and notice some small behavioral difference when they are fully charged
so did you noticed any broken wire in the lens cables? maybe it is dust or dried substances. I have the close shutter problem too; I only can shoot if I manage to depress shutter button then it opens. If it doesn't, I give it a 'shock' and sometimes it works. Strange thing, after that it works well perfectly no matter how many shots I make, until I close and open again...
Would you be able to elaborate on the removing of the face plate at 1:35 min? I just cant understand this step - on my lens its impossible to turn the face plate.
Sure, what is not clear? Do you have a GR II or III? The model I used in the demo was the GR II. The comment from @buzhichun mentioned it helped him to pull the internal lens elements back a little and then turn it as described.
Thanks for this video, super helpful! Does anyone know what type of screws the main body screws are? My camera has lost a few and I can't find any technical specifications for parts...literally anywhere! Cheers
The screws are in the eyeglasses category. You could visit a eyeglasses shop and ask if they have a spare screw. They do not need to be exactly the same lenght.
@@whiteryanc I can`t remember sorry. But if you are not a professional you will have no chance to replace the shutter cable trust me. Try selling your broken camera instead. Mine is destroyed..
You should look my videos how to place front cover properly without these long attempts to not break it. BTW, no need to unscrew those 3 screws of front lens element to remove external plastic ring which contained lost spring. It is enough to gently rotate counterclockwise plastic ring which sits on front lens element ;)
Al final me atreví y cambié el cable. !Ha funcionado! Gracias por tu ayuda. Pude desoldar y soldar los cables del motor sin desmontarlo, poniendo una pinza de la ropa que mantuviera los muelles abiertos y utilizando un soldador super fino. Gracias de nuevo.
great that it worked out and thanks for the tipp! I post your reply in english so that others do not need to translate it again "In the end I got brave and changed the cable. !It has worked! Thanks for your help. I was able to desolder and solder the motor cables without disassembling it, using a clothespin to keep the springs open and using a super fine soldering iron. Thanks again."
Muy buen día, me puede decir si ha dia de hoy 5/12/2023 sabe de algún video que explique como cambiar el cable? Muchas gracias por su tiempo y dedicación.
If you were to theoretically do this on a not opened ricoh, how would you then get rid of the dust still floating inside? Would it not just be a temporary solution?
Ich vermisse meine GR II sehr hart. Ich habe leider das Display geknackt (komplett schwarz), wodurch sie unbrauchbar ist. Als Ersatz habe ich mir die über lange Zeit schon angegeierte Nikon Coolpix A beschafft. Die ist auch wirklich toll. Aber eben anders. Langsamer, nicht so intuitiv (vielleicht die Gewöhnung), die Bildmodus fehlen und Kleinigkeiten die mir jetzt gerade nicht auf die Tastatur fallen. Ich will die GR II zurück. Für eine GR III bin ich zu arm. So ist die Frage, ob jemand einen guten Händler für Ersatzdisplays kennt? Und eine gute Anleitung, dieses einzubauen. Ich hatte schon eines gefunden, doch das ist länger her und inzwischen finde ich wohl nicht mehr die richtigen Suchworte.
Das müsste doch passen: www.ebay.com/itm/251514808169?hash=item3a8f736769:g:doYAAOSw-jhUFomU Beim Einbau muss man auch nur das Flachbandkabel anschließen. Viel Erfolg.
I've got my GRII open right now and have stripped it down to the lens assembly. It's frightening just how much dust gets into this thing. It's everywhere! Except for and on the actual sensor. The sensor part is clean as a whistle. So the dust problem with this camera really does lie with the blue IR filter glass on the lens side (this would make sense as the dust appears the smaller the aperture is set). My suggestion to Ricoh (are Ricoh listening?) would be to scrap the retracting lens mechanism altogether, thus preventing the 'vacuum effect' that seems to suck small particles into the lens assembly. The lens when the camera is on doesn't protrude that much so I doubt it would be a problem for those still desiring a pocketable camera. It would also make the camera even faster to use from start up.
Thanks for your report Tom. Thats what I observed too. The dust accumulates on the hot mirror. The lens barrel design is a compromise between keeping it thin and allowing dust to enter. After first dust spots I used the lens adapter + clear filter. They never left the camera and protected it quite well. The GR III appears to be much easier to "clean" then the GR II since you have to unscrew less stuff to get to the sensor and blue mirror. Still I wish Ricoh could improve the lens barrel sealing even more.
