Ricoh Auto TLS EE

Ricoh · M42 mount · 24×36mm on 135 film (Ricoh Imaging) · 1973

Also known as: Ricoh Auto TLS EE · Ricoh Auto TLS-EE · Ricoh AutoTLS EE · Ricoh TLS EE · Ricoh TLS-EE · Ricoh Auto TLS · Auto TLS EE · Auto TLS-EE · TLS EE · Sears Auto TLS · Sears Auto/TLS · Sears Auto|TLS · リコーオートTLS EE · リコー TLS EE

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Ricoh Auto TLS EE, chrome	M42	1973	—	—
Ricoh Auto TLS EE, black	M42	1973	—	—
Sears Auto\|TLS	M42	—	—	—

The structured price is the 1977 US list price for the 50mm f/1.7 EE kit, the one figure two independent 1977 publications agree on. It is four years after launch, and the 1976 discount guide's $389.95 shows list prices moved both ways. No launch-year list price is on record, and Ricoh gives no Japanese price, listing the camera as export only.
Popular Science's June 1973 article on shutter-priority SLRs names the Auto TLS EE with the Konica Autoreflex T and others and puts them in 'the $300-$400 bracket', without a separate figure for the Ricoh.
Camera-wiki gives one PX675 cell; both instruction manuals specify the Eveready EPX625 or Mallory RM625. See `disputed`.
No production figures, serial-number tables or factory attribution are published. Ricoh says the Auto TLS EE shares its body shell with the SLX 500, whose design Ricoh says it contracted out (Japanese Wikipedia says design and production); whether the Auto TLS EE itself was built outside Ricoh is not stated. aperturepreview says Mamiya helped create some of the later Sears TLS models and names the Sears Auto TLS among them; no other source repeats it.

How to tell them apart (expand)

AUTO TLS on the nameplate left of the mount, with EE beneath it (Ricoh bodies; the Sears body reads AUTO|TLS and SEARS)
Lens Selection Dial, marked 1.4 to 5.6, around the base of the rewind knob: it tells the meter the maximum aperture of the lens (instruction manuals)
Ricoh's own test: the same shell as the SLX 500, but with a smaller stop-down (previewer) lever and a self-timer lever on the front (Ricoh Imaging)
Separate FP and X flash sockets on the front plate to the right of the mount, and a hot shoe on the prism (instruction manuals; Wikimedia Commons photographs)
EE lenses carry an EE setting on the aperture ring and pins at the rear of the mount (Ricoh instruction manual)

Ricoh Auto TLS EE, chrome:

RICOH on the prism front and AUTO TLS over a separate EE on the nameplate to the left of the lens mount (Ricoh instruction manual, parts diagram)
Chrome top plates and lens-mount surround with black leatherette (Ricoh instruction manual photographs)

Ricoh Auto TLS EE, black:

All-black top plates, prism housing and mount surround, RICOH in white on the prism front and AUTO TLS in light lettering over a green EE on the nameplate (Wikimedia Commons photographs)
Photographed with the AUTO RIKENON EE 1:1.7 f=50mm, whose EE is also printed in green (Wikimedia Commons photographs)

Sears Auto|TLS:

AUTO|TLS on the nameplate with SEARS below it on the front, and no RICOH name; an emblem on the prism instead of RICOH (Sears instruction manual photograph)
No separate EE on the nameplate, although the camera has the same EE system (Sears instruction manual)
Kit lens engraved SEARS AUTO EE rather than AUTO RIKENON EE (Sears instruction manual photograph)

Ricoh Auto TLS EE, chrome: The finish shown throughout Ricoh's own English instruction manual. A 1974 dealer advertisement charging extra for black models implies the chrome body was the cheaper one, but no price for a chrome kit is on record.
Ricoh Auto TLS EE, black: The only finish in the Consumers Digest Guide to Discount Buying of 1974 and 1976 and the Discount Buying Guide of 1977, each listing the black kit with a 50mm f/1.4 EE or 50mm f/1.7 EE lens. A 1974 Popular Photography dealer advertisement offers the 'TLS EE camera (black)' with the f/1.7, and a 1974 Modern Photography dealer advertisement prints 'For Black Models add 11.95' beside its Auto TLS EE body line. Both bodies photographed on Wikimedia Commons are black.
Sears Auto|TLS: Sold by Sears, Roebuck and Co. in the United States and Simpsons-Sears in Canada, 'Made in Japan'. The Sears manual describes the same three metering modes, Lens Selection Dial, EE/manual ring and controls as Ricoh's, under the name AUTO TLS. Camera-wiki identifies it as the rebadged Auto TLS EE. The manual cover shows it with a 50mm f/1.4 lens and a leather case. No Sears catalogue price is on record.

