Ricoh R1S (Rollei Prego Micron) Compact Point and Shoot Review

Ah yes, 1994. Times were simpler, our hair longer. Ace of Base’s Happy Nation/The Sign was the top-selling album in the U.S., Harry Styles was born, Apple computers had not yet entered their jelly bean phase, and the last Russian troops left Germany, marking, arguably, the end of the last Cold War and onset of a period of prosperity across the world. This setting saw, too, the release of the Ricoh R1S, the camera proving that, in the 90s, tiny was the new small.
The R1S embodied all of the conventional 90s camera-tech tropes for point and shoot bodies - a tiny, honestly almost impossibly tiny, form; a small lens that worked well for center-framed subjects and scene photography; that hilariously useless and gimmicky letterbox panoramic mode that camera makers were addicted to; and a simple interface that provided limited camera control and left most of why a photo turned out well a mystery. And, of course, that king of all tropes - the R1S could fit into the change pocket on your JNCO jeans.
The R1S was a near-unique offering, too, because it provided two focal lengths - a 30mm lens and, through the addition of a couple more elements behind the aperture, a 24mm lens available only in panoramic mode. The 24mm lens came in at a blisteringly slow f/8, but honestly, for a camera like the R1S, that wasn’t really an issue because this camera worked best with 400 ISO film. The 30mm lens, a comparatively fast f/3.5, made the R1S an ideal travel camera. It was light, perfect for candid and street photography use, and kept the casual photographer taking photos without the need for lenses, a camera bag, or really anything other than a wrist strap and a couple extra rolls of film.
To me, that’s the genius of the R1S and, writ large, it does what the vast majority of photographers want - be small and take photos. Today, the role that the R1S played in photography is taken by the cell phone and today’s cell phones do almost exactly what the R1S did. Beyond capturing just the zeitgeist of the nineties, the R1S proved an important tenet in photography - people want a simple, small, and user-friendly camera that will take good photos of the moments they want to remember, and they don’t want to know why and how it works. Simplicity is hard to master, but the R1S is a master of the subject.
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Ricoh R1S (Rollei Prego Micron) 35mm Compact Camera Manual | Take Photos, Load Film, & Battery
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"Disruptive Storms" by Martin Kelm used under active license at the time of release with Epidemic Sounds.

[@jackplissken5328]

Impeccable voiceover skills David. Did you consider doing audiobooks? Would love some book on the history of photography narrated by you 😊

[@DavidHancock]

Thank you! I'm way overdue on this, but I'll be releasing audio books of both my novels on the channel someday (I have most of the first one recorded.)

[@petesime]

Thanks for the review David. The vignetting does look to be a weakness, I think.

[@DavidHancock]

@@petesime thank you and yeah, that's a factor of me, simply, using this camera "wrong" on the 90s especially, the automated film labs often cropped images to make them better -- straighter or more well composed or whatever. 90s great was made up super this and the assumption was that land would crop a lot of the image -- sometimes down to APS-C size. So this camera was likely never expected to have the full negative used almost all the time. Most 90s PnS cameras and consumer tier SLR lenses were similar. I'm honestly not sure where this approach saved money, though. Was it cheaper to engineer or produce lenses like that, I don't know. Maybe both. Anyway, that's my understanding and it comes from some of the lab folks I knew back in the day.

[@monsieurgolem3392]

How many cameras do you own?

[@DavidHancock]

Hmm, not sure exactly. Fewer than a hundred any more. I've been selling them off as I make videos. I plan to be down to about ten within a year -- the ten that I use. As I make videos, they go out the door now. I used to have around 1,800 or so. Back when digital took off and everyone dumped their gear, a 4X5 could be had for $20-50, most 35mm SLRs for $5-15 with high-end ones like the EOS 1V going for a couple hundred, and basically all medium-format cameras were about 20$ of the cost they are now. So it was easy to get a nice collection and learn them all. But being older and a more mature photographer now, I know what I want to use and don't see any need to own more than I will use.

[@monsieurgolem3392]

@@DavidHancock 1800?, at one time?, regardless thats insane.

[@DavidHancock]

@@monsieurgolem3392 it was a lot. I'm glad I can focus on just a few now.

[@monsieurgolem3392]

@@DavidHancock less but better