@@mikphoto I'm currently waiting for the new PCB part from China to arrive, but while going into disassembly of the lens barrel a tiny piece of white shaped plastic fell out (including a cog- but I know where that came from), which is now probably going to give me a headache trying to figure out where to put it back. If anyone knows where it likely came from, I'd be more than delighted to hear from them. :) But back to my point about the extending/contracting lens... The front plane of the lens when fully extended, most of that is just the mechanical lens hood. The actual lens is about 8mm behind it when that is fully extended. It seems crazy that @Ricoh has opted to have all that 'dead space', which if the lens didn't extend at all, would only protrude slightly from the camera body. Since it's fixed anyway on 28mm (or 40mm in the case of the GR3x), it seems ridiculous to have this flashy auto protruding lens on such a serious (and expensive!) compact camera. I think Ricoh should just get rid of it altogether as the coatings on most modern glass today is pretty scratch-proof, and we should just have removable lens caps. In fact a smaller filter adaptor would probably suffice. Ot just a thread...
@@tomfenn7149 I guess the 8mm is a head room for macro mode. I recall that once macro is activated the lens extends a bit further towards the barrels end. I have to double check.
Thanks so much for making this video, Michael. I found that using a couple of sticky 'protect pads' (sticky dots) used to prevent cupboard doors from slamming loudly when closed, stuck to the front cover of the lens helped get a grip on the front cover to turn then remove while twisting as you say, clockwise. It took a little force but not that much before it popped off. I hope this sticky dot tip helps others who are about to attempt to fix their GR2.
Just want to add, I'm finding the GRII an absolute nightmare to fix. I read somewhere else that you really need to be a watchmaker to fix the inner lens capsule. Whoever said that is 100% right. The worst thing though is all the time I've invested in trying to fix my camera, could've been spent taking photos, which I'm missing. I know I shouldn't say this (because it'll likely upset the GR fanboys), but honestly, get an Olympus or Panasonic, which imho are far better built, more reliable cameras. If Ricoh had any sense they'd re-engineer the GR for the upcoming IV to include interchangeable pancake lenses. This would do away with all the dust issues and other lens/sensor nonsense associated with this frankly overpriced toy. Such a feat is quite possible, and in fact Pentax have already done it. A sign of even better things to come?
Sorry for your troubles fixing the cam. After learning about the tight conctruction I became be also reluctant to service it myself. Lucily there are photo service people who do like the task :) A shop in poland www.fotonaprawa.pl seems to do a fine job fixing GRs.
After struggling with getting off the front plate, I found out it helps if you pull the internal lens element back out of the barrel a little. After I did that the front plate easily clicked loose after rotating clockwise.
i managed to take apart everything, but sadly i also broke of one of the front plate parts, so it doesnt hold in place properly now. sadly, it turns out the pcb wasnt the problem, so it was all for nothing and i still dont know why it wont turn on :(
@mobo4133, get yourself a multimeter with a continuity tester built in. Sometimes PCB's can look undamaged to the naked eye, but their may still be a fracture on the pcb you cannot see. And disruption to the bleeping of the continuity tester will confirm a break in the copper.
Thanks for this video!I had issues in putting back the front plate, it was not willing to trigger the door mechanism closed. I then found much easier to close the door manually beforehand and keeping it closed during the front plate reassembly with a pice of adhesive tape. By doing this way the silver mechanism is not going to catch the plastic knobs inside.
You can get the lens-shutter flexible cable for cheap from aliexpress and fixed it by yourself very easy, so why you raped that precious camera like that. ?
So I dropped my camera and the protective lens housing plate fell off. I came here to see how it goes back on and referenced your video at about 09:00 and I was struggling to put it back without disassembling the whole camera or sending off for repair. I managed to get it back on and this is how I did it … I pulled the silver triggers that close the protective doors then taped them so they stay shut. While the camera is ON I put the face plate in place and it snapped neatly closed then bc the camera is turned on the protective covers should be in open position I had to turn the plate to the RIGHT instead of left and slowly took the tape off at the same time. This snapped right into place. I hope no one has to deal with this but Good luck to anyone who reads this 🙂 thank you so much for your video!
Would it not just be easier to place some tape over the shutters themselves, rather than the tiny silver levers? Thus keeping both leaf doors shut, then taking the tape off slowly once fixed back on?
Hello. I dropped my GR2 and the flash bulb broke. I can see that replacement bulbs can be bought on eBay, but I cannot find any instructions of how to replace the bulb. Any chance you could help out?
Hello! Very nice video!! My Ricoh has the "closed shutter" problem and I am attempting to fix it before it gets worse! I am wondering if there are any updates? Did replacing the flex cable work? I called my local service centre and they said it might have something to do with dust build up as well! But either way, your videos have been helpful!! I think I will attempt my repair in another months time!
The flex cable is a very likely cause for the malfunction but one can be only sure if the cable is inspected visually. I think photo services have been picking up the video instructions and offer valid repairs.
