Ugly or cool? Well it is both I think!

This Nineties 35mm point & shoot oozes personality with it’s strange styling, but is actually a pretty good camera too. To quote Ricoh’s camera list - “A novel style with a flash attached to the grip.” - it definitely is a novel design!

Released in December 1992, this Japanese version includes buttons on the back that need Google Translate to operate, a 38-105mm zoom lens plus 28mm at f8 wide angle mode and the ability to add pointless captions such as Happy Birthday!

It is quite plasticky, but feels fairly well made. The rear door feels the cheapest plastic, and has a slightly less rugged feel from the rest of the body. The light grey panel on the front is the battery compartment, and is grippy for stability.

The more I look at it, the more ugly it is, but the more I like it! It reminds me a bit of the Konica AiBorg, but a few years older.

When it arrived in the post from Japan, it was clean, nice condition and fired up straight away with a 2CR5 battery. Within 24 hours of the Postman knocking, it was loaded and shooting some Ilford HP5…

I had seen images of this bus stop, but it was a little out of my usual route, but on this day I found myself a couple of miles away so had to get a shot. The light was good, but not right for this composition or film really - but had to take the opportunity.

I spotted this old barn through a gap in the hedge, so made a quick U-turn to capture it. The Ricoh exposed perfectly, and being a point & shoot - that is exactly what I did!

The autofocus struggled on this landscape, but I discovered that the camera has the ability to half press the shutter to obtain focus and then re-compose to take the shot. This is a game changer for a cheap plastic compact. Again it nailed the exposure of the incoming storm.

I had the camera on the seat next to me driving through the city thinking I would grab some quick shots out of the open window, but this was the only one I managed. With heavy traffic, it was probably wise to concentrate on the road, rather than shooting random scenes that passed by! Plus it wasn’t my car, and that could have been an awkward conversation if I had crashed!!

My only criticism of this camera is the zoom switch - it feels back to front! I found myself zooming out instead of in, like the buttons are the opposite way round to every other camera. This is only a small grievance, but the only thing that bugged me. It was a fun camera to use, and that weird shaped body makes sense when you hold it as it fits perfectly in your hand.

One thing I discovered after using it, is the wide 28mm (on paper) seems to be separate from the 38-105mm zoom. At 28mm it is limited to f8, and I wonder whether there is a button to get to the 28mm! The camera is now stowed away in the cupboard, so that is a job for another day.

If you are looking for a quirky, but good compact - you could do a lot worse than the Myport Zoom Wide. I would choose it over a lot of others in it’s class.

Ugly or cool? Ricoh Myport Zoom Wide

Fujica 35-ML - a design exercise!