Ricoh Mate...any owners?

[farlymac]

I finally got around to opening up my camera to see what is rattling around inside. Pretty sure it's something to do with the parallax mechanics, because the bright frameline keeps moving around inside the finder, flopping from left to right.

So, have you taken the top off yours, and what is the final part that has to come off to do so? I've taken off the winder, re-winder, hot-shoe, and every other screw that is on the top cover, but it won't come off. I suspect the Re-wind button has to be removed, but not sure which way to turn it, or if it even un-screws.

PF

 

[farlymac]

Ha! I finally figured it out. The plate on the button with the R and arrow that points in the direction to move the button to activate re-wind is glued on over the two retaining screws. Turned the camera with the back up, put some drops of 91% alcohol on it, let that soak for a bit, then pried the plate off.

After getting the top off, the mirror that reflects the image of the bright framelines onto the beam splitter was loose. Most likely from the drop the camera suffered, as evidenced from the dent in the top left corner, and the broken eyepiece. A little contact cement, and it was back in operation.

I bothered to take the bottom off, just to check things, and found a screw that was rattling around. I shortly got it back in it's proper place, as it was fairly evident where it came out of.

Now it's just a matter of cleaning the shutter blades, and speed escapement. One of the few cameras I've owned with a setting for using FP flash bulbs. M, F, and X sync all from the same socket.

PF

 

[farlymac]

Introduced in 1960, it must not have been a big seller. I've read where the winder mechanism has a propensity to break, winding the film, but not cocking the shutter.

It is a bit of an odd nut, with its MFX Sync indicators on the lens barrel, showing what shutter speeds go with which sync. Apparently, they all work through the same PC socket, with the shutter mechanism supplying the proper sync for whichever speed is selected.

It’s designed with conventional crank winding, and re-winding, with a swing-open hinged back for film loading. There is a film speed reminder on the bottom of the camera.

It has a nice, smooth lever focus, with a parallax corrected rangefinder. Ricoh 2.8/45 lens mounted in a Seikosha-V shutter, with speeds from 1 to 1/400 and B, with the aforementioned MFX Sync. I’ve read where some came with the Seikosha-SXV, with a top shutter speed of 1/500. Top of the lens barrel has the focus scale in meters, while the foot scale is on the bottom. Both have DOF scales.

There is a hot shoe for the flash, and a frame counter next to the film winder. The shutter release button is a nice large black plastic square surrounding the cable release socket. There is a 1/4-20 tripod socket on the right bottom, and a strap lug on each end.

The bottom is stamped with the <EP> Exchange Post mark, indicating it was sold on a US Military base in Japan. Around the front viewfinder window is a mirror, supposedly to help with taking a selfie. It’s not a widely known camera, but not much of a collectible either, with one in the condition of mine worth $10 to $20. A mint one is only good for $40 to $50. Glad I only paid six bucks for it.

It had been dropped somewhere along its lifetime, which dislodged the bright frameline mirror in the rangefinder, and a couple of other parts. So it sat around for a long time, which allowed the oils from the focusing helical to migrate to the shutter blades, thus seizing them up, and rendering the camera totally useless.

I cleaned it up, then found out I couldn’t adjust the horizontal on the rangefinder because the adjustment screw had been swaged, making it impossible to turn. But I did get the shutter running again, and I can always use the scale on the lens to focus it. So it’s not a total basket case, though it will probably become a shelf queen. Or I could always just shoot mostly landscape photos. It’s too bad, being such a nice looking camera.


Ricoh Mate by br1078phot, on Flickr

Click below link for all photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7699588@N07/sets/72157640337253725/

PF