Ricoh 126 C Automatic

Camera history dictated that the simpler the camera, the bigger the customer base. Using a camera begins with loading the film, so the #135, 35mm cartridge, was a major step, yet it needed agile fingers to load. To further simplify it and cater to the user’s base ground level, Kodak presented a new concept in 1963, the #126 cartridge. It was a self-contained unit with a fresh spool at one end and a take-off at the other, enclosed in a single pack. All that was needed was to open the back, drop in the cartridge, no wrong way possible, close, and Bob’s your uncle. The camera line was named Instamatic, which name was further used on #110 pocket format and 8mm cine cameras, although used different film formats, and on souped-up cpmpact SLR models that did use the very same cartridge. Image size was 24x24mm, a tad smaller than the #135, and if memory serves me right, the colour palette was iffy, no matter what film brand was used. I had an Instamatic in the early 1970s, need to dig out the old pictures. AGFA toyed with an easy-to-load sysatem,  the Rapid, which used a full cartridge on one side of the camera and a spent cartridge at the other, where the film was pushed into the empty cartridge by cogs on the raceway. It didn’t catch.

The concept allowed for the holy grail of mass market photography, being cheap and simple. Using a cellphone to take pictures is more complex than using the Instamatic. Most camera makers adopted the concept and offered compatible models. As competition stepped in, features were added, so cheap and simple was no more.

The Ricoh 126 C Automatic added two features: a lightmeter-controlled aperture and a spring-loaded winder. The same camera was rebranded for Sears as Easi-Load FC 600, and a revised version with a CdS meter came a year later as the 126 C Auto CdS. The front meter lens surrounding the lens is styled differently from the bubbly style of standard meters; see the images below.

The camera is straightforward to use. Open the back, drop a cartridge, close the back, wind the large clockwork winder at the bottom, aim and shoot. The default speed is 125, with the meter controlling the aperture. There is no ASA / DIN setting, so I am unsure to which film speed it is meant to match. A needle at the viewer’s right shows the selected F value.

I got ten shots with a fully wound spring, which is about what I got on other Ricoh clockwork cameras.

Zone focusing markings are marked on the feet and meters at the bottom of the lens assembly and as icons on the top. Considering the flash cube limitation, the stylized red bulb on the icon scale suggests a safe distance using the flash.

The meter and flash cube rlay on a mighty 15V #504 battery, higher voltage than a 12V car battery. I don’t think any equivalent can be matched today.

For the collector, it has the significance of a clockwork camera. Hardly any information is available either online or in print. Not many are offered for sale, but if they are, they are dirt cheap. To shoot, one may find expired cartridges or use an available adapter using #135 format film.