Tag Archives: Film Photography

{Ricoh FF-1} Camera Review

September 29, 2012 9:30 am ⋅ 3 Comments ⋅

I admit it: I’m a sucker for pocketable 35mm cameras.Exhibit A – I’ve owned multiples of some of these cameras. And yes, my cameras formed a cheeleader-style pyramid for this photo session

A few weeks ago, I found myself browsing the camera section of an auction website – which is not the wisest thing to do when you’re trying to pare down your camera collection like I (supposedly) am! I spotted a little camera that I’d never encountered before: a Ricoh FF-1. Visually, I knew it was eerily similar in design to the Minox 35 line. One website I read said that this camera looks as if a Minox 35 and a Lomo LC-A had a baby together. I agree! I did a fair amount of research on the FF-1 during the days leading up to the end of the auction. I found relatively little info online about this camera. But I was intrigued! I had to make the Ricoh mine!

I probably squealed with delight when the postal carrier brought the parcel containing this camera. The FF-1 looked to be in good shape cosmetically (it looked purdy to me!) and it already had working batteries installed. That’s always a nice surprise! As you can see, the auction I won also included a little Rollei flash and a cute retro-style camera bag.

So. Here’s what I can tell you about the Ricoh FF-1: It’s a zone focus (or scale focus, if you prefer – same diff) camera. That means you estimate the focus distance and set it manually. On the Ricoh, you set the distance on a little focusing ring that is marked in meters. There is a folding, drawbridge-style lens cover that protects the lens and acts as an on-off switch, if you will. When the drawbridge is in its upright position, the camera cannot take a photo nor can the camera’s electronics be accidentally activated – meaning a photo can’t be inadvertently snapped nor your batteries drained if the shutter button were to somehow get pressed (in your camera bag, for instance.)

Drawbridge action

Film speed selector 

Metal lens barrel with distance scale ring (marked in meters) – and it is QUALITY! 

Handy dandy meter/feet conversion chart. Phew! 

The Ricoh actually arrived on a very good week: Kayla happened to be Stateside, visiting her family, and I’d been invited over for a bake date. What a good opportunity to bring along my latest photographic acquisition! I was right that our bake date would be a photo-rich environment- except my rusty scale focusing skills caused a few shots to not turn out the way I wanted. Boo! But we still got a few keepers that day!

Loved the soft light in Kayla’s mum’s kitchen – and her Cath Kidston tea towels

Mixing up the bourbon pecan pie she was making for her family reunion

Just Kayla is in focus, but I kinda like how it looks as if she’s dancing in her seat as she eats her Ajax Diner leftovers

Kayla prepping for the “food porn” shoot of her completed pecan pie – almost  in focus!

I had loads more success with Roll #2 in the FF-1!

Slight vignetting?? I sure hope so!

Lomo-ish?

See – it’s quite sharp when you focus correctly

Hiya! I have to be able to take mirror self-portraits with the compact cameras in my life

Weird frame overlap thingy – this is the only time this happened and mos def due to what I like to call “operator error”

Bokeh, bo-kay?

 Ricoh FF-1 • Kodak Ultramax 400

Closing thoughts: The main question in my mind about this camera was (and remains): Does it work as an aperture priority camera? There is conflicting information about this online, and I still am not 100% convinced that you can’t use aperture priority. However, I view this camera as a replacement for my Olympus XA2 and my no longer working Lomo LC-A, and neither of those cameras offer anything other than auto exposure. So no biggie if the Ricoh doesn’t work that way either. In fact, any limitations in the Ricoh can also be found in one or both of the two cameras I just mentioned. So I can’t fault the FF-1 for any limitations it shares with the cameras it’s replacing, now can I??

