” I’m not sure why this camera is called the “Super,” because “super” usually implies a superabundance of features. This is a basic picture-taking machine that does its job well. And although it’s not adorned with a lot of fancy gizmos, it certainly has features that make it worth noticing.”
This is how Popular photography started its review of the Ricoh KR 10 Super released in 1984 and found here. From my brief time with it, that just about sums up this camera.
But what about those features worth noting? First on the list mentioned by the above reviewer was the film loading mechanism, in particular the takeup spool. This may not be an obvious ’feature’ worth highlighting. The Ricoh KR 10 Super has a series of plastic slats through which any one you can feed the film leader into and the film is secured. So what? While that may have seemed important in 1984 hardly so in 2022, surely. However if you have struggled to thread film through some of the cameras ”needles eye” that I have encountered, it is definitely a big deal. Indeed, because it is invariably the first thing I do before using a camera it can affect my first impressions of and subsequent feelings about a camera.
Looking at the top plate of the Ricoh KR 10 Super and all the usual features are there for an aperture priority camera. The film speed dial also features exposure compensation, which ranges from +/- 2. You will also notice the unobtrusive self timer button. On to the other side and the Ricoh Kr 10 Super is the shutter speed dial, for although this is an aperture priority camera it has manual metered mode. The shutter speeds can be seen in the right hand side of the reasonably bright viewfinder. Rather than use LED’s to indicate your chosen shutter speed there is a needle indicator.☺️ Nice to see a 1/125th flash shutter speed. In addition there is a very welcome Lock button to prevent accidentally taking a photo.
As you can see in the image below, another of the noteworthy features is the light meter button on the front of the camera above the logo. In my last review, of the Minolta XG-9, I mentioned the very sensitive shutter button. I thought this was the most sensitive I had come across, I will now have to revise that view. On at least two occasions I was framing up my shot and ’touched’ the shutter to actuate the light meter only to have the shutter release. After a little use, it becomes quite natural to actuate the light meter with your middle finger and thus avoid accidents. I don’t quite know why I had such a problem in taking on board this feature. It is rather like back button focusing,…. except its front button metering.
The flash sync port, below.
So now it was time to find out what is so super about the Ricoh KR 10 Super. The camera takes Pentax mount lenses so I fitted my favourite Pentax zoom lens the Pentax A 28-80mm f3.5-4.5.
Although the camera has a plastic feel, it certainly is not unpleasant. In fact with the Pentax zoom lens it proved to be vey comfortable combination weighing 2lbs or 1kg.
When scanning my negatives, it was interesting to see how the light meter in the Ricoh KR 10 Super worked. It was noticeable how the sky, which was quite a bit lighter than the land, was preserved at the cost of the land. This surprised me as the meter is center/bottom weighted.? However it is not a problem to lift the shadows up in post processing either on the computer or in the darkroom, given the exposure latitude in film. Otherwise the camera produced nicely exposed and the lens helped create sharp images.
I enjoyed my time out with the Ricoh KR 10 Super, a no nonsense, no thrills get the job done of a camera. Is that a bad thing?
arhphotographic 