One of the coolest features of the Ricoh R1 (the less sought-after sibling of the fabulous GR1 series) is its panoramic feature. “Big deal”, I hear you say, “Loads of 35mm film compacts had panoramic features that just used shutters to crop the film at the top and bottom”.
However, the R1 is different. Selecting its “WIDE” panorama mode actually alters the position of the lens elements. The standard 30mm f3.5 lens magically transforms into a 24mm f8 lens.
And with the addition of a little piece of matchstick in a hole to the top right of the film frame, it’s pretty easy to stop the panorama masks from cropping the film image. (Of course, you do this at your own risk!),
So you have a 24mm lens on a 35mm compact. Albeit one that shows a fair degree of vignetting and distortion in the corners. Whether this enhances or detracts I’ll leave for you to decide…
5 frames at 24mm
Film: AgfaVista 200 shot at box speed – with a maximum aperture of f8 it helps to shoot on a sunny day
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Terry B on Non-Destructive Hacking the Ricoh R1 for Full-Frame Wide-Angle Photography – By Howard Hurd
Comment posted: 14/08/2018
I was expecting to see more vignetting than is being shown in your pics, and certainly fall off in sharpness in the four corners would be expected. But we tend to scan an image along its length and this is where your hack still works. Despite everyone going on about edge sharpness of lenses, this tends to be of lesser importance (unless taking architectural images, for example) as we mostly focus on the central portion and what falls outside of this we give less prominence to.
I suppose the only disadvantage is that once you've committed to the 24mm hack you have to retain it for the whole film, although I suppose you could treat the R1 as a 24mm lens on a second camera to go with another little compact with a longer focal length.
P.S. Nice to see more exposure for Clarence Pier. :D)
Comment posted: 14/08/2018
Comment posted: 14/08/2018
Graham Orbell on Non-Destructive Hacking the Ricoh R1 for Full-Frame Wide-Angle Photography – By Howard Hurd
Comment posted: 14/08/2018
Comment posted: 14/08/2018
Dan James on Non-Destructive Hacking the Ricoh R1 for Full-Frame Wide-Angle Photography – By Howard Hurd
Comment posted: 15/08/2018
What's also handy is, like you say, you can switch back to the full 30mm with its greater aperture range anytime you want without removing the matchstick.
My R1 is a pure point and shoot these days as the LCD has faded beyond visibility. Aside from that it's probably the best handling (and one of the most capable) point and shoots I've ever used.
Comment posted: 15/08/2018