November 30, 2004
stuck focus
On Monday Nakama sensei told me she was going through her closet and upon seeing my camera on our desk she told me that she had found her dad's leica over the weekend. She quickly added that it was old, silver, probably did not work and she was about to throw it out but thought I might like to see it.
The next 24 hours were spent like any other day with the exception of the mental images of IIIfs and M3s that were prancing through my head. This fantasy was tempered by the overwhelming possibility that it was not indeed a Leica and possibly a chrome range finder from the mid 50s.
I was right!
No tears were shed- and I have spent the morning playing with this camera, a Ricoh 500. I think this camera looks a lot like the new Zeiss Ikon. The film is advanced by, for lack of a more appropriate word, a "Nifty" little lever on the bottom of the camera. The shutter fires pretty well on all speeds and the lens is only halfway clogged with fungus. Also the focusing ability of this guy is forever set at about 6 feet as the lens has found a comfortable position over the last 40 years of non-use.
This all adds up to a Lomo(TM)-like camera in that I will get consistantly "toy camera" type photographs from it. Now I can be a Real Photographic Artist! This isn't photography, it's RICOH 500-o-graphy! Remember kids, photographs are only art when you use some gimmick to make them look more "arty" than straight photography. Not that I have anything against "lomography" It's just like, after the first 5 rolls don't they all start to look the same? I know they look cool but what is there beyond that?
Posted by john at November 30, 2004 06:53 PM