P3D Twinning the Ricoh P&S 35R Camera

[Gabriel Jacob <jacob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Wlad for that excellent and comprehensive post!
I'd like to add my 2 cents to the twinning thread and
say,...

Regarding twinning P&S cameras, there is scant little 
available (at a reasonable prices) that make them
suitable for twinning. Most of the twinned camera's
presently used are vintage cameras, available only on
the second hand market. 

I had given up on finding a new, off the shelf P&S
camera, till Wlad discovered and introduced me to the
Ricoh 35R! This has only recently been introduced in
Canada (I don't know how long it's been available
elsewhere). When he showed me this camera, I couldn't
believe it!

A manufacture had actually come out with a modern auto
P&S camera that also had manual aperture (okay aperture
priority, which is sort of manual and actually better,
long time used in the Canon AE-1 SLR) control and focus
settings! With aperture priority, YOU select the
aperture and the camera figures out the correct shutter
speed (indicated in the LCD panel) to use for correct
exposure. You can also set an exposure compensation
value for more total control. More importantly (for
twinning), it also has a remote control socket!

Now Wlad has kindly provided the Ricoh web site where
all the gory details on this camera can be found.
http://www.ricohcamera.com/ricoh_35R.htm 

For those that haven't checked it out, it's worth
noting that it also has other features such as "tripod
socket" and "hot shoe", that make it an ideal candidate
for twinning. 

Other interesting features (too numerous to list them all)
are you can attach any type of 37 mm screw-in filter. It
also comes with a 37/49 mm adapter ring and hood attachment.

Another interesting feature is the slow synchro mode.
This useful feature allows one to take sharp pictures
of the subject and dim background. What happens is
because the background might turn out dark, due to
the limited range of the flash, the camera will reduce
it's shutter speed further. This noteworthy feature is
available on some other cameras such as the famous
Konica S-1 (and it's cousin, the siamesed 3-D camera,
the RBT S-1) and some other P&S (as Mark Dottle
pointed out awhile back).

The LCD shows the shutter speed when you select the
aperture and other vital information. Other features
are TV mode and multi-exposure. The lens is a 30mm f3.9.
Oh yes, did I mention, it takes standard AA batteries
(yippee!). 

Now regarding the syncing of the two cameras, I don't
know if there is a variability in the cameras, as Wlad
had different results, but I found that just plugging
in miniature plugs (I happened to find the right
connector with two male plugs in my junk box) and
pressing the shutter button on one of the cameras gave
excellent syncing. Although I don't think I could
freeze biplanes rotating propeller blades! I'll leave
that up to Wlad!

Seriously, for most of my shooting it is adequate. I
have to mention, to get cameras to trip the shutters at
practically the same time (I estimate max. 50ms), I
had to press the shutter button quickly. If I pressed
it halfway and then continued the slave camera would
fire about 1/4 seconds later.

Ultimately, I might go the same route as Wlad. That is,
open them up and connect the other points, as Wlad
details in his instructions (great job Wlad!) at,
http://www.generation.net/~jacob/35r/35R_mods_for_3D.htm

Another interesting option, since a hot shoe is provided,
they might make good candidates for twinning vertically!
This will be advantageous for shooting close-ups and
using a reduced stereo base (aprox 60mm).

Each camera sells for about $180 Canadian ($120 US) with
date back version also available for a few dollars more.

Gabriel