First results from Ricoh 519

Hi,

I'm not sure if this the right place for this, or not, but it IS a classic manual camera. I'm sure someone will let me know if I've done something wrong.

Anyway, since people seemed interested in the Ricoh 519 I recently acquired, I thought I'd share the results of the first roll I've shot with it. For the most part, I seem to have gotten close enough to correct exposure using a Sunny 16 approximation. The only problem with this is that, since it has a top speed of 1/500, I had to shoot fully stopped down most of the time. Or maybe it was all the time. It was a couple weeks ago, and I didn't take notes.

These are tweaked versions of the 300dpi scans that were the only option provided by the photofinisher. I was expecting bigger and better for the price. I haven't done a lot to these. I let LightRoom do its Auto-adjust, but made some minor exposure adjustments, too. I did some noise reduction on some, bumped the colors just a tad on some, and adjusted the WB on most.

The first batch are all from the Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza in downtown Phoenix, AZ. This park is situated between the Statehouse and the Supreme Court building, and contains 30 memorials to various groups for various reasons. All of which make it one of the more photogenic locations in Phoenix.

A few views of the Korean Friendship Bell

A few views of the USS Arizona Memorial

Oops... a couple more...

The Peace Officer Memorial (with Christmas decorations)

The Bill of Rights Memorial. The light was starting to get good by the time I got to this one.

And a few from elsewhere in the city. This is my favorite tree. It's opposite the bus stop I used to use to get home.

Some kind of Hispanic-oriented street fair I stumbled into.

I think I forgot to adjust the exposure on this one.

Hiyo Silver! Or, copper, more likely.

Flowering Century Plant, with a lovely temporary fence behind it. There was some kind of shindig for the high and mighty taking place there, so they needed to keep the riff-raff (like me) out.

Twilight coming on

Picture of the camera - slower film depending on conditions, several different density ND filters. Nice shots! Good fun.

Pix of the camera are in my previous post about it; Ricoh Five One Nine

I have a ton of filters, but this lens needs tiny ones that I'm going to have to find somewhere.

My Ricoh's take 40.5 & 43 mm for the small lenses, but those are GXR Modules. Missed the earlier post, sorry!

No worries. I'd forgotten about the GXR until you mentioned it. Do you have a post on your experience with it?

Nice work! They're certainly a beautiful camera to handle, in my opinion, and you've demonstrated the fine quality of the lens. It's a 6 element / four group f/1.9 lens manufactured by Tomioka Optical, a lens that seems to appear under different guises on a variety of higher-class Japanese rangefinders of the era. As I recall, the Five-One-Nine takes a 43mm lens hood. Thanks for the post.

Thanks, Rick. I probably didn't really do the lens justice, but they're not bad for the first roll of film I've (successfully) shot in at least 20 years. Do you think this is the same lens used in Canon's Canonet QL19? And would Tomioka have made the f/1.7 version, too?

Nice work. That 519 is a fine performing camera. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, Mike!

No worries. I'd forgotten about the GXR until you mentioned it. Do you have a post on your experience with it?

Procrastination is something I have taken to the level of an art form - I have planned to do a lengthy article on it and its accessories for some time. Short version - I bought it initially to enable use my Dad's Leica lenses on an affordable digital camera. I was very impressed with it and acquired an additional body, and in the course of a year, virtually all of the modules and accessories that were made for it. I have found it to be a remarkable, sophisticated, and underrated system that can obtained for very little money, given patience and careful shopping online. I'd guess somewhere around 20% of the shots I post are taken with the GXR instead of the Nikons. I'll see if I can put something together to post.

I've enjoyed mine for years. Your pics look just fine. You don't need to shoot fully stopped down if you either use slower film or ND filters. Standard screw-in filters are readily available and screw into the front outer perimeter threads -43mm. If you're lucky enough to have the matching metal lens hood, you can screw into it's retaining ring 41mm or Series VI filters. Since I usually use my camera with Tri-X outdoors, I keep a K2 filter installed which both increases contrast and reduces the ISO by 50%.

I do have a hood for it, now, and an original Ricoh lens cap that fits. I didn't at the time I shot this roll. I bought a 500 just for the accessories that came with it, including the hood and some Kodak Wratten Series VI filters, in the original boxes and cases, that seem to be designed to be held in place by the hood, which was also made by Kodak.

But, to make this work, I also have to use the step-up ring adapter that also came with them, because the Kodak hood's thread diameter is larger than the lens's. Oddly, the adapter is not Kodak brand, but an EdnaLite product. So, maybe the Kodak accessories weren't intended for this camera. They were probably made for Kodak cameras, but they should work just fine. What I got is an X1 (Green #11) and a K2 (Yellow #8).

The adapter ring is interesting because the box say it's for RICOH 500-519 Riken, Riken 45mm f:2.8, AIRES 35 & III, and Coral 45mm f:1.9 (their capitalization). I had never heard of EdnaLite, before, but I also got an EdnaLite 85A that works with the same system. I guess they were another private labeler.

I also got another hood, made by Kenko, that has some odd ventilation(?) holes in it. The holes encircle the lens, alternating between quite small and very long, three of each. No idea what the purpose was. Weight reduction, maybe? They don't align with anything that would benefit from them, that I can see. And this hood doesn't seem to accommodate any filters. The only markings on it say 'K6/58'. I take 58 to be the diameter of the outer ring, as it measures about 2 1/4 inches or about 58mm.

Another odd thing is that nothing else in this pile, including the step-up ring, has any diameter markings on it.

Nicely done!

Several years ago I got interested in some Ricoh cameras and found them much, much better than I had expected e.g., (LINK)

The move to SLRs made many of us miss how really good many of these small rangefinders were.

