Mechanical Remote Release for Ricoh GR II Digital

I really enjoy Ricoh`s GR 28mm lens since I used my first GR1 20 years ago. Now I was caught up by my past and bought the GR II digital.

For hiking I love simplicity, small and light equipment - the GR II is perfect for my purposes but the accessory from Ricoh is unfortunatly a bit clumsy and inconvenient in my eyes.

The CA-3 remote release is working with the USB cable only and is not really comfortable for me because I have problems to plug it in even at normal light conditions. The cable isn`t very flexible and each little movement can turn the light-weight camera away when I put it on natural plain surfaces without a tripod.

Maybe the GR remote app is able to release the camera but I still do not use a Smartphone.

That`s the reason I build this release adapter which weights less than the battery inside the CA-3 or rather complete with a 50cm release cable less than the USB cable alone.

Please take this instruction as raw guide - you can use any other accessory feet or flash bracket you have laying around and can fix it in the way you want.

You can modify the construction for any other camera with flash shoe as well.

Parts :

- accessory feet

- central screw 1/4"

- aluminium arm

- steel spring plate

- mechanical remote release

Tools :

- "normal" tools like hacksaw, file, drill & bits, pliers, sandpaper etc.

- M3 (metrical) thread cutter male & female

Trim the height of your flash feet on around 9-10mm.

I used an old aluminium feet with 1/4" screw thread inside to mount the arm and spring plate on top with a 1/4" camera screw.

size of feet base plate : 15 x 18 x 1.5mm

Trim the aluminium arm into a shape which you prefer.

The arm should be not too wide because you still want to use the on/off button and front dial.

Make a cardboard pattern first if you want.

Drill a 6.5mm hole for the 1/4" screw mount.

Mount the arm on the feet and mark the middle position of the camera release button.

Drill a 2.5mm hole for the release and cut in a M3 thread.

arm size : 64 x 12 x 2.5mm

The spring plate should be a bit smaller than the arm.

Drill a 6.5mm hole for the 1/4" screw mount.

Mount the spring on the feet and bent up the end a bit where the camera release button begins.

The spring plate is not important for the function of the adapter - it just protects the camera release button against scrachtes and distributes the center of pressure more evenly.

spring plate size : 10 x 60 x 0.25mm

About mechanical cable releases:

The mount of a standard remote release is M3.4x0.5 thread 28° conical (or german DIN 19004).

You can buy a special thread cutter or a Copal large format release cable which has a standard M3x0.5 thread already but both are very hard to find and expensive.

Actually you can screw in the relase cable three-quarter turns right now - it works for the moment but not for a long time of usage I think.

So I decide to convert the release with a M3 thread instead.

Use the M3 cutting wheel upside down in the holder - this side has a straight thread and you need to cut as long as possible. There is no need to use the wider side as the DIN 19004 is conical anyway.

Hold tight the end of the release with a plier and start cutting gently.

Don`t force to much - most tips are made of chromed brass and easy to break - use cutting oil.

Cut as close as possible to the bigger end but not more.

Alternative parts you can use :

- accessory feet : hot shoe cover, old feet of flash-unit, flash adapter, waist level, mike mount, lamp mount

- arm : flash bracket with long slot

- spring plate : thin plastic or aluminium stripe

- thread cutting : release button of an older 35mm camera. A lot have a thread in the release button which you can glue on the arm.

If you use an optical finder you can mount a flash shoe on top of the adapter or can try to fix it directly to it.