Ricoh Cameras and Me
So, it should probably read “I” to be grammatically correct, but “Me” sounds better to I—but that should be “me”. Oh, whatever. Ricoh has been around a very long time. And it still survives—more or less—in its original intent at least. My belief is that Ricoh was started under license of a reprographics patent in
We all like to hear of those who pull themselves up by their own toenails.
I first became cognizant of Ricoh from the beautifully depicted color camer ads that appeared in vintage photography magazines during the sixties. These were fine SLR’s and as a kid and teenager, I coveted these various camera models. But I don’t recall ever having access to or even actually seeing one firsthand until much later. This is surprising to me because Ricoh introduced the first mass-produced Twin Lens Reflex camera around 1957, when I was quite young. The Ricohflex III was inexpensive and reasonably priced. Although I lacked exposure to this historic camera and its evolving models until I was past my prime as a working photographer—I have since collected quite a few of the dozen and a half models produced under various names.
Ricoh TLR’s were cheaply made, but this does not translate to inferior in many of the ways that it counts most. The focus mechanism is very simple, using geared outer rings around the two lenses. The gears mesh in such fashion that turning one, turns the other, but more importantly, turns internal gears coupled to the rack and pinion, thereby moving the lenses in and out for focus. My belief is that Ricoh borrowed this focus method from the earliest origins of the famous Czech optics company Meopta—who under the pre-merger name, Opema, made some of the earliest European TLR models.
Riken lenses, made by an arm of Ricoh, provide superb optics. In fact the earliest Ricoh TLR’s are reminisent of early Rolleicords except for this focus method. With the exception of a few, later models, Ricoh appeared satisfied to remain at the bottom of the ladder in terms of construction materials and price-point. Remarkably, the surviving cameras that I have round from this era, have all come to me in good to excellent condition. This speaks somewhat to their durability.
I have used these cameras as a collector interested in how they compared to other TLR’s. One way to compare them is by the way they feel in your hands, ease of operation, and construction quality. By this standard, these mass-produced Ricoh models do not rank as highly as do many of their major vintage counterpart TLR models (of the best-known six or seven brands).
But one might consider the low cost of ownership and apparent durability, coupled with the excellent optics and resulting image quality—and determine that the old Ricoh TLR’s compare quite favorably. I have always taught that any photographer equipped with virtually any viable camera—can produce good photographs.
Early-on, during my formative photography training years as a semi-pro kid needing a means to earn money to fuel photography and other expensive interests—responded to a fellow photographer’s challenge to limit my camera use to a basic manual TLR—a Yashica D camera. From this experience came a great deal of my working knowledge of practical photography. I had already learned the fundamental physics of photography—but this several month period of frequent use in real photographic events—honed this knowledge to a working second nature—which is better than mechanical or electronic automatics.
For those film hobbyists and collectors—the Ricoh models offer a realistic goal of obtaining examples of all or most of the models made by Ricoh—much as my collection of all Yashica TLR models once began. These models are fairly plentiful still—and will certainly become more scarce and valuable over time—providing a fun incentive to collect. The good part is that the Ricohs don’t cost an arm and a leg to collect.
The inclination of many hobby collectors is to go after an example of each model. Then you are hooked and you may trade up for more perfect examples of each model. Then we often other brand collections.
I should mention that Ricoh did make several high-end model TLR cameras. One was a virtual copy of the not-very successful Rollei Magic cameras. Another was a “Modernistic”camera design in the 127 4x4 Super-Slide film format. I have previously written about this unique and rare camera. It is a very collectible camera. It is also an excellent functioning camera—although it is a quasi-automatic camera. I include a photograph and a link to my review of this neat little camera below.