What I like about this camera:

  • maximum aperture of f/2.8
  • “drawbridge” lens cover
  • quality metal lens barrel
  • film advance lever (♥ this a lot!)
  • hot shoe
  • threaded cable release plug

What I don’t so much like:

  • Maximum ISO setting of only 400
  • Minimum focusing distance of 3 feet
  • Setting the distance is a bit fiddly on the itty bitty lens barrel
  • The viewfinder on my particular FF-1 is a little foggy – could be cleared up probably, but I won’t take it apart myself to do it!

That’s about it on the “cons”!  As I said, apparently I’m a little rusty on zone focusing, but I have mastered it in the past and shall do again! I think the Rioch FF-1 has earned its spot on my “Going to England” camera list. And directly caused my XA2 to earn a spot in the “excess camera sell-off on eBay.”

Posted in: camera equipment, informational, shop talk ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

July 25, 2012 7:53 am ⋅ 1 Comment ⋅

I won, ya’ll, I won! 

I have entered many photo-related blog giveaways. Never have I ever won a darn thing. That is, until last month.

A lovely Memphis photographer/designer/blogger/all around awesome lady named Sophorn was given a Lomography La Sardina to try for herself and one to give away to one of her readers. A chance to win a camera? I’m all about that! I crossed my fingers and hoped and prayed that I’d win. As I stated in the comment I left in order to enter the contest, I’d been drooling over this camera for awhile and:

I may or may not have spent a lot of hours this spring looking at a billion photos on Flickr and the Lomography site that were taken with La Sardina cameras…In the name of research, of course.

So imagine my delight when I woke up one Tuesday morning to an email from Sophorn, saying I’d actually been randomly selected as winner of the La Sardina! It seriously made my week! Or month, for that matter. I had my choice of the Mobius or Domino design. While I think the purple and yellow on the Mobius is so pretty, who could resist that striking black and white design on the Domino?? Certainly not I! The camera arrived a week and a half later, just in time to be with me when I was on a mini staycation, a mere half an hour from home. This little getaway yielded some cinematic moments (literally, we went to see a movie at the Orpheum that day!) and what better way to capture those moments than with a pretty little wide angle toy camera??

I think Sophorn did a bang up job of giving the tech specs and history on the camera, so I will point you over to her blog to read about it. That means I can just jump straight into sharing the images from the first few rolls I took with my new La Sardina!

Roll, Numero Uno (the best of the bunch) – Holga brand (actually Foma) black and white film, 400 ASA 

Roll, Numero Dos – expired Fujicolor 200

Roll,  Numero Tres  (oh so cloudy day)- Holga Brand 640 ASA film

 

Posted in: camera equipment, film photography ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

Tourist for a Day

June 24, 2012 11:56 am ⋅ 4 Comments ⋅

I’m going to introduce you to Kayla today.  Kayla has lived here, there, and yon, being the child of a military family and all. She and I know one another because she lived here in the Mid-South for some years, and we ran in the same circles (hardcore circles.)


Flashback: Kayla, circa 2001/2002

Kayla and I hadn’t seen each other in years. MANY years. That might have something to do with the fact that she lives in England now with her British hubby. Though it’s been somewhere between 7 and 9 years since she and I have been in the same room, aren’t we lucky that social networking has worked wonders for our ability to keep in touch? I love her Tweets about her life “over yonder” and her cute baking ventures (many of which are up on her blog!) There may be 4000+ miles between us, but I’ve still got an open invitation to come over to her house for a baking date!

During Kayla’s most recent trip to ‘merica, she and I reunited over brekkie at Brother Juniper’s – my first time to hit that Memphis breakfast/brunch hot spot. It was awesome! Though I’m pretty sure our lengthy breakfast tête-à-tête nearly got us booted from our table! Are two and a half hour breakfast dates unusual??

Because Kayla’s parents have relocated to the Midwest, she isn’t sure how often she’ll be able to visit Memphis when she is able to make an appearance stateside.  She wanted to do some “touristy” things before she left town this time. I was happy to tag along for this! We took a jaunt downtown to see the Peabody ducks, to stop in at some of the souvenir shops on Beale, and to peek into the windows of the pretty shops on South Main. Kayla’s quest for just the right souvenir to take back to England for her husband led us to the Stax Museum – as well as to a new friend for Kayla and  my next opportunity to stare at Otis Redding’s jacket.

