While known today for its copiers, Ricoh originally introduced itself with optics and cameras that not only became quite popular, but also developed a loyal hobbyist following. The brand generally was considered lower-end than other camera makers, but competed with Kodak and other companies for the consumer market.
Beginnings
Kiyoshi Ichimura established his Riken Kankoshi Co. in 1936, changing the name in 1938 to Riken Optical. In 1940, the company introduced the Ricohflex twin-lens reflex camera.
Twin-lens reflex, or TLR, cameras work with 120-size medium format film. You roll the film into the camera at the back across the shutter opening. On top of the TLR is a focusing screen and a hood to keep out extraneous light. On the front of the camera are two lenses, one over the other. The bottom lens contains the shutter and aperture. This lens takes the photograph. Above is an identical lens behind which is a mirror. This is the viewing lens.
Virtually the same image comes into both lenses--with a slight difference at close range--so the photographer can see almost the same scene that will be recorded on the film.
Landmark
In 1950, the company introduced a twin-lens reflex camera for the masses. While the professional Rolleiflex had been available since the 1920s, the Ricohflex III camera was produced for the consumer. It was a stripped-down version of the professional-level camera with limited shutter speeds and only one speed that would synchronize with a flash. This Ricoh camera recorded 12 2.25-by-2.25-inch negatives. It helped set off a fad for TLR cameras.
Heyday
Ricoh cameras had their heyday in the 1950s with 1 million cameras sold in Japan by 1954. The company introduced many variations on its original camera, including many with the Ricohflex name, along with the Diacord in 1958, the Ricohmatic in 1959 and the Auto 66 in 1960.
Types
By 1963, the company took on the name of its camera line and became simply Ricoh. With the fad of TLR cameras fading, Ricoh moved to screw-mount single-lens reflex, or SLR, cameras in 1964. The SLR had the advantage of having the same lens to view the image and take the photograph. This was developed by Asahi Pentax in the 1950s with the introduction of the pentaprism, which changed the image coming into the eyepiece so it was right-side-up and correct left to right.
The SLR format meant Ricoh could use multiple focal-length lenses from wide-angle to telephoto. The lens mount was changed to the Pentax-standard K-mount in 1977.
Time Frame
Ricoh continued to make SLR film cameras until changing over to the digital camera format in 2007. In the digital format, Ricoh has stuck mainly with point-and-shoot consumer-level cameras. Over the years, however, Ricoh also made a variety of cameras from Instamatics to rangefinders to the SLR.
Tags: company introduced, 1950s with, reflex camera, reflex cameras, twin-lens reflex