Specifications

Format: 24×36mm on 135 film (Ricoh Imaging)
Finder: fixed pentaprism, eye level
Shutter: cloth focal plane (Ricoh Imaging), travelling horizontally (camera-wiki), mechanical · 1s–1/1000, B; the automation is disconnected at B (Ricoh Imaging; instruction manuals) · flash sync X at 1/60 and slower; FP bulbs at 1/125–1/1000; separate X and FP sockets on the front plus a hot shoe on the prism (instruction manuals) · self-timer
Film advance: single-stroke lever, which also switches the meter on; the meter switches off when the shutter is released (instruction manuals)
Back: hinged, opened by the back cover latch (instruction manuals)
Meter: TTL CdS, coupled to the shutter-speed dial and the Lens Selection Dial; film speed ASA 25–1600. With Auto Rikenon EE lenses set to EE the body chooses the aperture (shutter priority) and stops the lens down to it at the moment of exposure. With any other screw-mount lens that opens to f/5.6 or wider it meters at full aperture and shows the aperture to set by hand, and with any lens at all it meters stopped down against the blue index (Ricoh and Sears instruction manuals). One mercury cell.
Weight: 720 g
Dimensions: 143 × 92 × 51 (Ricoh Imaging); weight_g is body only (Ricoh Imaging). Popular Science's 1977 table gives 5.6 × 3.7 × 3.5 in and 31.7 oz with the 50mm f/1.7 mm
Country: Japan
Original price: Ricoh Imaging records it as export only and gives no price. US list prices for the black kit with the 50mm f/1.7 EE: $349.95 in the 1974 Consumers Digest Guide to Discount Buying (discount price $231.00), $389.95 in its 1976 edition (discount $257.40) and $364.95 in the 1977 Discount Buying Guide (discount $260.94); Popular Science's April 1977 camera table also gives $364.95 for the f/1.7 kit, without naming the finish. With the 50mm f/1.4 EE the black kit listed at $389.95 (1974), $429.95 (1976) and $399.95 (1977). Dealer advertisements quote $149.50 for the body alone in Modern Photography (1974 and 1978) and Popular Photography (1978). All are US dollar list or dealer prices with no sales tax stated; none is an auction result. (today $1,890)
Accessories: Auto Rikenon EE lenses: 50mm f/1.7 (standard) and 50mm f/1.4, 28mm f/2.8, 35mm f/2.8, 135mm f/2.8 and 200mm f/3.5 (Ricoh manual lens table; US discount catalogues) · Close-up lenses No. 1 and No. 2; bellows attachment A; deluxe bellows B with slide copier; automatic extension ring set of three; microscope attachment; copy stand (Ricoh manual) · Dioptre adjusters −3 to +3; ×2 eyepiece magnifier; sliding rubber eyecup; deluxe hand grip; cable release; gadget bag (Ricoh manual)

Microprism centre spot. An f-stop scale from 1.4 to 16 runs down the right side of the field with a needle showing the aperture the camera has chosen; red marks above and below warn of under- and overexposure, a red mask slides over the apertures the mounted lens cannot reach as the Lens Selection Dial is set, and a blue index is the null point for stop-down metering (Ricoh and Sears instruction manuals)

Where sources disagree

Year

1973 — Industrial Photography's 1972 round-up (to be announced in 1973); Popular Science, June 1973 (named among current shutter-priority SLRs); Popular Photography, July 1973 (dealer advertisement); Modern Photography and Camera, 1973 (described); camera-wiki, citing a July 1973 Popular Photography advertisement; Modern Photography, 1987 ('the Ricoh Auto TLS EE of 1973')
1976 — Ricoh Imaging's model page and model list; Japanese Wikipedia, which cites the same Ricoh page

Better supported: 1973

Contemporary US magazines have the camera on sale in 1973, three years before Ricoh's date. Ricoh's 1976 may record something else, such as a revision, but no source says so.

Battery

Eveready EPX625 or Mallory RM625 mercury cell — Ricoh and Sears instruction manuals
One PX675 1.35V mercury cell — camera-wiki

Better supported: EPX625 / RM625

Both manuals agree; neither states a voltage, while camera-wiki gives 1.35V. Mike Butkus's scan of the Ricoh manual adds a note that Wein air-cell replacements exist.

Historical significance

'M42マウントではじめてのAEのカメラ' (the first AE camera with an M42 mount) — Ricoh Imaging
Asahi Pentax Electro Spotmatic, 1971 (Japan), and ES, exported from 1972: aperture-priority automatic screw-mount SLRs — English Wikipedia (Pentax Spotmatic); camera-wiki (Pentax ES)

Better supported: The Asahi bodies came first

On Ricoh's own 1976 date the Fujica ST901 of 1974 (camera-wiki) would also precede it. A narrower claim, the first shutter-priority M42 SLR, may be true but no source makes it.

What reviewers say

No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.

