The Ricoh GR1 was first introduced in 1996 as a more premium offering to its award winning predecessor, the R1. The R1 was an ultra compact 35mm auto-focus camera with a similar spec sheet to the GR1 but with a lesser lens attached to it. The body and much of the aesthetics remained much the same throughout the GR series, ultimately concluding its journey as a 35mm camera with the GR21; often described as the mac-daddy of the compact category, famously used by the likes of Daido Moriyama. The 28mm GR lens makes use of seven multicoated elements, versus the R1’s four, and reportedly delivers a warmer and more saturated look than its counterpart. The faster f/2.8 lens allows for more flexibility in low light conditions, giving a degree more bokeh to the overall look in the right circumstances.

The Ricoh GR1 features four shooting modes: normal, landscape, spot and snap. Normal will display no symbol on the top mounted LCD screen and operates as you would expect, creating balanced light metering and focus. Landscape mode will adjust your focal setting to infinity and will display a mountain symbol on the LCD. Spot mode allows for spot focussing, or focussing on a specific point of an image, indicated with a dot on the LCD. Finally, snap mode, which allows the user to hold the focus and reframe the image, indicated with the word ‘snap’ on the LCD. One rather smart quirk to the GR1 is its ‘pre-wind’ feature, which unloads the entire roll of film onto the spool and winds it back in one frame at a time as you shoot. This genius alteration to the norm means that if you were to accidentally open the camera while it was loaded, you wouldn’t lose what you had shot, as it would be safely light shielded inside the film canister.

These cameras, while absolutely epic in many ways, are not without their flaws (like many snapshot cameras). The GR series are prone to a few things, including a broken LCD, sticky viewfinder plastic and the motor dying.

Lens: GR Lens 28mm f/2.8 (7 elements, 4 groups)
Diaphragm: 7 Blades
ISO Range: Auto DX coding ISO 25 to 3200
Speeds: 2 to 1/500th sec
Shutter Count: Digital display
Multiple Exposure: No
Battery: CR2
Size: 117mm x 61mm x 26.5mm (Grip: 34mm)
Weight: 175g

This example is offered in boxed and excellent overall condition. Shipping costs determined based on location, import fees are the responsibility of the buyer and will not be covered by Select / co. Shipping from the UK / EU possible.