Because the diameter of a
135 film cartridge is , most cameras were limited to a minimum thickness of . Ricoh released the R1 in 1994, claiming it to be the world's thinnest camera; the camera has a distinctive grip section for the photographer's right hand which accommodates the film cartridge, but the remainder of the body is thinned down to improve portability. The R1 has a 30 mm lens with four elements in four groups and a panorama crop function; the body is made of aluminum, with a plastic rear door. Although the R1 was commercially successful, professional photographers requested a camera with more manual controls, and Ricoh responded with the GR1. Compared to the R1, the GR1 uses a similar viewfinder but is fitted with a magnesium alloy body and a 28 mm lens which Ricoh claimed to perform better than equivalent lenses for
single lens reflex cameras. The GR1 first was released in late 1996 and received the 1997
TIPA award for best 35 mm Compact Camera. As an operational quirk, the GR1 shoots backwards: when the cartridge is loaded initially, the camera winds the film all the way out, which takes approximately 30 seconds; as exposures are taken, the film is wound back into the cartridge. With its lightweight body, the GR1 had a weight and volume smaller than many 28 mm lenses for SLRs. British conflict photographer
Philip Jones Griffiths owned and used a GR1. Ricoh released a limited production run of the 28 mm GR lens in 1997, limited to 3000 copies, as a manually-focused lens with a
M39 lens mount; the GR lens is nearly symmetric, featuring a concave front surface and seven-element, four-group construction. In 1998, a simplified version (GR10) and update (GR1s) were added to the line. Both shared the same 28 mm lens as GR1. The GR10 was fitted with an aluminum body and the aperture-priority autoexposure mode was removed. The GR1s had improved lens coatings for better flare resistance and other minor feature updates. The film GR cameras were discontinued after the introduction of the
Ricoh GR Digital in 2005; over time, the most common faults that have developed have affected the status LCD on the top deck, the motor, and the light seals, particularly around the film information window on the rear door. ==See also==