Ricoh "35" s rangefinder
Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2026 5:38 pm
I've not been posting about cameras for a while. Doesn't mean I haven't gotten a few since last time but ..shit happens.
The Ricoh "35" S was from 1957 to 1960 production years. There are some other models without the quotation marks and one with quotation marks and the S but not the same. It has a decent 2.8 lens and offers B and 1/10 to 1/300 shutter speeds. It has a focus ring with knobs for easy focus. The focus standard box adjust until double image goes away works pretty good but there is also a distance scale to consult. There is a finger turn lever on the bottom of the camera to advance the film. The back is old style rotate a couple of knobs to remove to put in film.
The camera worked just fine. The rewind the film didn't. I knew to push the spring loaded lever on the back to release the film sprocket. However, I didn't know if your finger should slip off if you engaged the release lever again and started the rewind again that the sprocket would lock up anyway unless you pressed the now cocked shutter and might fool you into thinking you were completely rewound. Well it got me. Ruined a few images but none of them were important. I was more interested in what kind of image the camera would make and enough came out to assure me the camera works ok and can producer acceptable images.
The Ricoh "35" S was from 1957 to 1960 production years. There are some other models without the quotation marks and one with quotation marks and the S but not the same. It has a decent 2.8 lens and offers B and 1/10 to 1/300 shutter speeds. It has a focus ring with knobs for easy focus. The focus standard box adjust until double image goes away works pretty good but there is also a distance scale to consult. There is a finger turn lever on the bottom of the camera to advance the film. The back is old style rotate a couple of knobs to remove to put in film.
The camera worked just fine. The rewind the film didn't. I knew to push the spring loaded lever on the back to release the film sprocket. However, I didn't know if your finger should slip off if you engaged the release lever again and started the rewind again that the sprocket would lock up anyway unless you pressed the now cocked shutter and might fool you into thinking you were completely rewound. Well it got me. Ruined a few images but none of them were important. I was more interested in what kind of image the camera would make and enough came out to assure me the camera works ok and can producer acceptable images.