Ricoh Auto 66

<p>Hi, I am new to this forum and to TLRs - I recently found out that my mom has my grandfather's first camera: a Ricoh Auto 66. I don't actually have it in my possession yet, but am quite excited to try it out. I had my mom look at the light meter and she says that it does respond to light. She sent me pictures and it is quite dusty but otherwise it looks pretty tidy.</p>

<p>My grandma is turning 90 at the end of the month and thought it would be neat to take some family photos with this camera. I'll only get the camera that day so won't have time to test it out first. I looked at the other posts on this site about the Ricoh but still have a couple questions. </p>

<p>How can I know if the light meter is actually accurate, since it is only auto with no control over aperture and shutter unless in bulb or flash mode? Is there a way to check? I suppose I could also bracket my shots just to increase the chance I get something correctly exposed. Do modern flashes work with these cameras?</p>

<p>What film would people recommend? I was thinking of Porta Pro 400 or Ilford XP-2 400. </p>

<p>Any other tips would be also appreciated. <br>

Thanks, <br>

Kristjan</p>

<p>First get a manual: http://www.cameramanuals.org/ricoh_pdf/ricoh_auto_66.pdf and familiarize yourself with its contents. Chances are, since it has a selenium meter, that it is no longer working or accurate. But it is easy to test it against the "sunny 16 rule". Decide on an ISO/ASA and dial that in for your meter reading. If there is an indication of f/stop and/or shutter speed make a mental note and point the camera at a bright sunny scene. The reading should be the equivalent of 1/ISO for the shutter speed at f/16. If you don't get a match, the meter isn't working properly. If your flash has an X synch cord it should work with your camera.</p>

<p>Thank you for the response. The camera doesn't show aperture or shutter speed values - there is an EV dial from 6 to 17 - but I think I can apply the same technique with EV15 set at 100 ISO. I don't have a light meter that displays EV, but I've found some EV charts so that could be a decent enough work-around if the meter is dead. </p>

<p>Try to take pic with your cell phone and check property of it. Or switch the cell phone in manual mode and play with settings.<br>

Cheers</p>

<p>Will the photos be taken outside?<br />If so just use the sunny 16 rule.<br />Set the shutter to your film speed, and the F-stop to 16.<br />This works great out in the sun....with film, it will get you very close.</p>

<p>Russ, the camera is an "auto" meaning there are no manual controls to set f-stop and shutter unfortunately. But as I mentioned above I think that I can still do the same using the EV dial. </p>

<p>I have this camera also, I bought it a few years ago but as far as I can tell my selenium meter is totally dead. The design of this camera is really unfortunate because mine looks good, and the apertures and shutter all respond, but it appears it can only take photos at 1/30 (under the flash setting) and B. Without a working meter there seems to be nothing else you can do. You can move it to the flash setting by pressing the little button on the bottom in the middle and shifting the right hand dial to the flash symbol; same with the B. I've tried to test the shutter speeds when I move the EV dial but it appears they are all at about 1/30. I haven't actually put film in it yet though I'm thinking of putting some infrared in it and using it on the B setting, since the apertures do respond manually at B or flash.<br /> <br />If you want to take family photos with the camera before seeing the results perhaps you should bring a second camera as a backup? I've found in the past that it's a good idea with "new" cameras on important occasions.</p>

<p>Oh that's rather unfortunate that the EV dial doesn't seem to do anything without the working meter. I'm not holding my breath but hopefully the meter on this one is still working. I'll get it and run a roll through and see what happens anyway. I'll have another camera there of course - just thought it would be fun to try out the Ricoh for this special occasion. </p>

<p>I agree, why not try it out anyway Kristjan, I didn't mean to discourage you, it's just that I can remember certain trips I've taken with only one camera and the photos didn't come out so well - so why not take both, maybe you will get great photos of your grandmother with both cameras. <br>

I can't tell you too much else about the Ricoh though I have a Minolta Autocord that also has an EV setting and selenium meter but can be set without them.<br>

But good luck, I hope you get great photos of your grandmother's birthday!</p>

<p>Everything with the camera looks like it is working perfectly, including the meter. I think even if it does die in the future I will be able to estimate using the EV dial. It is quite unfortunate that there is no manual override but I'm not going to complain. </p>

<p>I found it quite fun to shoot with. My grandma thought it was pretty neat I was using a 50+ year old camera, and everyone was very impressed by the quality of the colour and detail when I emailed out the scans - although maybe their expectations were also very low! </p>

I've just acquired one of these, and have been trying to figure it out. You turn the setting knob until the needles match. Sadly mine has a dead meter but I think you can still use it by measuring the exposure value with a hand held meter and entering it manually. The setting knob, which controls the aperture, is marked with exposure values from 8.6 to 17. I believe it sets the shutter in a programme from 1/30 at F/35 (EV8.6) to 1/250 at F/22 (EV 17). I can only guess at the intermediate settings but I suspect that EV13 is 1/125 at F/8. The manual isn't exactly helpful about all this.

 

I'm hoping to run a film through it soon and will share the results and provide a fuller description.

That should be 1/30 at F/3.5.

Sheesh! I just saw the price being asked for those things on *bay. You could get a Rollei for about the same money.

 

The manual is on Mike Butkus's site BTW. Complete with some handwritten notes on the shutter speed range and a few other things.