Ricoh Auto Half Review
The Camera
The Ricoh Auto Half is a simple thing of beauty. Small, compact with a minimum number of settings, buttons or adjustment. This point and shoot beauty doesn't even need to be wound between shots! With a fixed focus 25mm/2.8 lens and auto-exposure system mediated by a selenium cell that surrounds the lens, this camera is the epitome of essentialist design. Simply load film, set ASA, wind up spool a few cranks and you should be good for at least 10 images or so... And man this thing is small, smallest one I've ever seen besides the Agat 18k or Canon dial and it's way easier to use than either of those. So small, so simple, so much fun. Mine was an SE model which also has a handy self timer ( self timers are super handy, especially in today's selfie saturated age)
The Pictures
Alas the images themselves. When the shutter opened properly and the film plane was well aligned, they were great. But on 8 out of the 72 images, the shutter clearly did not open correctly, and while I actually liked the aesthetic of the images, the haphazard nature of their occurrence would be too much for me to deal with on a consistent basis. Then starting about 2/3rds of the way through the roll, something shifted on the film plane and all subsequent shots were then very out of focus, albeit in a pleasant, dreamy sort of manner. Then if that weren't enough, the last 10 frames had a nice big light leak across the middle of them.
The Ricoh Auto Half is a simple thing of beauty. Small, compact with a minimum number of settings, buttons or adjustment. This point and shoot beauty doesn't even need to be wound between shots! With a fixed focus 25mm/2.8 lens and auto-exposure system mediated by a selenium cell that surrounds the lens, this camera is the epitome of essentialist design. Simply load film, set ASA, wind up spool a few cranks and you should be good for at least 10 images or so... And man this thing is small, smallest one I've ever seen besides the Agat 18k or Canon dial and it's way easier to use than either of those. So small, so simple, so much fun. Mine was an SE model which also has a handy self timer ( self timers are super handy, especially in today's selfie saturated age)
The Pictures
Alas the images themselves. When the shutter opened properly and the film plane was well aligned, they were great. But on 8 out of the 72 images, the shutter clearly did not open correctly, and while I actually liked the aesthetic of the images, the haphazard nature of their occurrence would be too much for me to deal with on a consistent basis. Then starting about 2/3rds of the way through the roll, something shifted on the film plane and all subsequent shots were then very out of focus, albeit in a pleasant, dreamy sort of manner. Then if that weren't enough, the last 10 frames had a nice big light leak across the middle of them.
Conclusion
I loved using this camera but man the images were all over the place. And while I like happy accidents in my film photography, these all combined to be a little too much for me to handle with any sort of regularity.Yes, I realize my copy is bad but i bought this one with a fresh CLA and Exc+++ condition ( I've already contacted the seller) But how many copies would I need to buy to find one that worked? Then how long would it work? Are the form factor and image quality collectively good enough to warrant the search? I'm really not sure how to answer these questions for myself or anyone else for that matter, but damn this camera is cute.
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