[macc]

Hello there,

I'm new to the group and wondering if anyone's having any problems similar to mine with the Rioch Caplio R3. The 6 'armadillo style' (well thats what it reminds me of) retractable shells that cover the lens when the camera is off, keep breaking. A tiny pieice of plastic seems to get bent out of shape, or a spring goes and it basically leaves one of the shells stuck in the middle of lense and it won't retract when you turn it on.

I've never dropped it, kicked it, played baseball with it, threw it through hoops or done anything other that take photos. I've sent it back to photosense who have been very quick in replacing it on each occasion, but it broke again at the weekend. My issue is, I got the camera at Christmas and this is the *third* time the exact same fault has developed. The 3rd time in *2 months*! The exact same problem with the exact same shell. I absolutely love everything else about the camera but I'm sure you'll agree this is not something I can continue with. Has anyone else had the same problem?

I checked their website to see if they are admitting to the fault, only to find the 'Ricoh Caplio r4' is about to be released. Now as the R3 was brand new off the production line just before Christmas this seems a suspiciously quick upgade, with few advertised improvements and a similar price tag. There's no mention of improved lens covers though, which from the business' perspective is understandable if the dodgy lense cover is the reason for the new release.

I'm going to ring them later today to ask if the lense cover has been improved and I'll post the answer. If anyone else knows anything about this please let me know.

Cheers

[shuttertalk]

Hey macc, welcome to shuttertalk.

I only had a short period to review the Ricoh cameras (under a month) and during that period I can't say that I've experienced the problem. It's pretty concerning though, especially if you've had to send it back 3 times! When you sent it back, did they just repair your unit and send it back, or did they send you a new one? If it's the same unit, then perhaps it's something to do with that particular unit itself, and I would in that case ask for a completely new replacement unit.

I must say though that the design of the retracting cover seems to have changed from the R1V (the latest model I reviewed) - it was like 1 sliding metal piece, rather than the 6 that you describe. The GX was similar, but I think it had 4 pieces rather than 6...

[macc]

Well I've sent it off twice and both times they've sent me a brand new camera, with the original stickers on and the like. So its just broken again, but I haven't sent it off yet.

I'm going to wait until I get a reply from Ricoh about the R4. I left a message with who I'm guessing was a sales lady and also spoke to someone in Techical support. He said he hasn't noticed a theme running with the Caplio R3 lense cover but did say that they deal with requests from all products, all over europe so it may be hard to spot.

He agreed that it seems a very short period betwen the release or R3 and R4 (probably about 3 months I guess), but as it hasn't been released yet the technical support teams haven't seen the camera yet. He's refered it onto another team to see if the lense mechanism has been improved.

I'll let you know when I hear.

[shuttertalk]

That sounds pretty dodgy!

Yes, I did notice too that the release cycle between the R models were very quick indeed - it was very similar with the R1V and then the R2 came out almost immediately after with the larger screen.


Anyway, I hope it all goes well with dealing with Ricoh... do let us know how you get on!

p.s. post some pics too while you're at it!

[macc]

Here's the pics of the camera. Hope the small pics are big enough to show the problem.