Do you think this is the same lens used in Canon's Canonet QL19? And would Tomioka have made the f/1.7 version, too?

I've not seen a hint that Tomioka made lenses for Canon, but there's always that possibility. Many Japanese cameras of this era were constructed from parts supplied by smaller, specialist manufacturers, who perhaps made leather coverings, milled knobs, shutters, lenses, etc. This is why there is a similarity in features among many of the cameras. Tomioka was eventually absorbed by Yashica and was responsible for many of the excellent Yashinon lenses. This particular lens, I suspect, was used by Aires and Beauty, to name just a couple. As for the f/1.7, I really have no knowledge...

In reference to the filters, I see the manual for the Ricoh 500 refers to two threaded areas around the lens, and an inspection of my copy seems to confirm this. There is an internal thread surrounding the name ring around the glass, which accepts 34mm filters, and the external 43mm thread for the lens hood. The Five One Nine appears to lack this inner thread.

Procrastination is something I have taken to the level of an art form - I have planned to do a lengthy article on it and its accessories for some time. Short version - I bought it initially to enable use my Dad's Leica lenses on an affordable digital camera. I was very impressed with it and acquired an additional body, and in the course of a year, virtually all of the modules and accessories that were made for it. I have found it to be a remarkable, sophisticated, and underrated system that can obtained for very little money, given patience and careful shopping online. I'd guess somewhere around 20% of the shots I post are taken with the GXR instead of the Nikons. I'll see if I can put something together to post.

I hear that! That's why I couldn't post these a month ago :D Your reply prompted me to go looking for GXRs, and I think they may have gone up in price since you last looked. Nothing cheap about them now, by my standards. But, I don't have any Leica lenses to put on one, anyway.

Nothing cheap about them now, by my standards.

The all of the GXR stuff has gone up quite a bit since I started buying it, but if you watch you can find bargains. I bought a GXR with 24-72 module, wide angle add on lens and appropriate fitting to mount it for $118 delivered back at the beginning of December. At this moment there are a $75 and $100 buy it now on the 'Bay.

Nicely done!

 

Several years ago I got interested in some Ricoh cameras and found them much, much better than I had expected e.g., (LINK)

 

The move to SLRs made many of us miss how really good many of these small rangefinders were.

Thanks! I had the same pleasant surprise when I got my hands on my first Ricoh, despite having been told, long ago, how good they were.

Ednalite produced lots of filters in the 1950s for a variety of cameras. The hood you have with the holes in it are there so that when properly rotated on the lens, the framing lines of the viewfinder and the view aren't obscured. Also the Kodak hood, if it is like the ones in my odds & ends box known as the Kodak Universal or Series VI, has 44mm threads. You can use an adapter ring to fit it on the Ricoh, but it is larger in diameter than the Ricoh ones and does partially obscure the view in the viewfinder.

Absolutely correct, about the Kodak hood. But enough is still visible to make it workable. I haven't yet tried the Kenko hood with the holes, but you may be right. Thanks!

I've not seen a hint that Tomioka made lenses for Canon, but there's always that possibility. Many Japanese cameras of this era were constructed from parts supplied by smaller, specialist manufacturers, who perhaps made leather coverings, milled knobs, shutters, lenses, etc. This is why there is a similarity in features among many of the cameras. Tomioka was eventually absorbed by Yashica and was responsible for many of the excellent Yashinon lenses. This particular lens, I suspect, was used by Aires and Beauty, to name just a couple. As for the f/1.7, I really have no knowledge...

Thanks, Rick. What I like most about this forum is the massive amount of cumulative knowledge here, and the willingness to share it. Your point about the specialist manufacturers makes total sense when one thinks about historical Japanese production methods. Samurai swords, to take the most familiar example, were always the product of a team of master craftsmen; one would produce the blade, with the help of his apprentices; another would sharpen the blade; a third would supply the fittings; another would make the scabbard, and another the handle. Of course, cars are made this way, too, but the tradition is an ancient one. The funny thing is, no one thinks twice about it when it comes to cars, but people get all outraged when they learn that a camera manufacturer didn't make every little part and piece.

In reference to the filters, I see the manual for the Ricoh 500 refers to two threaded areas around the lens, and an inspection of my copy seems to confirm this. There is an internal thread surrounding the name ring around the glass, which accepts 34mm filters, and the external 43mm thread for the lens hood. The Five One Nine appears to lack this inner thread.

Well, that's interesting. I had not noticed that difference, but you're right. It seems odd that the presumably more expensive model would lack a useful feature found on the less expensive model. But, where in the manual did you find that? I looked in my 500 manual, and didn't see it.

The only reference I see to the hood is on page 22, where it states that it's 43mm, but it says nothing about inner or outer rings. On the next page, it talks about Filters being "a NECCESSARY PART of your picture-taking equipment" (their emphasis), and says they're 34mm, but it doesn't say how they are to be affixed to the camera. The filter in the image they used doesn't appear to have any threads, which aligns with my experience, but seems odd, given the threads on the 500's lens.

500 on the Left, 519 on the Right. The difference is not easily visible.

Closer view.

I also prefer the engraving of the name on the 500 to the small plastic badge on the Five One Nine.

where it states that it's 43mm, but it says nothing about inner or outer rings.

You're right, the manual doesn't specifically mention the two different threads, and I can't recall where I gleaned the information, but I have a note of the fact on file so I guess it must have come from somewhere! There doesn't appear to be any other way of fitting a 34mm filter to the camera, as a push-on filter of that size would be too small to go over the ring in question. Perhaps, with the Five One Nine, Ricoh decided that it was unnecessarily complicated, having two thread sizes for attaching accessories.The illustration of the filter on page 23 really doesn't help very much.