Tom Caldwell
Well-Known Member
Long time Ricoh user going back to the original GRD which has a nice patina on the grip from many happy images.
I have kept my GRDIV and GR as well as a small fleet of GXR kit.
The GRDIII and GX100 were given away to family.
I go back as far as my first decent camera: the Ricoh XR2 slr.
I go back through my camera body collections and make sre that their batteries have not been flat for too long. So you can imagine my dismay when the GR perked up with a newly charged battery but the shutter button was jammed and would not be pressed - it was rock solid. But with a serious hard press it did depress and now it will not pop back up. Curses. The little mode wheel lock button also seems to have locked up but at least it is not locked in such a way that it restricts turning the mode button.
I keep these camera in the same drawer with other compact camera gear which had accumulated some fine dust which might even have been rubbed dry varnish for want of understanding its slightly brownish colour. From many drawer movements perhaps. In any case my two older GRD bodies with the identical type shutter buttons work fine.
I have tried slipping a piece of paper around the edges of the button and there was surely some grit in there which as been displaced but the button spring is not strong enough to pop it back out. Grrrr. Maybe an ultra thin piece of metal with a small lip that might just be slippable under the button edge to gingerly help the spring to pop the button back up?
It might be too much to hope that the button can be popped out so that the action can be cleaned properly ....
I will try some air from a small compressor next - if that does not work it might be a pull-apart job. Which of course is irritating as I don't really need it for images, the GRD cameras are arguably more historically interesting to use, and it is not much use having a camera in store that could not be used if the notion to use it became strong enough.
I have kept my GRDIV and GR as well as a small fleet of GXR kit.
The GRDIII and GX100 were given away to family.
I go back as far as my first decent camera: the Ricoh XR2 slr.
I go back through my camera body collections and make sre that their batteries have not been flat for too long. So you can imagine my dismay when the GR perked up with a newly charged battery but the shutter button was jammed and would not be pressed - it was rock solid. But with a serious hard press it did depress and now it will not pop back up. Curses. The little mode wheel lock button also seems to have locked up but at least it is not locked in such a way that it restricts turning the mode button.
I keep these camera in the same drawer with other compact camera gear which had accumulated some fine dust which might even have been rubbed dry varnish for want of understanding its slightly brownish colour. From many drawer movements perhaps. In any case my two older GRD bodies with the identical type shutter buttons work fine.
I have tried slipping a piece of paper around the edges of the button and there was surely some grit in there which as been displaced but the button spring is not strong enough to pop it back out. Grrrr. Maybe an ultra thin piece of metal with a small lip that might just be slippable under the button edge to gingerly help the spring to pop the button back up?
It might be too much to hope that the button can be popped out so that the action can be cleaned properly ....
I will try some air from a small compressor next - if that does not work it might be a pull-apart job. Which of course is irritating as I don't really need it for images, the GRD cameras are arguably more historically interesting to use, and it is not much use having a camera in store that could not be used if the notion to use it became strong enough.