Why can't Ricoh cameras be used consistently? Is the fuselage moving too fast for the soul to keep up?

Idle at home, rummaging through things, I saw a faulty Ricoh fuselage.

Take a closer look, it turns out to be a rare Ricoh XR-P fuselage. I can't remember the origin of this camera at the moment, trying to find my memory. I don't know when I bought it, and I don't know if it was a gift from my friend who played with the camera.

But I have a memory of Ricoh XR-P camera.

This memory was in the late 1980s, when I bought a Japanese camera and a zoom lens. After using it for a year, some people disdained it and wanted to upgrade (change the machine).

I just read a message in the newspaper that a Ricoh XR-P is to be transferred or replaced. I quickly wrote to contact, communicated several times, and agreed to make up the difference of 1000 yuan, which can be changed according to my ability. At this time, a senior local photographer reminded me that Ricoh doesn't have a good lens, so it's better to change Nikon in one step, once and for all, which is also the final result of photography fever.

Finally, I was persuaded not to change it, but Ricoh XR-P camera impressed me deeply. Maybe I saw this defective Ricoh XR-P camera later, so I let my friend collect it.

In fact, many photographers in the 1980s and 1990s have memories of Ricoh brand cameras. At that time, I couldn't afford Nikon and Canon, so many people chose cheap Ricoh cameras.

In fact, Ricoh cameras and domestic cameras still have a good chance. The first domestic dual-reflex camera, the Dalai Lama's May Day (1957), is an imitation of 1950 Ricoh III dual-reflex camera made in Japan. This Ricoh camera is also known as the first mass-produced dual-reflex camera in history.

This Ricoh reflex camera is not only the first imitation reflex camera in China, but also the Tiantan (1959), Changhong (196 1), Great Wall (196 1) and Shenyang (65438).

It can be said that in the early stage of domestic double-mirror cameras, except for one that is modeled after the Soviet "Changle" brand, most of them are Ricoh-like cameras.

Why? First, at that time, the camera had just started, and the pattern of various manufacturers was related to the horizon; In addition, this Ricoh double reverse is simple and practical, and can be completed with simple processing equipment, which is too easy to imitate.

Ricoh's most loyal "fans" should be Halina in Hong Kong. Almost all products have Ricoh's shadow, which seems to be a complete replica of Ricoh's early double opposition.

I saw a message recently. It turns out that Ricoh is also a Fortune 500 company. Founded in 1936, it was the first to produce photographic paper. Later, he made some achievements in copying, optical instruments and office equipment, and also developed many world-class office equipment.

The camera is just a Ricoh project, and it seems to be a leisure product.

Although there are not many bright-eyed cameras in Ricoh's history, they have always existed tenaciously. Even though Ricoh has entered the digital age, there are still new products coming out, among which Ricoh GR series has become a classic and irreplaceable. The latest Ricoh GR III small portable camera costs more than 6,000 yuan and is still very popular.

Let's go back to Ricoh XR-P, a film camera. Why does it make me so excited?

I liked Ricoh XR-P at that time, mainly because of 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.

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.

Ricoh's TV shooting mode (divided into two formats) may be to shoot TV pictures for researchers, while interval photography (2 seconds, 15 seconds, 60 seconds interval) is definitely provided for special photographers, but other cameras do not.

As for other functions, such as TTL flash and motor, other cameras also have them, so I won't say much.

Its fuselage sales price was 95,500 yen (at that time, Nikon FM2 and Minolta X700 fuselage prices were 99,000 yen).

Although Ricoh has developed an advanced electronic camera, it has been half-hearted and not enterprising in the field of cameras. In the later electronic cameras, when the autofocus lens became the protagonist, Ricoh camera was absent, so that Ricoh did not have a real autofocus SLR camera and lens.

The low end of the lens is Ricoh's "shortcomings" and "defects" because Ricoh really lacks something to take. Ricoh camera lens has become synonymous with "soft" and cheap. Even with a good figure and without a good lens, a camera is soulless.

Ricoh camera has always been a "second-rate" camera under Gan Ju-ren because of the delay and impenetrability of the lens. As the most creative and thoughtful SLR camera in Ricoh's history, Ricoh XR-P has not attracted much attention and pursuit, and the production time is not much, and the output is not very large.

1987, Ricoh introduced another alternative product of Ricoh XR-P: Ricoh XR-X, which only has built-in automatic film winding.

Later, the function of Ricoh XR-X was simplified, and the XR-2000 was produced, which was not as good as the previous generation.

Let's talk about the camera again

Some people always say that Ricoh's lens is sloppy. If you have to choose a Ricoh lens, all three can be: 28-100/4; 70-2 10/3.9; 70- 150/4。

These three models are all constant zoom lenses, but the output is not large. I used them all in my early years, and they are all good now.

I always liked Ricoh cameras in my early years. First, its price is close to the people. Secondly, its quality is reliable; Third, the function is practical. The most regrettable thing is that its lens is too slow, and as a result, it is used, and the photo is not satisfactory.

Finally, I want to say: Ricoh, it is easy to fall in love at first sight, but it is impossible for people to love you all the time. It is not that they don't love you, but that they can't love you forever!