Category: 35mm

I just bought a shonky old Ricoh R1 for £24 from eBay. (The seller sent me some out-of-date film with it. An eBay seller who sends you more than you expected; as my South African friends would say, sweet.)

I have many, many film cameras but (until recently) only one decent digital, a Canon 1Ds.

Amazing as it is (it is), the 1Ds is huge. It is heavy enough hung over a shoulder, but somehow it seems even heavier when in a bag (which seems backwards, but there it is). And the bag needs to be a largish rucksack. Add a fat lens like the 85mm 1.2 and you’ll need a powered exoskeleton to carry it.

Not having a powered exoskeleton, I decided to buy a compact digital.

Once upon a time I borrowed a couple of Ricoh GR cameras (one a V, the other an S, I think) from fellow Worcester-dweller and Very Nice Person Hamish ofhttp://www.35mmc.com . And did I see what the fuss was about? Nope.

Made in 2002, this is the last Ricoh compact film camera. (And as such is a poignant reminder that we live in a universe so cold that even the most beautiful must die and pass from us. I’m surprised Morrissey hasn’t written a song about it.)