Found this beauty at a flea market arranged by the local football or icehockey team in Hemse (Yes I know, I should know which sport it was but Im totally uninterested in sport so I dont…) Nearly missed it since a kid at about ten saw it at the same time as me and managed to get his hands on it before me. For a short while I considered to rip it out of his hands and run but luckily I came to my senses and didnt. After a short while he put it down so I could grab it. My precious…
The lens was hanging a little loose but since it seemed to work anyway I bought it and brought it home for a closer inspection. It turned out that a screw was loose inside and after I dissassembled the lens I managed to screw it back in. Put a battery and a film in it and went out to take pictures. Seems to work very well as you can see from the samples below. It will need a replacement of the light seals though, there is some signs of light leaks on the film. Heres a link on how to do that.
Its supposed to use a PX675 mercury battery like so many other cameras from the seventies but luckily there is a cheap zinc-air replacement for that batterytype available today.
The main advantage over my other compact 35mm cameras is that this one has a metered manual mode and it is possible to use it in manual mode without a battery if you want to.
Some other links:
Ricoh Catalog from the seventies where it appears
A few image samples:
