Reparing a Ricohmatic 225 TLR?

Phillip P. Dimor · 07-14-2008, 10:50 PM

I've had this lovely Ricoh Ricohmatic 225 for a while now but have never been able to use it due to a faulty film advancing/cocking mechanism.
Basically, advancing the film won't always cock the shutter. I've taken the camera apart and it is pretty complex. I've looked around for a schematic or diagram but have not been able to find anything.

In the worst-case scenario, i'll drill a hole through the pressure plate and back, and put some rubylith tape and figure out how to break it to constantly wind and cock. I'll just use the window.

Has anyone repaired one of these things or knows of a diagram or schematic?

Nick Merritt · 07-15-2008, 05:07 PM

You might want to send this to Mark Hama -- he's down your way in Marietta: http://www.markhama.com/ He works on all sorts of cameras but seems to specialize in Japanese TLRs. He worked at the Yashica factory but has expertise in a number of cameras. He did a wonderful job repairing a Kalloflex for me that suffered some severe impact damage.

Phillip P. Dimor · 07-15-2008, 07:50 PM

Thank you so much! This does seem like a bit more than I'd want to take on.
Replacing mirrors and rebuilding speed graphic focal plane shutters is one thing but this is way more complex.. definitely beyond me.

Phillip P. Dimor · 07-15-2008, 07:51 PM

Oh man Marietta is like 3 hours away!

Phillip P. Dimor · 07-30-2008, 11:22 PM

Well, no reply from Mr. Hama, but that's okay. He's probably very busy. Instead, I took the 'door' from a Tower TLR (with red window) and found that it fit 98% perfectly well onto the Ricoh. It seems light tight, if not a bit tight to latch. I've taken a few shots, we'll see how they turn out (differences in the pressure plate distance? Who knows..)

I was surprised that the film door fit like that. I was also surprised that the waistlevel finder from the ricoh fit the tower! And the focus was maintained perfectly as I checked with a piece of ground glass. The ricohmatic screen is great; a piece of glass and a fresnel. It's very bright. No accu matte, beattie or maxwell but it's sharp enough to use indoors in near-dim lighting.

scott k · 07-31-2008, 11:19 AM

I would send it to Karl Bryan. He works on Minolta Autocords and Ricoh TLRs and prefers them to Rolleis. I purchased a mint condition Yashica Mat 124G from Mark Hamma and had nothing put problems with it. I returned it twice for film transport issues and then got a refund. Mark was a great person to deal with and very fair but I'd send yours to Karl. If you want, PM me and I'll see if I can dig up his contact info. He is very responsive to e-mails and he turned my cameras around in a day and got them back to me.

Scott

Nick Merritt · 07-31-2008, 03:15 PM

If Karl works on Ricohs, I'd wholeheartedly endorse sending it to him. He has fixed three Autocords for me and does a great job. Reasonably priced and quick. He's out in Beaverton, OR I believe.

scott k · 08-01-2008, 09:19 AM

Phillip,

Karl is a very nice guy, I'm sure you could contact him via e-mail to discuss the workings of your camera. From a previous correspondence I know he thinks very highly of the Ricoh 225.

Scott