Ricoh 500

hoping someone can help!!

 

I just received a Ricoh 500 and I’ve loaded the film but when I turn the wind crank it doesn’t seem to be winding? When I release the shutter button although it presses down it doesn’t feel like it’s taking a photo. The photo count won’t move off S either so I’m

Doing something wrong

 

Can anyone help or point me in the right direction with advice? Thank you so much!

The film may not have gripped properly in the take-up spool. Open the back and check to see what happens when you wind the film advance. If the take-up spool turns but the film stays stationary, try pushing the leader of the film into the slot in the spool further, as far as it will go, turn the advance again and watch if the film winds onto the spool

 

Also check the re-wind release button is not stuck in the "up" position. The button is usually on the bottom of the camera

 

Your shutter release button could be a separate problem if your film advance problem doesn't fix it. Since you've just received the camera, you might have received a camera with a faulty shutter release mechanism

Just in case you are a real beginner, the 're-wind crank' is the thing on the left, that winds the film back into the canister after you have shot all the frames, and the 'wind-on' lever is the thing on the right which pulls a new frame of film out of the canister to a position behind the lens ready for a new picture.. To get the frame counter to move on, you need to wind on with the lever on the right. If you have already shot at least one frame, but not 'wound-on' with the lever on the RHS, it will feel like you are taking a picture, but there will be no 'click'

I somehow (it's a long story told elsewhere) got into a sort of Ricoh 500 series fugue. One of the Ricohs I got was the version 2 of the Ricoh 500 (link).

 

It was an early example for me of my continuing discovery how very good the post-SLR times small 35mm cameras were.

Modern Photography 1959-08

The many Ricoh 500 models.

Ricoh Camera instruction manuals

Welcome keirarae!

 

You've come to the right place and received good advice, including access to Ricoh manuals from one of the legends of the camera world, Mike Butkus!

 

There are lots of different Ricoh 500's and mine, like JDMvW's has a trigger winder on the bottom of the camera.