C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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The Ricoh Singlex 2 (1969) is a 35mm single-lens reflex camera and the direct successor to Ricoh's founding Singlex of 1963. The principal advancement over its predecessor is the metering system: where the original Singlex used an external selenium cell on the camera front, the Singlex 2 moves to through-the-lens (TTL) CdS metering, measuring light that has passed through the taking lens. This was the dominant meter upgrade of the late 1960s, and the Singlex 2 brought Ricoh's budget SLR line into parity with contemporary Pentax and Nikkormat offerings.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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Before you buy used
About this camera
The refined second-generation Ricoh SLR: TTL CdS metering replaces the original's external selenium cell, in the same robust M42 die-cast body -- sold in the US as the Sears SR1000.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm (24x36mm) |
| Mount | M42 screw mount |
| Years | 1969 -- 1976 |
| Shutter | Focal-plane cloth: 1s -- 1/1000s + B |
| Flash sync | 1/60s (X-sync) |
| Meter | TTL CdS, match-needle |
| Exposure | Manual only |
| Viewfinder | Fixed pentaprism, microprism centre |
| Battery | 1x PX625 (mercury) or SR44 with adapter |
| Weight | ~650 g |
Ricoh released the Singlex 2 in 1969 as the immediate successor to the original 1963 Singlex. The six years between the two models had seen TTL metering become an industry standard: the Topcon RE Super (1963), the Pentax Spotmatic (1964), and the Nikkormat FT (1965) had all established that photographers expected the meter to read through the lens rather than from a cell on the camera body.
The Singlex 2 addressed this expectation while retaining the robust die-cast aluminium body design and M42 mount of its predecessor. The clock-hormone Ricoh continued its North American distribution through Sears, and the SR1000 badge became one of the more widely circulated M42 SLR bodies in the US market of the early 1970s.
In 1972 Ricoh introduced the Singlex TLS, which refined the TTL metering system further and extended the shutter speed range. The Singlex 2 continued alongside the TLS briefly before being phased out.
The Ricoh Singlex 2 is a straightforward, fully mechanical 35mm SLR with TTL metering and M42 compatibility. For film photographers in 2026, it represents a capable and inexpensive entry point to the M42 lens ecosystem -- sharing glass compatibility with the Pentax Spotmatic, Zeiss Jena Praktica bodies, and many others. The mechanical shutter operates without batteries if the meter battery fails, making it reliable in the field.
The Sears SR1000 branding means that many examples reached US homes through Sears catalogues and may be found in better cosmetic condition than grey-market examples, having been used by careful home photographers rather than professionals.
The M42 screw mount opens access to an exceptionally wide range of compatible lenses:
BW
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
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Kodak Ektar 100 is a fine-grain C-41 color negative film with saturated color and high sharpness.
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