I am utterly shocked that these were essentially the only photos committed to film during the day Kayla and I spent together – considering how she’s photogenic and how our activities that day including many things that would fall into the category of being “photographically interesting.” I just didn’t feel like removing myself from “the moment” long enough to go into “documentary photographer” mode! Though there were too few frames of film spent on this glorious day, I think we really made ’em count! Playing the part of Memphis tourist was perfect fodder for some Polaroids taken with Impossible Project film! The perfect materials for tourist photos, in my humble opinion.

Oooooh, Memphis. A 1970 Caddy sitting in front of an establishment, advertising their brunch. There are normally a pair of longhorns attached to the front of the car, but someone took them off. No worries though, we were assured that the horns were back in the proper hands and WOULD be reattached. 

“What’s your sign?” Pshaw! Kayla asks, “What’s your punctuation mark?” Kayla actually felt like a semi-colon that day, but the camera turned her into more of an apostrophe. 

Luvbots

An unforgettable visit to the Stax Museum. Kayla’s tattoos and my hair were dubbed “swagnificent.”

I have to say that this was the ideal hang out session with a friend you haven’t seen in years. We brought each other up to speed on our respective lives, we reminisced about the past, and we forged new memories together. Success! England really is “home” for Kayla now, but I think it’s safe to say (in the words of Andrew Bryant) she “left her heart on the Tennessee border.”

Now. I think it’s MY turn to show up in Kayla’s town and play tourist…

Anyone interested in raising funds through a “Send Amanda to England Bake Sale and Crafts Bazaar”??

🙂

(Polaroids were taken with the Polaroid Sun 660 AF and Impossible Project PX 680 Color Shade Gold Frame film)

Edited to add:

I had a roll of film in my Yashica Electro 35 GT the day Kayla and I spent together in Memphis. I didn’t get it developed until September, three months after the photos were taken. Turns out I had committed just a few more frames of film to the day than just the Polaroids I originally posted here! Woo-hoo!

Posted in: friends, personal, The Impossible Project, Uncategorized ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , ,

{Instant Wedding} Hope and Richard

May 25, 2012 8:16 pm ⋅ 1 Comment ⋅

Today, I offer up the instant photos I took at Hope and Richard’s wedding. Using Polaroid cameras and Impossible Project films throughout the day was SO FUN! I knew the lovely bride and groom would dig the look and feel of these Polaroids, especially since I had purchased a bag of Impossible Project “old generation” film. Those older generation films can produce some unpredictable results!

One thing I enjoyed about photographing Hope and Richard’s wedding was that they decided to go against tradition and see each other before the ceremony. They had a little bit of private time with one another before the hub-bub of the wedding got into full swing. Of course, they wanted photos of this, so I was there as well!

(Polaroid Sun 660 AF • PX 600 Silver Shade “matured” film)

Waiting on Hope to come down to meet him

Seeing each other for the first time on their wedding day

Admiring his bride-to-be

 

(Polaroid SX-70 Sonar • PX 70 Color Shade Cool film)

So happy together!

Heart-shaped ring pop I brought to use as a prop during the photos I would be taking during their pre-wedding time together

Bride and her Maids

 

(Polaroid Sun 600 AF • PX 680 Color Shade “matured” film)

Elenore, the sweet little flower girl

JUST married!

First dance!

Dance floor

 

Prior to the wedding, Hope requested that we display her bridal portrait Polaroids at the reception. I told her that it might be cool if we also hung up the instant photos I would be taking throughout the day of the wedding. I’m so glad we were able to do that!

 

Posted in: Polaroid, The Impossible Project, wedding photography ⋅ Tagged: , , , ,