Ricoh 500 (version 2)

<p><strong>Ricoh 500</strong><br />1958 second version<br /><br />Lens: Ricomat 4.5cm f/2.8<br />Shutter: Seikosha-MXL with speeds B and 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500.<br /><br />Kadlubek Nr. RIK0420<br /><br />On another thread here people were trying to identify a camera in a Marilyn Monroe picture. It very likely was a Nikon RF, but in the course of it, I found an advertisement for another camera that had at least a casual sort of similarity to a Contax/Nikon rangefinder: the Ricoh 500. <br /><br />On closer examination, the resemblance was fleeting, but I was interested enough in it to look on eBay, and there was one that had only a short time to go until the auction was over. I had nice results with another Ricoh camera, the Hi-Color 35 ( <a href="../classic-cameras-forum/00XKwq">LINK</a> ) so figured I'd try this one, just because of its looks. This wasn't the first time I had fallen for a pretty face. But this isn't a film noir story...<br /><br /> Anyhow, I bid and got it for a nice price -- what is known in our household as a 2- pizza purchase (or a big one with everything on it ;). <br /><br /><br /> Ricoh Company, Ltd. (株式会社リコー) was originally a photographic paper maker, but today is one of the big manufacturers of a broad range of electronic gear, including digital cameras and is one of the world's largest manufacturers of photocopiers, under such names as Savin, Lanier, and others. They were one of the early parties into the US market for Japan, but at a much smaller level than Minolta and Mamiya. I personally had had virtually no experience with Ricohs before the Hi-Color. Too many cameras, too little time.<br /><br /><br />The camera looks and feels nice. Solidly constructed and has an interesting bottom wind lever that works better than it looks like it would. It was pleasant to work with.<br /><br /><br /><br />The Ricoh 500 has been posted on before on this site at ( <a href="../classic-cameras-forum/00DI1H">link</a> ). <br /><br />Other sites: ( <a href="http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/index-frameset.html?Ricoh500.html~mainFrame">link</a> ) ( <a href="http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Ricoh_500">link</a> )<br /><br /><br />This is the ad in U. S. Camera of September 1957 for the camera that stirred my curiosity. In the same issue was an article about what SLRs were used by professionals, and of course the three featured professionals involved used an Exakta, a Praktina, and an Alpa.<br /><br /> As an aside, Ricoh had no advertisement in the September Modern Photography of that year, and their ad in the Popular Photography of the same month was for their TLR. The ad shows the first variant of the camera. Mine is the second with the top "flat".</p><div></div>

<p>Here's picture of the camera, with a "pre-war, all-black Contax II" from the Ukraine for comparison and scale. The bottom picture shows the wind lever on the bottom.<br /><br /></p><div></div>

<p>However, the results from my shoot were more than a little disappointing at first. <br />I had scanned them in on my flatbed scanner at 4000dpi, but they came out unsharp. I finally figured out that it was the scanner, not the camera, I'm not sure why I had this problem, but perhaps I was trying to scan at too high resolution. In the past, it had worked better than it did here -- well, we all learn. I'm thinking now that some of my problems in a post on the argus a-four may have been with the scanner -- but that's another problem...<br /><br />When I rescanned them all (sob) on my Canoscan FS4000US (a slow but excellent machine) the pictures suddenly turned out to be nicely sharp and clear, if still a little low in contrast. That artifact has been corrected here. Some of the contrast problems reflected the contrejour character of many of the shots, given the low angle of the sun only a month out from the solstice.<br /><br />Anyhow, once I solved the scanning difficulties, this turned out to be yet another of the incredible late 1950s rangefinder cameras. An old SLR boy, myself, I have to admit that something like this Ricoh was a heck of a lot easier to use than mucking about with a waist-level finder on a contemporary Praktica FX2 or FX3. Of course the prism finder SLRs were nice, but considerably more expensive at the time.<br /><br />This was a period before the Nikon F and the Pentax H2, remember; and the best prism SLRs you could buy were still the Exakta, Praktina, and the Contax/Pentacons. Or maybe an Alpa, if you couldn't stomach buying a commie-made camera. Cameras from what could be called the US-Occupied Zone (VSBZ), were not really competitive unless you were happy with leaf shutters and no very useful lens interchangeability. <br /><br /><br />The first set of pictures show one of our local grocery stores. The top picture is of its main entrance. The bottom is of the Xmas cookies starting going stale even before Thanksgiving. I mean, I know Moon Pies are essentially indestructible, but can sugar cookies last so long?<br /> <br />[is Thanksgiving now just a rehearsal for Xmas? It was a big deal when I was little, and Xmas shopping didn't start until the Friday after. Now Black Friday is already on. Now I'm going out to shout at the kids to get off my lawn.]<br /><br /></p><div></div>

<p>The picture on the left is the geometry of grocery carts. The right is looking out across the parking wastelands adjacent to a long strip mall. Where Subbarayan Prasanna's pictures show people, here people are mostly encased in a hard automotive shell as they move from store to store, mall to mall.</p><div></div>

<p>Here is a picture of the unending strip mall, running off to the horizon, together with a shot of its walkway. Many of the stores in this mall are now empty. Others replaced by a "dollar store" and so forth. Even the off-track betting facility died out. On the other hand, there are some new. brave businesses and a few medical and dental offices are moving into the now inexpensive space here. Lots of parking, that's for sure.<br /><br /></p><div></div>

<p>In a sort of Ricoh feeding frenzy I ended up getting yet another Ricoh, the Ricoh 500G in the mail today, so at least one more post on Ricoh. %-)<br>

The film was more of the Walgreens ISO 200 color negative film.<br>

That's all folks.</p>

<p>The 500 (in its various iterations) was a terrific camera IMHO...congratulations on your purchase. Sometimes the viewfinders are fogged, but can easily be cleaned and the RFs can also be pretty easily adjusted once you remove the top cover. If you ever find a model 519 in good shape.....get it. The optics are better than the 500 ( f/1.9 hence the name 519). I've owned 5 models over the years, and when you get a good one with everything working well, you would be hard pressed to distinguish the results from any other camera of the era...including the Leicas. Plus I just love the focus knobs once you get the hang of them.</p>

<p>Good looking camera, especially the chrome finish. Very nice perspectives on the Mall row. Nice warm color from the film; also a bit of the greenish tint. Thanks for posting. sp.</p>

<p>Nice find, <strong>JDM</strong>. I really like these older Ricohs; I like the capabilities of the later ones but dislike their lightweight construction. I hope to post some nonsense on a sibling of your 500, in a week or so. And I'd agree with <strong>Stephen</strong>, The Five One Nine (yep, that's what Ricoh named it!) is up there with the greats.</p>

<p>I find the "Duo Focusing" handles to actually help get more precise focus. Nice post, JDM. The 500 series makes a fun system. I'm enjoying my Five-One-Nine. All of the Ricoh accessories will work on the 500 with the exception of the aux lenses. The 500 and 519 each have unique sets of aux optics.</p><div></div>