Ricoh FF-1 - so good I bought a second one

[Godfrey]

I took one of my Minox ML apart because it was broken anyway. Easy to disassemble and putting it back together. But OMG, its all super flimsy plastic inside, nothing of substance. No wonder that they break so easily. Or I should better say: getting out of alignment. The fatigue of the thin material is what kills them. Most screws are tiny plastic screws into tiny plastic threads. You take out a screw and it will never be secure again and needs Locktite to hold in place. With skills, you can bend things back into shape again, but that requires knowing how things are supposed to be. They are build to such low specs that barely makes them work in the first place! 😀

I would probably state that as "They are built to very lightweight specs such that they barely hold together in the first place!"

If the specs were "low", they likely wouldn't work at all. Despite the very light materials and tiny, plastic screws, they seem to hang together well if not abused. They not really meant for being taken apart and put back together again... a mostly disposable camera once damaged in any way. 🙂

Mine is, what?, about 21 years old and has shot a couple of hundred rolls of film, still looks/works like new despite living in my pocket sans any kind of case for days at a time over the years. I take care not to bash it around too much, not to drop it, and I store it without battery in a dry, cool place when not in use.

I'm sure the Ricoh FF-1 is similar, if perhaps not so lightly built. I had similar fragility issues with my Olympus XAs and Olympus Infinity Stylus cameras as well.

Rollei 35s are more easily repairable but are also a bit more liable to be dented/lens scratched/etc when being carried due to the lack of a front door covering the lens ... I always keep mine in a case when it's in my pocket, and keep a clear optical filter on it (because it's so darn easy to lose the $30 lens cap!).

Fun fun fun...
G

 

[giganova]

Which point & shoot cameras have the reputation of being built very solidly and are more reliable than others?

 

[Huss]

Which point & shoot cameras have the reputation of being built very solidly and are more reliable than others?

Do you mean scale focus or P&S?

The only scale focus that I know that is tough-nigh indestrutible- are the Nikonos.

All these subcompact kameras need to be handled appropriately.
FYI I gave up a long time ago trying to find a Rollei 35 that actually works properly. Every one I checked out had sticky shutter issues including 2 I recently looked at at Fireside Camera in SF! One of them even supposedly was just serviced.

 

[ChrisPlatt]

Like all consumer items these little mostly plastic cameras were built down to a price.
Maintaining them is a challenge. It's hard to find a repairer willing to take them on.
Their compact lightweight construction is definitely not DIY-repair friendly as well.
FWIW many other electronic cameras from the same era are today basically disposable.

Chris

 

[Godfrey]

Best way to buy a Minox 35 is to buy one new and treat it well. Which is likely not possible anymore, modulo the possibility of finding one as NOS.

That said, I owned a Minox 35EL and a 35MX that I bought used and both worked just fine. BUT that was in 1985 ... Both of those cameras are now 35 years older. I can't imagine that they're still in use anywhere. They weren't meant to be "buy forever and use forever" quality machines, like a Minox submini was.

G

... My 1954 Minox IIIS still works as well as it did the day it was first taken out of the box... in relative dollars, it cost five times as much as any Minox 35 ever made and the quality resulting from that shows it. 🙂

 

[Huss]

That’s the thing. The FF-1 was made starting in 1978. So possibly 42 years old! And all three of mine that I bought randomly sight unseen work perfectly.
Not bad Ricoh, not bad!

 

[Huss]

Sears mini35 (Ricoh FF-1S), Fuji C200, Z7 scan, negativelabpro

 

[Huss]

Absolutely fantastic lens, Fuji C200, Z7 scan:



1:1 crop from the above 8300x5500 scan:

 

[retinax]

Absolutely fantastic lens, Fuji C200, Z7 scan:

Huss, could you post a 1:1 crop from closer to the edge of the frame, at a wider aperture? That would tell us more about the quality of the lens.

 

[Huss]

Huss, could you post a 1:1 crop from closer to the edge of the frame, at a wider aperture? That would tell us more about the quality of the lens.

Here is the bottom left corner 1:1 crop from the 8000+ pix scan. Remember I focused half way into the distance so this technically is OOF.



In daylight it takes crazy sharp pics. You cannot control the aperture, it is program exposure.
I use the appropriate tool for the job, at night I'd use a flash on this lump or a different camera.

 

[Huss]

Nice.

Seven frames to go on my roll of HP5 in the Minox GT-E ... 😀

​

Thank you for reminding me about this camera. I'm really enjoying having it out and shooting again!

G

Where are the pics?

🙂

 

[Huss]

Sears mini35 (Ricoh FF1s), Fuji C200



Here is a 1:1 crop from the right side: