Ricoh Singlex TLS

Ricoh · M42 mount · 24×36mm on 135 film (Ricoh) · 1967

via machine translation — corrections welcome

Also known as: Ricoh Singlex TLS · Singlex TLS · Ricoh TLS Singlex · TLS Singlex · Ricoh TLS · Sears TLS · Sears T.L.S. · Sears T•L•S · Focal 1000 TLX · Kmart Focal 1000 TLX · K-Mart Focal 1000 TLX · リコーシングレックス TLS · シングレックスTLS

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Ricoh Singlex TLS, SINGLEX on the prism	M42	1967	—	—
Ricoh Singlex TLS, RICOH on the prism	M42	—	—	—
Sears T.L.S. (SEARS on the prism)	M42	1967	—	—
Sears T.L.S., 1971 restyle, chrome	M42	1971	—	—
Sears T.L.S., 1971 restyle, black	M42	1971	—	—
Ricoh Focal 1000 TLX (Kmart)	M42	—	—	—

Camera-wiki links to a collector's page on a black Ricoh Singlex TLS, but no photograph of one is on record and no Ricoh document mentions a black body. Black is documented only for the 1971 Sears T.L.S., so a black Ricoh is not listed as a version here.
Other names: camera-wiki lists the Chinonflex TTL and, from it, the Porst Uniflex TTL, which leaves a small Chinon badge visible; Eckman adds the Revueflex 1000S TTL, Revue Superflex TTL, Riaflex TTL and Prinzflex Super TTL. None of these carries a Ricoh name, and they may be Chinon-built Copal Square bodies rather than Ricoh rebadges, so they are not listed as versions until one is compared side by side with a TLS.
Matt's Classic Cameras has seen the camera badged Cavalier, said to be the house brand of Willoughby's in New York; Japanese Wikipedia's gallery puts the Sigma Mark-I of 1975, an OEM body for Sigma, beside the TLS. Neither is confirmed by a second source.
camera-wiki notes a resemblance to the Cosina Hi-Lite but says the bodies do not match exactly. Matt's Classic Cameras and aperturepreview both say the design was licensed to Cosina, and aperturepreview names its own Argus 1000 as a Cosina-made example; Ricoh says nothing about it.
The SR monogram of the 1971 Sears body is read as letters blended with an atom by Eckman and camera-wiki and as a butterfly by Matt's Classic Cameras and aperturepreview. It is the same logo.
No production figures and no serial-number tables are published for any version.

How to tell them apart (expand)

Round shutter-speed dial on the body front to the left of the mount (Ricoh's identification note), with the ASA window in it; nothing on the top plate to the right of the prism except the release, counter and lever (Eckman)
SINGLEX on the prism = early Ricoh; RICOH on the prism = later Ricoh; SEARS on the prism = 1967 Sears; SR monogram = 1971 Sears (camera-wiki)
Ordinary eye-level prism housing: the TLS 401's finder housing is slightly larger, with a finder-switching knob on its left as you face it, and the Singlex II has its speed dial on the top plate (Ricoh)
Meter on/off switch on the side of the mirror box, two PC sockets on the left end (Eckman)

Ricoh Singlex TLS, SINGLEX on the prism:

SINGLEX in capitals across the front of the prism, and TLS alone on the left front shoulder (camera-wiki; Commons photographs by s58y and Clément Bucco-Lechat)
Only a small Ricoh script badge on the right of the body front, beside the mount; the RICOH name is not on the prism
Round shutter-speed dial on the body front to the left of the mount (Ricoh), with the ASA window in it and the self-timer lever below it (Commons photographs)

Ricoh Singlex TLS, RICOH on the prism:

RICOH in bold capitals across the front of the prism, and SINGLEX TLS together on the left front shoulder (camera-wiki; Commons photographs by dw_ross, Kurt Bauschardt and Bilby)
The small Ricoh script badge stays on the right of the body front

Sears T.L.S. (SEARS on the prism):

SEARS nameplate on the prism front and T•L•S, with red dots between the letters, on the shoulder (camera-wiki)
The 1967 catalogue outfit had a 55mm f/1.4 engraved Auto Sears (Eckman); Matt's Classic Cameras' later black body also came with an Auto Sears, while Eckman's black body carries an Auto Rikenon, so the lens alone does not identify the body

Sears T.L.S., 1971 restyle, chrome:

A stylised SR monogram on the prism instead of the SEARS nameplate, with a narrow strip of body covering across the prism front (Eckman; Commons photograph by Кузнецов)
A small SEARS nameplate at the bottom right of the body front (camera-wiki; Commons photograph by Кузнецов)
T•L•S still on the left shoulder; chrome top and base plates

Sears T.L.S., 1971 restyle, black:

Black paint on the body, prism and plates, with the SR monogram on the prism and a black-painted advance lever (Eckman; camera-wiki photograph by David Sides)
Otherwise the same markings as the chrome 1971 body

Ricoh Focal 1000 TLX (Kmart):

FOCAL 1000 TLX naming for the Kmart chain, with a Ricoh badge kept on the body front (camera-wiki)
The instruction book's cover reads RICOH FOCAL 1000 TLX (Butkus scan)

Ricoh Singlex TLS, SINGLEX on the prism: camera-wiki says the lower-serial examples carry Singlex as the main name and Ricoh only on a small secondary badge. No serial number at which the badge changed is published.
Ricoh Singlex TLS, RICOH on the prism: The later badge, by camera-wiki's account. Japanese Wikipedia captions a photograph of one as a late body of about 1970, with a question mark, and says the emblem changed with the production period. Mechanically the same camera as the SINGLEX-badge body.
Sears T.L.S. (SEARS on the prism): The same camera as the Ricoh with a different nameplate (Eckman). Sears sold it only as a kit: $197.00 with the 55mm f/1.4 Auto Sears in the Spring/Summer 1967 catalogue, with wide and telephoto lenses at $68.50 each, and a Sears store advertisement in the Albuquerque Journal of 20 December 1967, reproduced by Eckman, offered it with an f/1.8 lens and case at $144.88, regular $169.85. The cover of the Sears instruction book lists four outfits: 3 7323 with an f/1.7 lens, 3 7324 with f/1.8, 3 7325 with f/1.4 in chrome trim and 3 7360 with f/1.4 in black trim. Matt's Classic Cameras gives f/2.8, f/1.8 and f/1.4 lenses "according to the manual".
Sears T.L.S., 1971 restyle, chrome: camera-wiki finds the restyle in the Sears Fall/Winter 1971 catalogue; Eckman shows it in the Christmas 1971 catalogue, where the chrome camera was $149.50 and the black $179.50 (both catalogue prices, with the lens). Mechanically unchanged, with the same lens (Eckman).
Sears T.L.S., 1971 restyle, black: $179.50 in the Christmas 1971 Sears catalogue against $149.50 for chrome, the usual premium for black (Eckman). The Sears instruction book lists a black-trim outfit with the f/1.4 lens, catalogue number 3 7360. Eckman and Matt's Classic Cameras both shot black examples; Matt notes the chrome Sears and Ricoh bodies are easier to find.
Ricoh Focal 1000 TLX (Kmart): camera-wiki lists it as the Kmart version and says it keeps the Ricoh badge and Ricoh-branded instructions. Its book describes a micro-split-image focusing aid where the Singlex TLS book describes a microprism, specifies the same EPX625/RM625R cell and gives flash sync up to 1/125, and says the camera came with a 55mm lens.

Specifications

Format: 24×36mm on 135 film (Ricoh)
Finder: fixed pentaprism, eye level
Shutter: Copal Square metal-blade focal plane (Ricoh), vertical travel (camera-wiki; Japanese Wikipedia; Eckman) · 1s–1/1000, B · flash sync 1/125 (Ricoh); the instruction book gives 1/30 to 1/125 on the X socket for electronic flash; separate M and X PC sockets on the left of the body; no hot shoe, an optional clip-on accessory shoe fits the eyepiece (Eckman) · self-timer
Film advance: single-stroke lever, which cocks the shutter and advances the counter; a throw of a little over 100° (Eckman)
Back: hinged, opened by pulling up the rewind knob
Meter: CdS, through the lens, stop-down only, with a match needle in the finder. Pushing the meter switch on the side of the mirror box up turns the meter on and stops the lens down; turning it off reopens an automatic lens (instruction book; Eckman). One 1.35V mercury 625-size cell in the base. ASA 25–1600 per camera-wiki and Matt's Classic Cameras; Eckman reads 20–1600.
Weight: 720 g
Dimensions: 147 × 95 × 50 (Ricoh); weight_g is Ricoh's figure for the body only mm
Country: Japan
Original price: ¥51,000 with the f/1.4 lens and ¥42,000 with an f/1.8, case ¥2,500, Japan, 1967: Ricoh's list prices. Sears TLS: $197.00 with the 55mm f/1.4 Auto Sears in the Spring/Summer 1967 catalogue; $149.50 chrome and $179.50 black, with lens, in the Christmas 1971 catalogue; $144.88 (regular $169.85) with an f/1.8 lens and case in an Albuquerque Sears store advertisement of December 1967, a store price (Eckman). None of the sources says whether tax or shipping is included. (today ¥209,000)
Accessories: Clip-on accessory shoe on the eyepiece (Eckman; camera-wiki calls it optional) · Case, ¥2,500 in Japan (Ricoh) · Bellows attachment, extension ring set and microscope attachment (instruction book)

Microprism spot in the centre, a ground-glass collar and a fine matte field (Eckman; the Singlex TLS instruction book). Eckman's specification table gives 95% coverage at 0.8×; Ricoh publishes neither figure. Match needle on the right of the field.

Where sources disagree

Year

June 1967, Japanese release — Ricoh's camera list; camera-wiki
January 1964 — Japanese Wikipedia's list of Ricoh cameras
Orders from 1 November 1966 for the Sears TLS — a Sears advertisement as reported by aperturepreview
Christmas 1966 Sears catalogue for the Sears TLS — camera-wiki's table of Sears cameras

Better supported: 1967

The 1964 date contradicts the Ricoh page that the Wikipedia entry itself cites. The 1966 dates are for the Sears version in the United States, not the Japanese release: the Sears advertisement is known only from aperturepreview's description, and camera-wiki's own Sears TLS page gives Spring/Summer 1967 as its first catalogue appearance.

Weight (grams)

720g body only — Ricoh; camera-wiki
752g body only, 1,064g with the 55mm f/1.4 — Eckman, weighing a Sears body
748.4g (26.4oz) body only — Matt's Classic Cameras, weighing a Sears body
748g body only — s58y, weighing a Ricoh body (Commons file description)

Better supported: 720

The heavier figures are owners' weighings and may include a cap or cell.

Meter battery

625 size, Eveready EPX625 or Mallory RM625R — the Singlex TLS and Focal 1000 TLX instruction books; Eckman
675, 1.3V mercury — camera-wiki; Matt's Classic Cameras (who then fitted a 625 and had it work)

Better supported: 625

What reviewers say

Mike Eckman (blog) — A black 1971 Sears TLS with the 55mm f/1.4, shot on high-contrast copy film: a heavy, plain, all-mechanical body with a bright screen and a lens that is sharp stopped down. His nitpicks are a loud shutter, a sharp-edged advance lever and the front-mounted speed dial. Better than the sum of its parts, he concludes, but of little interest to collectors. Includes the Sears catalogue prices and the 1971 restyle.
Matt's Classic Cameras (blog) — A black Sears TLS bought for its styling: rugged, all metal, with a Copal Square shutter, his favourite mechanical shutter, and an f/1.4 he calls as sharp as a pin. Records a meter that only worked a couple of minutes after a fresh 625 cell went in, new foam for the mirror bumper, and a wind jam cured by greasing a sliding arm under the base plate.

History

The Singlex TLS is the camera Ricoh could not build until someone else made the shutter. By Ricoh’s own account the company lost its cloth focal-plane shutter skills when its factories went over to war work, which is why its first SLR, the Nikon-mount Singlex of 1962, was bought in from a subcontractor (aperturepreview names Mamiya) and its first home-built one, the 35 Flex of 1964, had a leaf shutter. When Copal began selling its Copal Square, a complete vertical-travel metal-blade focal-plane unit, Ricoh had what it needed. The TLS went on sale in Japan in June 1967 with that shutter (1 second to 1/1000 and B, flash at 1/125), a fixed pentaprism, the M42 thread that Ricoh’s own list calls the Praktica mount, and a CdS meter reading through the lens with the lens stopped down. It cost ¥51,000 with the 55mm f/1.4 and ¥42,000 with an f/1.8, Ricoh’s list prices, and weighed 720g as a body.

It is a plain camera, and one layout detail sets it apart. The shutter-speed dial is not on the top plate but on the front of the body, to the left of the mount, with the film-speed window set into it and the self-timer lever below. To meter, you push up the switch on the side of the mirror box. That stops the lens down and wakes the needle on the right of the finder, and you turn the dial or the aperture ring until the needle sits level. Switching off reopens an automatic lens for focusing. There are separate M and X sockets and no hot shoe; a clip-on shoe fits the eyepiece. The instruction book singles out the 55mm f/2.8, which has AUTO and MANUAL scales on its aperture ring and needs setting differently from the other Auto Rikenons. Any M42 lens fits, and the book lists Ricoh’s own range from a 21mm f/3.8 to preset 600mm and 800mm f/8 lenses, with zooms, a fisheye and a 60mm macro. The Auto Rikenon EE lenses made for the Auto TLS EE also fit: set to a marked aperture, they meter stop-down like any other Auto Rikenon, and their EE setting gives shutter-priority automation only on the Auto TLS EE.

There are two Ricoh badges and three Sears versions. Early bodies, which camera-wiki associates with lower serial numbers, carry SINGLEX on the prism and TLS alone on the shoulder, with Ricoh only on a small script badge beside the mount. Later ones put RICOH on the prism and move SINGLEX TLS to the shoulder. Sears sold it in the United States as the T.L.S. A Sears advertisement reported by aperturepreview says it could not be ordered before 1 November 1966, and camera-wiki’s table of Sears cameras dates it to the Christmas 1966 catalogue, which may put the Sears version on sale before the Japanese one. The first version has SEARS on the prism and T•L•S with red dots on the shoulder, and was $197 with a 55mm f/1.4 Auto Sears in the Spring/Summer 1967 catalogue. A Sears store in Albuquerque was advertising it with an f/1.8 lens at $144.88, regular $169.85, that December. In 1971 Sears restyled it with an SR monogram on the prism, a strip of covering across the prism front and a small nameplate low on the body. The new style came in chrome at $149.50 or black at $179.50 in the Christmas 1971 catalogue, both catalogue prices. The Sears instruction book lists the camera with f/1.7, f/1.8 and f/1.4 lenses, the f/1.4 in chrome or black trim. Kmart had it as the Focal 1000 TLX, which kept a Ricoh badge and came with a Ricoh-branded instruction book. Other names attached to the design, such as the Chinonflex TTL, the Porst Uniflex TTL and a list of Revue, Riaflex and Prinz names, carry no Ricoh name and are not confirmed as the same camera.

The design carried on in Ricoh’s later M42 bodies. The Ricohflex TLS 401 of October 1970 keeps the Copal Square and stop-down metering but swaps the glass prism for a hollow moulded-resin pentamirror that can be viewed at eye or waist level. The Singlex II of 1976, export only, is by Ricoh’s account a cost-reduced TLS 401 with an ordinary prism and the speed dial moved to the top plate; Ricoh’s list calls its metering open-aperture, but its instruction book describes stop-down metering, as on the TLS. The SLX 500 of 1975, whose design Ricoh contracted out, and the Auto TLS EE built on the SLX 500’s shell are different cameras, with horizontal cloth shutters instead of the Copal Square. Ricoh’s list dates the Auto TLS EE to 1976, but American magazines had it on sale by mid-1973. Ricoh dropped the screw mount for the Pentax K bayonet with the XR-1 and XR-2 of 1977.

When buying, check the meter first. It was designed for a 1.35V mercury 625 cell, which the Ricoh and Kmart books both specify (camera-wiki says 675). Matt’s Classic Cameras found that a meter which seemed dead came back after a fresh cell had been in for a few minutes. The foam light seals and mirror bumper will have perished: Eckman’s seals needed replacing, and Matt found his seals gummy and the bumper foam shedding onto the mirror. Matt’s body jammed on the wind until a sliding arm under the base plate was greased, and he warns that disturbing the plate holding it can stop the shutter cocking. The Copal Square is the strong point; Matt’s Classic Cameras finds these shutters still strong and accurate decades on. The shutter is loud, and the advance lever’s bare metal tip is sharp. No production figures or serial tables are published. Eckman’s view is that the Sears versions have little appeal to collectors, though he and Matt’s Classic Cameras both chose the black 1971 Sears body for its looks.

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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

Ricoh Singlex TLS — Early Singlex TLS with SINGLEX on the prism and the Auto Rikenon 55mm f/1.4 — s58y, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

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