Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Ricoh Auto Half

Ricoh · Fixed lens · 18×24 mm on 35mm film · 1962

Also known as: Ricoh Autohalf · Ricoh Auto-Half · リコー オートハーフ · Ansco Memo II · Revue Auto Half

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Auto Half (1962) Half-frame 1962 — No figure published; 'a massive hit, particularly with female consumers' (Ricoh)
Auto Half S Half-frame 1965 — No figure published
Auto Half E and E2 Half-frame 1966 — No figure published
Auto Half SE and SE2 Half-frame 1967 — No figure published
Auto Half SL (1970) Half-frame 1970 — No figure published
Auto Half EF and EF2 Half-frame 1976 — No figure published
  1. The start date is disputed below. Ricoh's own history places the camera in 1962 and calls it a massive hit; McKeown, via camera-wiki, gives c.1960–63 for the first version.
  2. The Auto Half SL of 1970 carries a 35mm f/1.7 with zone focus, a different lens from the 25mm f/2.8 on every other Auto Half. By the strict rule it would be its own page; it stays here because Ricoh sold it inside the same line under the same name, and because no source treats it as anything but an Auto Half with a faster lens.
  3. Pentax's 2024 Pentax 17 names the Auto Half as one of the two lenses its optics descend from. That is Ricoh Imaging's own statement and it is on the Pentax 17 page.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • A flat rectangle the size of a cigarette case with a patterned front plate and a lens in a selenium ring
  • No advance lever or wheel: a knob on the base winds a spring and the camera advances itself
  • Sold rebadged as the GAF Ansco Memo II and the Revue Auto Half S

Auto Half (1962):

  • 25mm f/2.8, four elements in three groups, fixed focus
  • Selenium cell ringing the lens sets the aperture; the shutter runs 1/125 on automatic and 1/30 for flash, with a manual aperture override
  • Spring motor for 25–30 frames a wind; a flat rectangular body with a decorative front panel that changed with the fashion

Auto Half S:

  • Self-timer added, no accessory shoe; sold by Foto-Quelle as the Revue Auto Half S

Auto Half E and E2:

  • Improved finder (E); a centre-mounted accessory shoe (E2)

Auto Half SE and SE2:

  • The S with a simplified override knob (SE, 1967); a hot shoe (SE2)

Auto Half SL (1970):

  • A different lens: 35mm f/1.7 with three-zone focus (0.8, 1.5, 5 m–∞), and a CdS meter

Auto Half EF and EF2:

  • A permanently attached electronic flash, fixed on the EF and popping up on the EF2

Specifications

Format
18×24 mm on 35mm film · 72 exposures
Finder
Direct-vision optical finder · no rangefinder image
Shutter
Leaf, two speeds · 1/125 on automatic, 1/30 for flash and manual aperture
Film advance
Clockwork spring motor, 25–30 frames per wind
Meter
Selenium ring around the lens setting the aperture automatically, with manual override; CdS on the SL
Country
Japan

Where sources disagree

Introduction
  • 1962 (Ricoh's company history)
  • c.1960–1963 for the first version (McKeown's price guide, cited by camera-wiki)

Better supported: Ricoh's 1962

Ricoh's own history is the maker's word; McKeown's range is a collector's dating that brackets it. The 1960 end of that range appears in no Ricoh document found for this entry.

What reviewers say

History

The Auto Half asked nothing of its owner. Ricoh released it in 1962 — its own history says so, and calls it a massive hit, particularly with women — as a flat rectangle the size of a cigarette case with a 25mm f/2.8 fixed at a distance that kept most things sharp, a selenium ring around the lens that chose the aperture, a shutter that ran 1/125 on automatic and 1/30 for flash, and a spring motor in the base that advanced the film for twenty-five or thirty frames a wind. There is no focusing, no speed to set and no lever to pull. The front plate carried a pattern, and the patterns changed with the years, which is why an Auto Half is dated by its face.

Ricoh kept it going for eighteen years in a dozen forms: the S with a self-timer, the E and E2 with a better finder and a shoe, the SE and SE2, the EF and EF2 with a flash bolted on. The SL of 1970 broke the pattern with a 35mm f/1.7 and three focus zones; it is on this page because Ricoh sold it as an Auto Half and no one has ever treated it otherwise, and the note above says why that bends the usual rule. GAF sold it as the Ansco Memo II and Foto-Quelle as the Revue Auto Half S.

Analog.Cafe found tolerances and a film-door latch that explain why so many still work, and an adjuster inside for the fading selenium cell. In 2024 Ricoh Imaging named the Auto Half, with the Espio mini, as the lens the Pentax 17 descends from.

Expand Collapse

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.

Example photos

Sample photo taken with the Ricoh Auto Half
Ricoh Auto Half E with a patterned faceplate — Fabian Reus from Tokyo, Japan, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Sample photo taken with the Ricoh Auto Half
Auto Half: the lens in its selenium ring, the finder above — Hiyotada, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Ricoh Auto Half? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $120 across 43 fixed-price listings on 2026-10-19 (middle half $90–$160). Tracked since 2026-09-06, 9 days: up 13% from $100.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-10-19$120$90–$16043
2026-10-18$120$90–$16043
2026-10-17$120$90–$16043
2026-10-16$100$90–$18041
2026-10-15$100$90–$16042
2026-09-21$100$78–$14048
2026-09-18$100$90–$14047
2026-09-11$100$88–$170135
2026-09-06$100$88–$170135

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 96 more listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-10-19. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Canon Dial 35 · Kodak Ektar H35 · Pentax 17

Sources (5)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.