Ricoh Mirai - an 1988 modern AF film camera

[david_tellet]

<p>The magazine is Popular Photography, July 1993. Available online in Google books. A very thorough test of the IS-3 with an interesting sidebar on testing the lens on their bench testing equipment. Olympus provided a body-less lens and special electronics to handle it. It seems that Olympus felt they had to make the lens better than a comparable SLR lens in order to compete with the SLRs. And yes, the accessory lenses were very good, though I haven't experimented with them much to confirm that. <br>

I'm not sure how long the old electronics will last in these cameras, but they are fun to shoot while they last. Cheap enough to have a few spares around.</p>

[david_tellet]

<p>There is another article about the IS-3 in Popular Photography, March 1993 - Herbert Keppler's SLR column. Also in Google Books.</p>

[ben_karkabe]

<p>wow. looks like I bougth a lemon, on ebay. The zoom dial is hardly movable, I hear a little buzz from what I guess is the zoom motor yet the lens remains in 35mm. I used 4 AAA batteries, battery sign indicates 'fully charged'. hugely disappointed.</p>

[david_tellet]

<p>Shame. I have had one Mirai freeze up on me, but the more common issue for me was the mirror sticking. The zoom is normally really slow, but it still should move off of 35mm. Ben, if you can't get it working, contact me and I can send you a working one.</p>