My Kind of Ricoh

<p>Here's a nice little handful, the Ricoh 300.</p><div></div>

<p>This well-made little rangefinder was advertised for sale in New York, circa 1959, with leather case, for $54.40. The caption read, "Does everything luxury 35's will do EXCEPT empty your wallet !" It apparently sold well, though I've come across only a few surviving examples. This particular copy is in a very tidy state, and everything turns and clicks the way they should. It followed the very successful Ricoh 35 series as a sort of budget alternative, and shows the fine clean lines and solid construction of that era of Riken design.<br /><br />The camera was built by Riken Optical in Japan in 1959-60. "Riken" is an abbreviation of the name of a Japanese research institute founded in 1917 to promote Japanese industrial development, and Riken Optical was founded in 1936. The company bought Olympic Camera Works in 1937 and began producing cameras under their own name, changing to the more-familiar Ricoh Company Ltd. in 1963. This camera is typical of a large array of mid-range cameras produced in Japan in this era; it has a Riken shutter with speeds from 1/10 to 1/300 plus B, a coupled split-image rangefinder, short-throw film wind / cocking lever, very smooth unit-focusing involving the whole lens assembly, and a standard layout of components and controls. Overall construction and finish is excellent, the rewind knob being a particularly glamourous piece of machining and polishing. It's a very solid and comfortable little camera to use.<br /><br />The Riken Ricoh lens is of interest. It's a 45mm, four-element three group design, f/2.8 to f/22, and good authority states that it was supplied by the illustrious Satoru Akira Tomioka who was entwined with Yashica to produce some of the great Yashinon glass. From my reading, I suspect that Tomioka supplied lenses for many early Ricoh rangefinders. It's a very good lens, indeed. Anyway, here are a few samples from a Fuji Superia 200 I shot over the space of about a month, with scans from the Fuji Frontier.</p><div></div>

<p>No.2</p><div></div>

<p>No.3</p><div></div>

<p>No.4</p><div></div>

<p>No.5</p><div></div>

<p>No.6</p><div></div>

<p>No.7</p><div></div>

<p>No.8</p><div></div>

<p>No.9</p><div></div>

<p>Nice shots as always. The camera design looks like some German ones of the same era. Very neat lines and detail. Thanks for sharing. sp.</p>

<p>Rick, have you discovered some kind of time capsule that yields troves of mint cameras that few have heard of but produce great results? Very neat camera and very nice photos. The price seems very low even for that era. As it happens, I was living in NYC in 1959, courtesy of the US Air Force, attending NYU, but even as a 2/Lt, I could not afford such a camera on my starvation wages. Many of us in the States at that time were still under the delusion that Japanese products were shoddy.</p>

 

<p>Why must you post yet another inducement for me to empty my wallet? A little beauty of a camera, and the photos are nice. :)</p>

 

<p>Really impressive camera and photos. The color renditions are so nice. JR</p>

<p>That is indeed a nice lens. Good work!</p>

<p>Cool camera and excellent pictures to show off the Riken/ Tomioka lens. Thanks for a bit of background on the Riken Optical Company. Many folks don't realize Ricoh has been around for a <em>long</em> while. I love the sharpness of SpiderGate and the After Wyeth picture looks as if it could have been taken in Chadd's Ford, PA. Thank you for a most excellent post.</p>

<p>Oh no, not more camera porn from Rick?<br>

I want one of each cameras he has, but can not afford them. I just can not stand to see more camera porn.<br>

Enough I say enough!<br>

Great camera and the results you are getting from it is great too.</p>

<p>Excellent write-up and wonderful pictures as always.</p>

<p>I think I've immunized myself with my recent experiences with the 500s, however. :)</p>

<p>Nice images from a cute camera; thanks (as always) for sharing!</p>

Great example and great photos, too. IICR, this model was only a step below the well-regarded Ricoh 500. As your

results prove, this camera is a good performer. Thanks for posting.

<p>$54 was a substantial chunk o' change in those days. Likely a week's pay for many. The NYC subway was 5c, Broadway theater tickets were $5.50-$7.50, and a new Leica M3 w/ Summicron listed for a little over $200 in the 50's.</p>

<p>I've really got to come to NZ, and "stalk" ahead of you at the yard and garage sales. You do seem to find the charming looking classics. As we all know, all is not svelte and beautiful in "classic-land".</p>

<p> </p>

<p>No. 8 reminds me of a place that I saw in Sauble Beach. Was anybody there stupid enough to take that step out the door???</p>

<p>Excellent post Rick, and neat camera to boot. I love the "mostly bleu" and the "Spider Gate". Thank you for sharing with us.</p>

<p>Thanks to you all for your responses. Specifically; <strong>James</strong> and<strong> Steve</strong>, there's just as much dross down here as any place else, but I'm fussy about what I buy. Sometimes there's a gem concealed amongst a heap of rubbish that sells for very little. <strong>Rob</strong>, I can only assume that, once upon a time, there was a structure of some sort beneath that door.</p>

<p>I appreciate your sentiments, <strong>JDM</strong>, I much prefer this era of Ricohs to the later ones. <strong>Louis</strong>, thanks for your comments. I'm aware of your interest in Ricohs of this era, and of the fine copies in your collection. <strong>Mark</strong> and <strong>Richard</strong>, cameras of this ilk are relatively cheap on the auction sites, and I get more bang for my bucks fooling around with these, rather than spending megabucks on classic SLRs with entirely predictable performance. And thank you<strong> Mike</strong>, <strong>Andrew</strong>, <strong>Jeremy</strong>, <strong>Craig</strong> and <strong>SP</strong> for your kind comments.</p>

<p>Thanks <strong>Ralf</strong>; I'm always a little astonished when a 50-year-old camera of humble pedigree can produce an image of the quality of "Spidergate" !</p>