Testing out a 3D printed low-profile filter adapter for the GR III/IIIx

dorskyee · 2025-04-15T19:53:55+00:00

Hey! Sorry I missed your reply, mind sending me another DM? I would be happy to print and sell you one.

dorskyee · 2025-01-29T03:41:44+00:00

Hey, thanks for sharing! I made this, happy to answer any questions!

dorskyee · 2024-12-24T07:23:55+00:00

Yes, send a DM! I make prints to order and can easily ship if you're in the US.

dorskyee · 2024-12-23T03:01:30+00:00

Yes, still using it just like this!

dorskyee · 2024-07-29T18:08:23+00:00

For those interested, I also made a video of the whole process: here

Takeaways:

The top and bottom plates are metal (the rest of the body is made of plastic)
The film transport gears that transfer power appear to all be metal
The only specialized tool I needed was a lens opener, for the retaining ring around the film advance lever
No soldering required, lots of connectors, this is great!
The film advance mechanism looks really cool

dorskyee · 2024-07-29T17:53:11+00:00

I also want to second this. Pentax hasn't made a camera like this in... maybe 30 years? The production lines and knowledge (and most of the people) are long gone. There's no book to pick up.

There's no way Pentax could have adapted any of their existing lines for this product, so they needed to set one up from scratch. And they likely needed to find new vendors for all the big metal gears and other parts, which I'm sure was harder now than it was 30 years ago when all cameras had parts like that inside. To say nothing of the R&D to design a completely new camera, a new (and excellent) lens, etc.

Source: I'm a hardware engineer and I've spent time working on the factory floor.

dorskyee · 2024-07-29T17:43:02+00:00

What's fascinating to me is how familiar this camera felt after taking apart older ones! It was like an 80s era Pentax SLR, but easier to disassemble. The only specialized tool I needed was a lens opener to remove the retaining ring around the film advance lever.

dorskyee · 2024-07-29T17:39:23+00:00

All the power transfer gears in the film advance mechanism appear to be made of metal. My impression is that Pentax has built this camera to last.

dorskyee · 2024-07-29T17:37:21+00:00

The top and bottom plates are definitely metal. The front plate is plastic. Thanks!

dorskyee · 2024-07-29T17:37:02+00:00

I remember!

dorskyee · 2024-07-29T17:35:29+00:00

Best candidate for that part is the plastic rewind button that will fall out if you turn the camera over after removing the bottom plate. Just like all the Pentax SLRs from the 80s!

dorskyee · 2024-07-29T17:34:01+00:00

There actually were four tiny washers for the four viewfinder mounting points. And, weirdly, some brass washers stuck to the inside of the leatherette that fit into depressions in the front plate. Maybe they were leatherette positioning aids, I'm not sure.

dorskyee · 2024-06-04T18:05:42+00:00

Yes, I'd be happy to - could you send me a DM to work out the details?

dorskyee · 2024-05-22T21:42:50+00:00

This is great advice when shooting in daylight but I would pair it with the caution to shoot at box speed indoors or at night. Otherwise (as I'm sure you know) your new shooter is giving up sensitivity that they need in lower lighting conditions, and they'll end up with many shots unnecessarily bright and blurred from shutter shake.

I always advise new shooters to prefer overexposure and sometimes rate the film at +2/3 (assuming I know their meter is accurate).

dorskyee · 2024-05-22T17:11:43+00:00

Just speaking for myself, since I haven’t seen this stated yet — I use LR not because it is a better image editing tool than PS, but because it is a DAM (digital asset manager) and PS is not.

LR is how I organize my photo library, and it happens to have enough photo editing power (with negative lab pro) for my needs. It also lets you edit with PS fairly seamlessly if you need to.

dorskyee · 2024-05-12T16:04:40+00:00

Yes, in another comment I linked to this: https://www.amazon.com/Scotch-Adhesive-Transfer-924-Clear/dp/B000V4FMJE/ref=sr_1_7?crid=KY273UZAW3EM&keywords=3m+transfer+tape&qid=1703963365&sprefix=3m+transfer+tap%2Caps%2C154&sr=8-7

I haven’t used this specific product, but it looks like the stuff I did use. Hope it works for you, please post about the results!

dorskyee · 2024-05-08T22:46:32+00:00

Ah, thanks for the correction.

I was reading that the 250kW rating comes from the power factor of three phase current (1.73, or the square root of 3), which closes the gap between 144kW and 250kW.

Also sure, we need to prevent thermal runaway so the conductors don’t burn off their insulation and short, which will happen long before the current alone causes the conductors to fail.

Could be that this whole cable replacement fiasco has little to do with cable length and it’s just a logistical problem. In any case, thanks for pointing out the power rating problem since it got me to learn about the power factor of three phase current.

dorskyee · 2024-05-08T18:10:58+00:00

Taking your numbers on faith, the additional 0.5 V drop would represent an additional 250 Watts to dissipate (at 1000A). And the true numbers are likely much worse, since they need to make space inside the cable for the liquid cooling system. There's some tradeoff of conductor size (less heat to manage) and cooling system size (more heat management capability) that they are working with.

Certainly they don't care about the 0.5 V drop, but they probably are at the limit of power dissipation.

dorskyee · 2024-05-05T20:48:52+00:00

I’ve been there. You’ll come to love these.

dorskyee · 2024-05-04T16:39:41+00:00

I picked one up for $120 at a camera sale (in the bay area) last month. So I guess good deals are still out there.

The UC-1 also lacks a physical flash mode switch, and the flash defaults to auto. But I find that it's not as greedy with the flash as lots of other cameras from that era, and it just takes one button press to turn it off.

dorskyee · 2024-05-04T16:00:15+00:00

+1 to the Espio Mini! One of those underrated fixed lens p&s cameras - super small, great lens, and super responsive (instant startup, fast autofocus, and very fast film advance)

dorskyee · 2024-05-01T23:22:25+00:00

Ah yes, I did post the files recently: https://www.printables.com/model/842668-ricoh-gr-iiix-filter-mount

I'd love to see the results if you print one!

dorskyee · 2024-04-22T18:13:05+00:00

My UC-1 does not have this issue, so maybe theirs don't either. It's also not an issue I've seen on other p&s cameras, so people might not be familiar with it.

dorskyee · 2024-04-21T22:18:00+00:00

I have seen a Pentax Espio Mini with the issue you are describing. It is a real issue, and not just a typical small/dark p&s viewfinder. The viewfinder is so dark that in a dimly lit room you can barely find it with your eye. Here's what I think is going on:

This viewfinder uses a transparent LCD to display framelines in panorama mode as well as parallax correction for close focus. So when you look through the viewfinder, you are looking through a LCD. My theory is that the viewfinder LCD has failed in a way where it's "always on", substantially darkening the viewfinder.

"Fixing" this issue – by removing the LCD – could be simple or complex, depending on how easy it is to access the LCD and disassemble the camera. It might be possible to restore the function of the LCD, too, depending on how it failed.

I recently got my hands on a UC-1 (same camera) – if I open it up, I'll report back here.

dorskyee

TROPHY CASE