History

The Auto TLS EE is Ricoh’s automatic M42 reflex. The shutter is an ordinary mechanical horizontal cloth focal plane, 1 second to 1/1000 and B, and the automation lives entirely in the meter and the lens: the photographer chooses a speed, the CdS cell reads through the lens at full aperture, a needle on the right of the finder shows the f-stop it has chosen, and at the moment of exposure the body stops an Auto Rikenon EE lens down to that needle. Popular Science’s June 1973 article on shutter-priority SLRs listed it beside Konica’s Autoreflex T, and Camera magazine summed up the trick the same year: it saves the cost of shutter electronics by relying on a normal mechanical shutter. Ricoh made it for export only. In the United States Braun North America sold it under the Ricoh name and Sears sold it as the Sears Auto|TLS.

The mount is the 42mm thread with something added. Ricoh calls it an arranged Praktica mount, and EE lenses carry an EE position on the aperture ring and pins at the back that couple them to the body’s automation. Because the thread itself tells the body nothing about the lens, the maximum aperture is set by hand on the Lens Selection Dial around the rewind knob, from 1.4 to 5.6, and a red mask in the finder then hides the stops the lens cannot reach. Every other screw-mount lens fits and meters in one of two ways. Any lens that opens to f/5.6 or wider can be read at full aperture, after which the photographer turns the aperture ring to the stop the needle shows. Any lens at all can be metered stopped down with the previewer pressed until the needle sits on the blue index, which is also the method for bellows and extension tubes. So the non-EE Auto Rikenons, the 17mm to 400mm primes, the zooms, the preset 600mm and 800mm and the macro and bellows lenses, all work on the Auto TLS EE as manual lenses. The 500mm f/8 is listed in the manual with its F-stop control column empty, and Dr. Ricoh lists it as a mirror lens; if its aperture is fixed, as a mirror lens’s would be, it can only be metered stopped down, with the shutter speed rather than the aperture changed to bring the needle to the index. The EE lenses also fit the other Ricoh M42 bodies, the Singlex TLS, TLS 401, Singlex II and SLX 500: set to a marked aperture, they meter stop-down like any other Auto Rikenon, and their EE setting gives shutter-priority automation only on this body. Ricoh’s lens table in the manual lists EE versions of the 28mm f/2.8, 35mm f/2.8, 135mm f/2.8 and 200mm f/3.5. US discount catalogues of 1974 and 1977 sold the body with either a 50mm f/1.7 EE or a 50mm f/1.4 EE.

Dating is the thing to know before reading anything about it. Ricoh’s own model page and list, and Japanese Wikipedia after them, give 1976, which puts the camera after the SLX 500 (1975 on both Ricoh’s SLX 500 page and its list), whose shell Ricoh says it shares. American sources contradict that: Industrial Photography’s round-up of 1972 says the camera would be announced in 1973, Popular Science listed it among current shutter-priority SLRs in June 1973, a dealer was advertising it in Popular Photography in July 1973, Modern Photography and Camera both described it that year, and Modern Photography’s 1987 retrospective calls it “the Ricoh Auto TLS EE of 1973” with a body shell nearly identical to the SLX 500’s. Ricoh’s claim that it was the first automatic camera on an M42 mount fails on either date. Asahi’s Electro Spotmatic of 1971 and its export ES were automatic screw-mount SLRs, with aperture priority, and on Ricoh’s 1976 date the Fujica ST901 of 1974 also came first. In 1977 Ricoh moved to the K bayonet with the XR-1 and XR-2 (camera-wiki; Ricoh’s model list; Ricoh’s XR-1/XR-2 page gives September 1977).

Three versions turn up. The Ricoh-badged body came in chrome, the finish in Ricoh’s own manual, and in black, which a 1974 dealer advertisement priced $11.95 above the standard body. The US discount guides list only black kits: with the f/1.7 EE, $349.95 in 1974, $389.95 in 1976 and $364.95 in 1977. The Sears version reads AUTO|TLS with SEARS below it on the front, carries an emblem on the prism instead of RICOH, and comes with a lens engraved SEARS AUTO EE. Ricoh’s own way to tell the body from the SLX 500 is the smaller stop-down lever and the self-timer lever on the front. The two flash sockets, FP and X, on the right of the mount and the Lens Selection Dial at the rewind knob also identify it. Ricoh and Japanese Wikipedia give the SLX 500 a slower shutter, 1/30 to 1/500, and Japanese Wikipedia says it has no self-timer.

When buying one, check the meter first. The cell is a mercury type, EPX625 or RM625 in both manuals, though camera-wiki lists a 1.35V PX675. Modern substitutes do not all give the same voltage, so check the meter against a known one. The meter switches on with the advance lever and off when the shutter fires. Test the automation with an EE lens set to EE at several speeds, and watch the lens close to the needle’s stop; then check that the needle moves smoothly across the scale and the red under- and overexposure marks. B disconnects the automation, which is expected and not a fault. Ricoh warned against setting an EE lens down on its rear pins, so check them for bent or stuck pins and the lens for a diaphragm that closes cleanly. The shutter is mechanical, so a body with a dead meter still takes pictures at every speed, but without the meter the EE system that is the point of the camera is gone.

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This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

Black Ricoh Auto TLS EE with the Auto Rikenon EE 50mm f/1.7 — Joost J. Bakker IJmuiden, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

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