Hello - and a question..........

[Paul Jenkin]

Hi There.

I'm Paul and I've been taking film photos since my early teens in the mid 1970's. However, I've never owned a Ricoh - until now...!! I've just taken delivery of a very nice, silver GR1s in great condition, boxed and with instruction manuals and pouches. The only thing that seems to be missing is a lens hood.

The camera is a little beauty and will supplement my other 35mm (Leica RF and SLR), 120 (Hasselblad) and 5x4 (Wista) kit very nicely. The design is just stunning and I love the idea of winding the film onto a spool first and gradually winding it back. The slimness and ergonomics are better than any other compact I've seen or tried to date - and the lens is so sharp - hence the reason I bought it.

I'll be shooting B&W mostly. I've just loaded some Agfa 100 into it and will post a couple of images when processed, if anyone's interested.

Here's the question: Was a lens hood part of the kit or was that an optional extra? As experience has told me that using a lens hood is the sensible thing to do, I was wondering where I might get one from? I've checked Google and there's no mention of any being available. Does anyone here have on that they're prepared to sell?

Hope to hear from someone with a hood for sale. All the best. Paul.

[thelps]

Hi Paul,

and a big welcome to the forum. I've been checking out GR1's myself. I am thinking of dabbling with one.
As for the hood, I am pretty sure the camera came with them.

Over here is a PDF of the GR1s user manual: http://www.butkus.org/chinon/ricoh/ricoh_gr1/ricoh_gr1.htm

Page 4 of the manual has figure 2 & 3 showing the hood being mounted. Page 14 has some advice on mounting it. So while its not conclusive the hoods came with them I suspect they did.
I'm sure we'd all love to see some images.

[Paul Jenkin]

Thanks Tim.

Yes, I presumed as much. I have the box the camera came in, the user manual and even the small pouch that the lens hood came in. The retailer I traded with reckons they got it without the hood, so I'm just going to have to keep my eyes open for one. From what I can gather, the lens doesn't flare that easily - even without one.

I shot half a roll of snaps on the GR1s yesterday and will finish the roll this week. Strangely, it's been quite sunny over here, so I've taken shots into the sun and with the sun at all points of the compass to see what the meter (and lens) can cope with as I don't want to be completely "green" with it when we're on holiday next month.

If there'd been one available, I'd have gone for a GR1v as it seems to offer more manual control. However, I was looking to trade an old SLR (and a couple of lenses) and I managed to strike a deal with a shop in the UK for the GR1s and a 5 degree spot attachment for my Minolta AutoMeter IVf. The spot meter will be really useful for the shooting I do with my Hasselblad and even more once I get going properly with my Wista 4x5 field camera.

Thanks for the welcome and for the help. I posted a couple of photos in the "Open" gallery by way of an introduction if you're interested. Can't wait to get the results back from the Ricoh.

Regards, Paul.

[Paul Jenkin]

I am so pi**ed off, I could spit.....!!

I took a 3/4 exposed roll of Agfa APX 100 (well within date, fresh stock purchased recently from Silverprint and stuff I've had great results from already using other cameras) to the local photo processor (who always does a good job for me.) This is the first roll I've put through the GR1s.

What I got back was a completely transparent, clear, not a hint of an image anywhere, strip of film.

When I loaded it, the film wound onto "37" - as anticipated - and then started to count back - as anticipated. I rewound it with about 10 shots to go as I wanted to be certain the camera was functioning properly.

I'm now faced with having to run a bit of film through it tomorrow morning and hope that it comes out okay - or it isn't coming with me to Sri Lanka on Monday as my back up to my Leica. In fact, if it doesn't produce a nice set of sharp, well exposed negatives, it will be on its way back whence it came on Saturday

[Wyrleyrob]

when you say completely clear roll of film, does it have the edge markings and frame numbers? If not it has been fixed before being developed. This would completely remove everything.

[Paul Jenkin]

It had the edge markings, numbers, the lot. I checked this as I've had that done to me maybe twice in 30 odd years. This roll had been processed correctly; there was nothing on it - between the edge markings.

I've loaded a fresh roll of Portra 400 NC in the camera and will shoot some random stuff on the way to work tomorrow. Even if I only take 10/12 shots, I'll have the roll processed and see what's what.

I even loaded a roll, shot it through and then opened the back to see it it had wound on and was retreating back into the cartridge and all seemed fine. This is a real enigma to me and I'm just hoping that the film comes out okay tomorrow as I want to use the GR1s as my "wide" / "street" colour option and rely on either my Leica M6TTL or Leica R3 Mot for my mono shots.

If the GR1s has a problem, I'm going to have to revert to my Voigtlander Perkeo I (uncoupled rangefinder - 120 roll film) as a compact point and shoot (or shoot colour using digital with the Lumix LX3 - pah....!!)

[Rog Tallbloke]

At least you have a few camera choices Paul, and you're going to Sri Lanka.

Life doesn't sound too bad to me.

[Paul Jenkin]

Rog - you are soooooooo right!!

The frustration is, as you can imagine, heightened as a result of the proximity of departure and the fact that the GR1s is such a sweet little camera and absolutely perfect for a walkabout, pocketable point and shoot.

I've got more cameras than I'll probably ever need. It's not a big collection by any means but it is a good one. Oh well, back to the drawing board, Maybe...

[thelps]

What I got back was a completely transparent, clear, not a hint of an image anywhere, strip of film.

Now this is odd. Does the shutter seem to be working ok? Can you hear it? There is always Ricoh service but I guess it depends on the cost.

[Paul Jenkin]

Hi Tim,

The camera, as you know, wont "dry fire". However, I've opened the back and fired it and the shutter is definitely working as you'd imagine it. The whole thing is pretty weird, so I'm just going to give it a final try tomorrow morning and see how I get on....

Paul.