A Ricoh Superb

<p>Louis Meluso devoted a fine post to this camera a couple of years back, so I guess it's now safe for me to re-visit. It's the wonderful Ricoh Five One Nine.</p><div></div>

<p>Ever since seeing Louis's work with this camera I've been on the lookout for one, and I was delighted when a tidy copy came my way. It epitomises the great era in Japanese rangefinder cameras when quality in design and manufacture was paramount, in an attempt to topple the European manufacturers from their dominant position. As history shows, the process succeeded. Based on the highly successful Ricoh "G" series, the Five One Nine emerged as a top-of-the-range model in 1958; just why the manufacturers called it a "Five-One-Nine instead of a "519" is still a mystery to me, but I guess it gives the camera a ring of class and justified some fancy writing on the top plate. And a classy camera it is, impeccably constructed with the quick trigger-wind lever mounted on the bottom plate, clever "wings" on the short-throw focusing ring to aid one's grip, good bright-line viewfinder with a clear rangefinder patch, and a Seikosha MXL shutter with speeds from 1 to 1/500th, plus B. The overall design of the camera is superb, with quite severe lines, and the finish is immaculate, right down to the little blue/gold enamel Ricoh badge on the front. It has the heavy, "tight" feel of a Leica, or one of the great Canon or Nikon rangefinders.</p><div></div>

<p>The lens is interesting. Described at a "Rikenon 1:1.9 4.5 cm", it is a superb performer, rivaling that of any other rangefinder I own, and up there with most similar SLR lenses. Information on the lens is scarce, but a lot of scratching around finally revealed that the lens is almost certainly of Tomioka Optical manufacture, from the great lensmakers who later joined with Yashica to create my admirable Yashinon lenses. That information rang a few bells, and after poking through a few old cameras and several old files, I suspect that this same lens was supplied to a variety of Japanese camera manufacturers, under different names. For instance, the Biokor "S" f/1.9 lens on my Beauty Lightomatic II appears to be the same lens, a 6 element/4 group construction, nicely built and coated. My Hanimex 35-Auto, (really a Taron Auto-EL in disguise), also appears to have this lens. It stops down to f/16.</p><div></div>

<p>It was a pleasure, putting a film through the Five-One-Nine. It was carted around from pillar to post, taking pics at our local Fair, and a few of the "Americarna" festival of US culture. In most cases I just guessed at exposures, and surprised myself by ending up with a nicely-exposed Fuji Superia 200 film full of very sharp images. I attach a few samples, scans from the Fuji Frontier.</p><div></div>

<p>No.2</p><div></div>

<p>No.3</p><div></div>

<p>No.4</p><div></div>

<p>No.5</p><div></div>

<p>No.6</p><div></div>

<p>No.7</p><div></div>

<p>No.8</p><div></div>

<p>No.9</p><div></div>

Fine work, Rick... as usual. Love the Corvette.

 

Seems that Ricoh never got the respect they deserved.

 

Didn't know you shot color. ;-)

<p>This fine camera is in the right hands now, great samples very well scanned too.</p>

<p>Interesting little camera. I see it has a Seikosha MXL shutter, just like <a href="00YB9g">my Konica III</a>; apparently a very common shutter for a little while there.</p>

<p>It seems to have been a topic of experiment in the late '50s figuring out where to put the film advance lever. My Konica III puts it on the left side of the lens; you pull downward with your left thumb twice between shots (once to advance, and again to cock the shutter). Your Ricoh Five One Nine places it underneath the body. I suppose you put the fingers of your left hand behind the vertical part of the lever, and push forward and to the left to wind the film? Do you find it convenient to operate?</p>

<p>Nice pictures as usual; my favorites are the first camera shot, "The Big Swing", and the red leather interior of that '59 Corvette.</p>

<p>Unlike you, Rick, I really want the '63 SS Impala. I've sat in those pre-'63 Corvettes and the arrangement is...challenging even when I was thin.</p>

<p>Nice work. These Ricohs are very nice, especially in your hands.</p>

<p>If I were getting another car now, I'd want a pre-WWII BMW 328, the one that was also underneath the post-war Bristol sports cars (built under licence). They are actually affordable, but not by me.</p>

<p>Thanks <strong>Marc</strong>; I certainly seem to have shot color this time, mainly red, it would appear. And <em>I</em> saw the Corvette first...The camera's very like your Konica III, <strong>Craig</strong>. You just hook your left index finger around the vertical part of the lever and pull, and the lever swings back under the baseplate. Very quick and easy. I personally prefer base-mounted wind levers. Good point, <strong>Mark</strong>, <em>I'm</em> not as svelte as I used to be. And to think that I never knew that the post-war Bristols were actually BMW's in disguise; good luck with your quest, <strong>JDM</strong>. And thanks, <strong>Marcus</strong>, for your kind words.</p>

<p>This is a camera that I have bid on and lost, but maybe it's time to try again. Wonderful pics as always, Rick; "Chevy" is my favorite. I'm quite impressed with the lens on this camera--it seems to be amazingly sharp! Thanks for another excellent post.</p>

<p>Superb post as always Rick. And keeping with the celebration of design your choice of subjects are a very appropriate even if the cars are from a different decade. Is the 63 Impala the one in the No Darling shot? Beautiful, beautiful cars.</p>

<p>Is it just me or has the general quality of design faded these days? Most American cars today are like Canon SLRs - bulbous.</p>

<p>Wonderful stuff, as usual.</p>

<p>Congrats on owning that fine camera. After years of using its cousins, the 500, I encountered a 519 and snapped it up. It produced fine sharp shots and was a great camera....only drawback, IMHO, was the rangefinder/viewfinder wasn't quite as bright as the last of the 500s which had the larger more distinct finder. I sold mine about 2 years ago, as I realized camera bodies were spilling into my woodworking shop. Thanks for bringing this little jewel to light!</p>

<p>Great post, Rick. Superb photos and interesting subject. When I was in elementary school our family car was a 1964 Chevy Impala (just a year after the one in your photo). <br>

I have the Ricoh 500 (f2.8 lens, but otherwise similar). That trigger film advance is surprisingly effective. Leica actually offered a trigger wind accessory for some of its rangefinders, IIRC. Also, I think some Canon rangefinders may have had it as well. Wonderful post, thanks for sharing.</p>

<p>That's a fine looking camera, <strong>Rick</strong>, and your pics show great color and snap. That '59 Vette is sweet and would make a nice accessory to the camera being made a year after the camera's introduction in 1958. The camera is beautifully designed and I really like the duo-lever focusing paddles. They help make precise focusing easier. There are a range of other accessories for the Five-0ne-Nine that give it some versatility. Thank you for another interesting post and beautiful pictures. </p><div></div>

<p>Nice pictures <strong>Rick</strong>. Love the cars. <strong>JDM</strong>, I second your vote for the BMW. I had two of them, one was sporty 1602 and the other a 4 door 1600. Delightful handlers. <strong>Kayam</strong>, the age of elegance in Design came to an end with Hitler's onslaught on the Bauhaus and other similar leading institutions. Witness the Cabriolets of Adler, Benz and the like form the 1920s and '30s.The movement continued until about the mid 1950s. Then the marketing people took over dictating the so-called "consumer-choice" modes to the design outfits. That hurried the end of elegance. sp.</p>