Got a new used camera- is it any good?

[Outdoorsman]

I inherited a P&S camera from a relative.
"You're into taking pictures, right? Here's this old camera I don't use anymore. I got a digital so I don't need this old film thing anyway."
It's a Ricoh FF-7D. "D" for Date model. 35mm F/3.5 autofocus lens. Built-in flash. Has some modes: panorama, night shot, multiple exposure, TV, continuous shooting and interval. The TV mode, according to the 4 little photocopied pages from the manual, is for "taking pictures from a TV screen." No kidding! The interval mode is for taking picures at set intervals it says. I'm wondering what market segment this camera was aimed at. Your usual compact doesn't do multiple exposures or "interval" photography. It also has what appears to be a mid-roll rewind button on the bottom near the tripod socket. You can't manually deploy the flash, though. I guess you'd have to block the meter with your hand or something to fool it into thinking it's dark.
So my question: is this a decent little camera or was she unloading her junk onto me? Anyone know of these cameras? I've never shot Ricoh, and their website doesn't even list film cameras. Oh, and the battery was $14. Ouch! Should I dump this thing or what? And where do I get a manual?
This thing feels solidly built but the romance ends there. Its pretty clunky in the hand and the AF is so slow it's not really worth it. The film wind is as noisy as my old worn-out EOS 650. The controls are less than intuituve, etc... I want to hate it but I was looking for a little snapshot camera to pack around with me. What have I got here?

[another view]

The "TV Mode" makes me wonder, never heard of that! It may not be the greatest camera, but you can't beat the price. This way, you're more likely to take it out in the rain or some place you wouldn't want to bring an expensive camera. Because of this maybe you'll get a great shot that you wouldn't otherwise have.

Did you Google it to see if you can find some info?

[92135011]

Are you sure?
On a canon, Tv means shutter priority. At least on the T70 it is.

Well if its a P&S then maybe not....
P&S generally dont end up being worth much
If you want film, then SLR or (rarer) rangefinder is the way to go.
I would even go as far to say that film P&S is starting to go obsolete with the declining price of AE/AF SLR dropping every season. Problem is that along with the price drop, there is also some decline of quality.

Plus Ricoh isnt one of those well brands that gives a twitch out of anyone.
Soundds like you dont like it too much too...so...I think you know the answer

[Outdoorsman]

AV- you're right- there's a really nasty storm just passing over the west coast and the swells and rainfall are pretty cool. I would rather ruin the free camera than my $300 camera. 400 speed print film and away I go! I searched the 'net first before I posted this question- I got no specific results. Oh well... I'll have to diligently ;) experiment and see how everything works.
92135011- yeah, that's what it said. Do know the difference also- I shoot an Elan 7N and a 650 for a backup. I too was mystefied by their description of the mode. But hey, if the thing even has variable shutter speeds (assuming that their "TV" mode means that it shoots the fastest shutter speed possible for the given situation) then this might not be so bad a lightbox. I guess I have a few test rolls to shoot. First impressions can be misleading, they say.
Thanks guys!

[another view]

assuming that their "TV" mode means that it shoots the fastest shutter speed possible for the given situation

Might do the opposite, actually. I've never tried it but heard that you need 1/30 or slower or you'll see a line thru it. If you've ever seen someone sitting at a computer on TV, this happens a lot. Same was true for older fluorescent lighting - faster than 1/30 and you might see a flicker inside the tube. Newer fluorescents (last 10 years or so) don't have this issue though. Try it out, see what it does...

[Clemmie]

Television Sync Speed? What will we think of next?

OK - 60 hertz AC power on the set, is gonna give 60 on and 60 off pulses per second. (Likewise 50 and 50 for the 50 hertz standard). So a 1/30 shutter speed is going to catch 2 on's and 2 off's while the shutter is open.

Given that the picture is 'on' half the time and 'off' half the time, allowance will need to be made for the lighting.

Then, we'll need to consider what type of shutter we have. A leaf shutter, like on a medium format, will pretty well 'sync up' in real time. Curtain shutters are a bit trickier - effectively a slit moving across the film plane, instead of exposing the frame all at once. Thus we're likely to get a 'banded' picture from the subject, regardless of what speed we're using.

Are we having fun yet?

[Outdoorsman]

I shot a few b&w frames of a NASCAR race a while ago, straight off the TV. I used a fast shutter to stop the action, and none of the frames have a line. I actually expected all of them to be "lined" but they worked out. There was also a shot of Bush giving a speech and it was fine also. I know I used a fater shutter than 1/30, just can't recall the specific value. I have been looking into video cameras for the Peru surf trip in the spring, and I see mode for this on some of the higher end models. This mode is specifically for shooting with computer monitors and TV screens in the shot. Gets rid of the line, they say. I will have to take another look and see what it specifically does to accomplish the line-free footage. The Canon GL-2 camcorder: "Clear Scan: When shooting the display screen of a personal computer or a TV, a noticeable rolling black bar or flickering may appear. This can be eliminated by adjusting the scanning frequency setting on the camcorder."
But I think you may be right. The 1/30 speed would be just about right for hand-holding the camera (35mm lens). We shall see...

[Chunk]

The need for 1/30 or slower for TV photos is due to the refresh rate and interlaced fields rather than the frequency of the supplied current. http://www.audiovideo101.com/learn/a...dtv/hdtv08.asp
The first paragraph applies to conventional TV in the US. (NTSC)