What a name right? Ricoh Shotmaster Zoom Super Date. I couldn’t imagine having to walk into a store to order this camera when it first came out. Speaking of which, I have no idea when that was because there is very little info about this camera online.
I payed $20 on Facebook Marketplace to buy the Shotmaster off an old lady on a whim. Best case, I’ve payed $20 for a unsung hero and worst case? I can likely sell it on for the amount I payed. As soon as I got it I sent a message to Hamish, our all powerful and knowledgeable leader, and asked if anybody had reviewed it before on this site. The answer was a friendly no, you’re it buddy!
I’m not going to write a technical review, because there isn’t a lot to it. It’s a plastic auto focus point and shoot camera that just does what you ask it to.
The Ricoh Shotmaster Super Zoom Date, I’m going to get sick of typing that, is a fairly large point and shoot camera but it sits nicely in the hand. It has a finger grip on the front and a thumb grip on the back which feel very comfortable actually.
It takes a CR-P2 battery; depending on where you live that’s either good or bad. For me its bad because they’re about $12 and there’s only one store in my town sells them. The zoom function takes you from 38mm to 80mm. Personally, I never shoot longer than 50mm and usually stick to 35mm if I can, so it’s a comfortable focal range before you need to zoom. I would say the best thing about this camera though is the giant LCD display (compared to some P&S cameras).
I found only one review of a similar camera online and the poster banged on about its poor autofocus abilities. I only had one frame out of focus. It’s actually very snappy and responsive. The only thing I found off-putting was the viewfinder. Personally I’ve never had a camera where the frame lines are in the bottom right of the viewfinder. I tried to get a photo of it to show you but it just wasn’t happening.
I took it to work with me one day with a roll of Ilford HP5 shooting at box speed. I developed the roll at home in Ilfosol 3, which adds a bit more grain, and scanned with an Epson scanner (excuse the dust I got lazy), and that’s all. I haven’t touched the images in any other editing software to keep it authentic. And I must say, I was impressed! Lots of contrast for box speed.
All in all I could use the Ricoh Shotmaster Zoom Super Date as a regular shooter, but it wouldn’t be the first camera I would grab. Not because I wasn’t happy with it, it just wasn’t enough to make me drop everything else I own to use this one. These days I grab my Yashica Electro or Zorki 4. If it’s a point and shoot day, my Nikon TW Zoom. I had anticipated reviewing and selling the Ricoh Shotmaster, but I’ve decided to keep it… for now…
Instagram: @gavinbain
https://www.gavinwbain.darkroom.tech
Hey Gavin. Nice review. About a month ago I picked one of these fine point and shoots up for $7.99 Canadian. Tossed some Kodak 200 through it and I was impressed. it certainly punches above its weight. I also own a little Ricoh rangefinder (35FM) that also is a magical beast. I’m now considering a Ricoh SLR
This one is circa 1992.
Very capable, as long as you’re not trying to focus on your own coffee cup. No need to sell that one on 🙂
Hi Gavin
I suspect the positioning of the framelines is for parallax correction. They probably move towards the top left for close focussing.
Do you have any suggestions for an E1 message coming up in the small screen near the mode button? I recently took this to a shop and got it all setup and it flashed once, and now it turns on but E1 is the message I get and I can’t seem to get it fixed… Would be very helpful!
Hi Kenzie! Did you get this fixed? I’ve got the same issue!
Hi Kenzie! Did you get this fixed? I’ve got the same issue!