A new camera: The Ricohmatic 225

A few weeks ago I went antiquing in Martinez, California. Other cities in the area have reputation for being great for antiques, but I think Martinez is the best I've found. I'm always on the hunt for old cameras, and my only complaint about Martinez is that the cameras are all VERY expensive. In all the shops I visited, the cheapest box camera, for instance, was $32. Typically, that model box camera sells for $7 on eBay and about the same at other antique stores I've visited. So I didn't expect much. But, I did find one camera I liked in good condition -- a Ricohmatic 225.

I took a test roll that day, but not much turned out worth sharing. The next week, after figuring out some quirks, I took some worthwhile shots in Benicia.


An old Cadillac. In real life it's gray, too. I liked that this was the first photo I took with the Ricohmatic that turned out. A camera from 1959 seems, to me, to be well suited for photographing things also from that era.


At the fire fighter's museum. They have a small but really great collection of old fire trucks, fie hydrants, and other things related to fire fighting. If the Ricohmatic hadn't been misbehaving, I would have enjoyed the time there a lot more. I need to go back, though, with a different camera.


That's some unfortunate framing.

I admit that I'm very pleased by this camera's performance. It's a solid performer in terms of lens sharpness, contrast, and clarity. I digitized these images in multiple shots, to replicate the difference between small- and medium-format images. If you're interested, here is a video on how it's done.



After walking around in the sun for a while, I decided to get some indoor shots. Benicia once was the state capitol. The old capitol building still stands and is a state park now. For $3, you can take an unguided tour of the upstairs and downstairs, seeing the chambers as they were in the 1800s when the state's earliest senators and congressmen voted on new laws.
 
A door next to the main entrance


Stairs inside the capitol building


Sunlight on an unused bench


A shaggy tree in the garden outside


A rose from the house next door

I developed some of these photos in caffenol, and the results weren't great. The caffenol was fine but the film I used was particularly cheap. Lucky brand film lacks an anti-halation backing so light passes through it and scatters of the backing paper. This picks up any flaws in the paper as well as printing. Unfortunately, Lucky brand film uses very cheap paper, so lots of flaws are picked up. But even respooling it onto good paper yields poor results as the film is damaged by x-rays when it arrives in the U.S. If you'd like to see the video I made of these next photos being developed in caffenol, here it is:




You can see the light and dark flecks, which come largely from x-ray damage and are emphasized by the caffenol.


The numbers and dots on the image stand out because the light reflecting off the paper backing damages the film differently where there is and is not printing on the backing.


I'm not sure why that one bubble turned out well. If all the images had looked as good as that one area, there would be a lot more in this post.