Is it me, or are the mid-80s Ricoh AF series point-and-shoots notably unreliable?

Forrest Conifer · Feb 22, 2015

Since I started experimenting with film in 2011, I've used two Ricoh AF-5s, an AF-7 and an AF-303. I bought them from different people, but none of them could be relied on for more than a roll or two before dying. Each succumbed to the same problem: partway through a roll, they'd jam, and then each time I pressed the shutter the camera would emit a shrill, constant beep. I also have used a couple different variants of the FF-3 AF, which is significantly more reliable than any of the cameras I've tried in the AF series - did the same beeping thing once but has never jammed.

I don't know, maybe I've just had bad luck with these cameras. Curious if I'm the only one, though.

Theo Sulphate · Feb 22, 2015

My Ricoh GR-1 (a late 1990's camera) developed autofocus problems. I don't know if that was a common problem with that camera.

Alan Gales · Feb 22, 2015

I'm 53 years old and started shooting 35mm at the age of 20. I have never personally known anyone who shot a Ricoh 35mm camera.

I wonder why?

Alan Gales · Feb 22, 2015

Get yourself one of those Olympus Xa cameras if you like point and shoot. They are great little cameras. I sold quite a few of them back in the day.

Alan Gales · Feb 22, 2015

APUGuser19 said:
I'd shoot one, if I had any interest in guns and target/tin-can shooting.

You know I have shot a lot of cameras and handled even more but I have never had the opportunity to touch a Ricoh. I don't even remember seeing them in any camera store in St. Louis. I do remember seeing photos of them in Modern Photography magazine. That's it.

MDR · Feb 22, 2015

Daido Moriyama seems to have liked them just fine. The problems with many older compact AF cameras is that their owner haven't touched them since the beginning of the digital revolution and electronic cameras want to be used. Ricoh was a mid tier mfg. so don't expect the best but neither are they the worst.

Truzi · Feb 22, 2015

My Ricoh SLR has been fine since my grandfather bought it in the 80s, but I've never used a Ricoh point & shoot. I am quite happy with the SLR, it's a decent camera, but if I were looking for a P&S I'd not look at Ricohs.

snapguy · Feb 22, 2015

It is you

It's you, the way you keep on buying a turkey and expecting a peacock.

macfred · Feb 22, 2015

The lady of the house had a Ricoh FF-3AF for several years - I remember her moaning about the poor AF.
She lost the cam on ski tour a few weeks ago.
Currently she has a Konica Wide 28 Workside (28mm f/3.5 lens). She's really happy with her choice.
I like this one too!

Alan Gales · Feb 22, 2015

APUGuser19 said:
Certainly you remember the Ricoh Singlex TLS, K-Mart Focal TLS, and Sears TLS.

Yeah, I do remember the Sears and Kmart cameras. So they were Ricohs.

I remember a fellow buying a Kodak 35mm point and shoot from me. He said that he wanted to buy an American camera and was surprised when I told him they were made by Chinon.

ciniframe · Feb 22, 2015

Mid 80's AF!? Where is your mind going?
A Ricoh with good repute is their 500G, a compact fixed lens RF with auto or full manual exposure control. Manual RF focusing of course.
I have a Sears KS500 (Ricoh KR-5) with a 50 f2 Ricoh lens that works fine, although I did replace the light sealing foam. Even the meter works and is accurate. I was very pleased to buy it at a photo show for $5

Les Sarile · Feb 22, 2015

No doubt that by the 80's, materials choices were trending towards production optimization as shown by these three generations of Ricohs . . .

PentaxBronica · Feb 22, 2015

There have always been cheap cameras which simply weren't built to last.

AF without a view through the lens (as found on compacts) always seems a bit hit and miss. The only camera I have with it is an Olympus AZ300 which, while it exposes accurately and is otherwise functional, fails to focus on anything closer than a few metres away. At infinity it isn't bad, but forget trying to include any signs/nameboards to show the viewer where the photo was taken!

Forrest Conifer · Feb 22, 2015

Alan Gales said:
Get yourself one of those Olympus Xa cameras if you like point and shoot. They are great little cameras. I sold quite a few of them back in the day.

I have one! I like it a lot. I took it with me on a road trip this past autumn and it performed beautifully!

EdColorado · Feb 22, 2015

I gotta toss one out here in support of the poor Ricoh P&S. Back in the '80s sometime, I'd guess mid decade, I needed a small camera to haul around on motorcycle trips and when backpacking. I ended up with some kind of Ricoh point n shooter, I no longer remember the model. The thing took great pictures, a few of which I sold, and always worked flawlessly. I had it for around 10 years I guess when it finally succumbed to the dangers of life on a motorcycle. We took a 55mph tumble down the road...I was fine but the poor Ricoh perished. Cant say I still miss it, I've a goodly number of great replacements including a couple of XA's, but that Ricoh was a damn fine little camera.

1L6E6VHF · Mar 2, 2015

ciniframe said:
Mid 80's AF!? Where is your mind going?
A Ricoh with good repute is their 500G, a compact fixed lens RF with auto or full manual exposure control. Manual RF focusing of course.
I have a Sears KS500 (Ricoh KR-5) with a 50 f2 Ricoh lens that works fine, although I did replace the light sealing foam. Even the meter works and is accurate. I was very pleased to buy it at a photo show for $5

Second you on that 500g. I bought one in 1981 and shot a lot of KM on it, eventually setting it aside after getting an SLR and adding an Olympus Stylus Epic for fast shots. Decades later I took my daughter to a theme park in Orlando you may have heard of. Not wanting to haul an SLR through it, and suffering poor DOF with the Stylus, I took the 500g instead. One of my favorite packs of slides.

Chrismat · Mar 2, 2015

Alan Gales said:
I'm 53 years old and started shooting 35mm at the age of 20. I have never personally known anyone who shot a Ricoh 35mm camera.

I wonder why?

I'm 54 and I remember one person in college in the early 80's who liked Ricoh 35mm cameras. I've never had the desire to use one, but their medium format tlrs, the Diacords, are very good and their top of the line tlr, Richomatic 225 is excellent. The 225 is similar to the Minolta Autocord in that unexposed film is loaded on the top of the camera eliminating the film being bent before exposure.

Is it me, or are the mid-80s Ricoh AF series point-and-shoots notably unreliable?

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