In the early 1980s, Ricoh was the first Japanese camera brand to enter China. However, at that time, everyone was still very enthusiastic about the domestic seagull DF SLR camera. The influx of Ricoh cameras in Japan suddenly made people shine. This camera is "great".
In fact, Ricoh cameras are not only unpopular in the world, but also mediocre in Japan, which is not as good as mainstream cameras such as Nikon, Canon and Minolta. It was only because China was too closed and poor at that time and had no knowledge that there was no discrimination. Many photographers mistake Ricoh cameras for life goals.
The first contact with Ricoh KR-5 camera was at 1984, and I liked it. Then I want to save money to buy one. This is a beautiful vision, and I think how wonderful my life will be.
It is with this in mind that I am becoming more and more interested in photography. A few years later, I finally got a Ricoh KR- 10 camera. As a result, I shot and shot, then I kept buying cameras for cameras, and finally I collected cameras.
In my collection cabinet, besides domestic and German cameras, there are several Ricoh cameras, such as KR-5 and KR- 10, which are even listed, because of my unforgettable feelings.
In addition, I have several Ricoh cameras, which are relatively rare. Today, I will introduce three Ricoh cameras: TLS40 1, XR-P and XR-X.
1, Ricoh TLS40 1 camera
This is an early Ricoh SLR camera, and many people may not have heard of it. Let's talk about the history of Ricoh cameras:
Ricoh was born in 1936, but its main products are optical equipment, fax machines, printers and so on. And it is a fortune 500 company, but it has not paid much attention to the research and development and production of cameras.
Ricoh Company produced a large number of cameras at 1950, and produced a Ricohflex Ⅲ double-reflex camera. This camera has two problems worth remembering:
One is "the world's first mass-produced dual-lens reflex camera".
Second, it has a great influence on China camera. In the early years, the Dalai Lama, Temple of Heaven, Changhong, Shenyang and Halina made in China were all Ricoh reflex cameras.
In fact, although Ricoh is quite large in scale, its mind is not on the camera. The cameras it produces are basically simple and cheap, suitable for mass consumption.
In the late 1950s, the Japanese camera industry began to rise, with the main direction of 135 SLR cameras. During this period, various camera manufacturers in Japan continued to innovate and develop, but Ricoh got nothing.
It was not until the mid-1960s that Ricoh began to introduce the 135 SLR camera, and adopted the M42 screw port, apparently deliberately taking the road of Germany Contex. During this period, Japanese cameras such as Pentax and IELTS also adopted screw holes, and the bayonet made the lens popular, but it also limited the in-depth development of the camera.
Ricoh produced several screw cameras during this period, but they were all mediocre. Only this Ricoh TLS40 1 camera still has some ideas and highlights.
Ricoh TLS40 1 camera was born in 1970, which belongs to the screw camera, but it is the best one among Ricoh screw cameras.
This camera is very heavy in hand, and I feel that the materials used are too practical or too much.
The camera is still simple, and the shutter is: b,1-11000 second exposure.
There are CdS metering, depth of field prediction button and selfie.
This kind of camera highlights the large forehead viewfinder, which is very obvious, and its bright spot is also here.
The early SLR put a lot of effort into the viewfinder. Some special cameras and even viewfinders are alive, which can be easily replaced by head-up and overlooking. Ricoh 40 1 adopts the method of looking up and down, which is rare in other cameras and may even be Ricoh's patent.
Ricoh's viewfinder design is very clever. A small skylight is directly opened on the forehead, and a conversion button is set on the side, so it is very convenient to freely switch between looking up and looking down. The viewfinder can be changed from head-up to top-down.
However, Ricoh has been weak in lens development. This camera has 50/ 1.4 and 50/ 1.7 heads to choose from, but the quality is very average (Ricoh has many heads, and the most successful one is 50/ 1.7).
This Ricoh TLS40 1 camera is available in black and white, and it is also the best in Ricoh camera screw SLR.
2. Ricoh XR-P camera
I didn't expect Ricoh to have a golden rooster!
