Ricoh R Series and Filters

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 About using filters on the R3, R4, R5, R6, R7 cameras and hopefully future models
Many thanks to Nic Chilton on the DPReview Ricoh forum for alerting me to this way of fitting filters to the R3/4/5/6/7 cameras.

Find a 37mm to whatever step-up adapter ring to match whatever filters you have on hand. In my case I have many 52mm filters from Nikon film days so a 37-49mm step-up ring (incidentally that one came with an older Ricoh 35R film camera) added to a 49-52mm step-up ring and then it all works.

The 37mm step-up ring slides smoothly onto the end lens barrel, and even at wide angle it will sit safely in place, but keep a hand nearby in case if slides off. If you extend to tele zoom then the filters ring sits on much more safely, but again it can slide off easily if the camera is pointed down - so be careful.

Having it slide off easily is a good feature in that turning the camera off just pops it off the barrel safely for you to catch in your hand.

So far I have tried some macro with a Nikon 4T double element closeup lens of +3 dioptre and also a plain closeup lens of +4 dioptre. They do slightly increase the macro ability at max tele macro, but nothing startling.

More use probably will be experimenting with IR filters like the Hoya R72 for weird infra red shots, or a polarising filter to remove reflections from glass and water, and also to intensify flower and foliage colour in full sunlight. Neutral density filters can also be used when experimenting with higher ISO settings to see what the extra noise consequences may be for the same scene.

If shooting against the light often, then the addition of a decent lens hood may help stop flare problems and improve the image.

I have tried the large Cokin filter system adapted onto the front and it does work but looks ridiculous, also the weight load on that front barrel is increased a bit and may not be a good idea to stack too much on that adapter.
The R3 with 37-49 plus 49-52 adapters plus polariser filter at widest angle of zoom.......
with filter


The R3 with 37-49 plus 49-52 adapters plus polariser filter at max tele zoom.......
tele


The R3 with 37-49 plus 49-52 adapters plus Hoya Multi lens hood at widest angle of zoom.......
hood1


The R3 with 37-49 plus 49-52 adapters plus Hoya Multi lens hood at max tele zoom.......
hood2

The lens hood above is very effective but is big and tends to try and fall off the end all the time, so a gentle helping hand is needed to keep it stable on that lens barrel..

Also I tried the +4 dioptre close-up lens on the front and got results like this below, first without the added close-up lens, then with it attached. There's not a huge advantage in doing this because the maximum tele zoom is only actually 33mm focal length and the best effect from close-up lenses added comes with really long host lenses.

without

with

The depth of field shrinks even more of course and the field of view at closest manual focus with maximum tele macro is about 37mm width without the close-up lens and about 26mm wide with +4 dioptre added. Useful, but not too exciting an improvement.

The summary is to keep an eye out for a 37mm step-up adapter ring or combination to suit any small filter you may have lying about.
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