Generally speaking, "Golden Rooster" is basically a famous machine of famous factories, such as Leica and Rolland. Japan's Nikon, Mamiya, etc. It seems that even the Canon factory has never been out.
Of course, the Seagull Phoenix in China and even the commemorative version of the Golden Rooster have all gone up several times now.
However, Ricoh's Golden Rooster is also an ordinary camera. So far, the price is not expensive, but if you dare to play "Golden Rooster", it can be seen that the manufacturer recognizes this camera. This is the best SLR camera in Ricoh history: Ricoh XR-P camera.
I liked Ricoh XR-P very much at that time, mainly because I took a fancy to its function. It can be said that it came out of 1984, which is not the best in electronics, but it is also the first in the market. Except that there is no autofocus (the first autofocus camera was made by Minolta 7000, 1985), it is absolutely ahead in electronics and has dazzling exposure function.
There was no money to buy it at that time, so I had to study its information. No matter how much I like it, I have no money in my pocket, so I'll have a good time. The more I can't get it, the more I want to. Although I can't afford the highs, I left a deep memory in my heart.
Look at its technical data: there are nine exposure modes, such as TV shooting and interval shooting, which are not available or not available in other cameras.
It is said that Ricoh's camera is second-rate or third-rate, but this Ricoh XR-P camera makes Ricoh lead in electronic technology!
For this reason, Ricoh also has film winder, motor, data machine, flash lamp and other supporting accessories.
This camera won the reputation of Ricoh and became the pinnacle of Ricoh SLR cameras, but the market did not give it too much face.
3. Ricoh XR-X camera
Ricoh XR-X camera was born in 1988. This camera is actually a continuation of the previous Ricoh XR-P camera.
This camera also has dynamic program, ordinary program, depth of field program, aperture priority, full manual, TV photography, TTL control flash exposure mode, which was also the most at that time. It can be said that it is controlled by microcomputer, and the electronic technology of exposure is absolutely firmly mastered.
In addition, what impressed me most about this camera was its metering (center 4%), which greatly attracted me. I wanted to buy one, but I was short of money and decided to start saving money. I didn't want a large number of Soviet photographic equipment to appear two years later. My interest changed, so I faded out of sight and finally didn't buy it.
In addition, another highlight of Ricoh XR-X is the gearless automatic film feeding system pioneered by Ricoh, which can automatically roll up films, sheet films and continuous shooting (3 sheets per second). This is also very cool, and it was also a particularly advanced design at that time, which was particularly enjoyable.
This camera also has a small flash, which is not placed on the top of the camera, but connected to the fuselage on the side, so that it does not affect the use of a large top flash at the same time, and it can also be carried on the fuselage without affecting anything. However, the index of small flash is very small, and it is facing the fuselage sideways, so its use is very limited.
This camera has many functions, but it is small, small and light. Moreover, it is made of very high-quality engineering plastics, and the shell is also blue and black, which is rare in other cameras and has become exclusive and unique to Ricoh XR-X (it seems that Ricoh 30D used this material).
Because of the excellent material, most of the cameras we see now are intact or perfect, and we rarely see the aging and damage of the shell, which shows Ricoh's care and seriousness, and it is a very successful camera.
At that time, various Japanese manufacturers were gearing up and obsessed with the research and development of camera automatic AF era, but Ricoh continued to focus manually at the low end (Ricoh did not have a real AF lens at the end). Although its exposure mode and film transmission mode are leading, the camera main body design is still out of date.
Although the performance of this camera is also very advanced, it can't squeeze into the main position of advanced cameras, and Ricoh's supporting lens has always been short-legged, which has little impact in the end.
But through this camera, Ricoh saw a downward path. A few years later, it simplified the XR-X and introduced the cheap Ricoh XR-2000 camera. As a result, it sold well in the market At least in the late 1990s, it was the Japanese SLR camera with more sales in China camera market.
Now many families have Ricoh, except the early KR- 10, which is the XR-2000 in the post-film era.
What Ricoh camera do you have at home? Tell me about your experience. ......
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