The Ricoh 500G
I thought I'd introduce a film camera I've had for a few years, Ricoh's small rangefinder called the 500G. It has a 40mm f2.8 lens which is quite sharp, and operates as a full manual or shutter speed priority camera. I've gotten some shots I quite like with it in the past, here are a few.
1693429-R1-21-2A-2 by Andrew Lossing, on Flickr
1693429-R1-10-13A-2 by Andrew Lossing, on Flickr
img201-2 by Andrew Lossing, on Flickr
img240-2 by Andrew Lossing, on Flickr
img291-2 by Andrew Lossing, on Flickr
Cool little camera and nice pictures. I'd say the results are great. It looks quite compact too, for what it is. I still have yet to shoot with a rangefinder camera. Maybe one day 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
James, it's one of the small rangefinders which still somewhat flies under the radar, providing a sharp lens and good features for a fairly cheap price. Though, as far as the rangefinder mechanism goes, it's pretty faint, either due to age or just the small size and imperfect light transmission through the viewfinder/rangefinder optics. So it's not the best representation of easy rangefinder focusing. For that I'd try a Voigtlander Bessa made by Cosina in the early 2000s. They are quite nice, and not Leica money.
Great photos. That camera looks super fun to use! The shutter release button looks tantalizing. I'd be flying through rolls of film 😆
I picked up a Ricoh 35 ZF for $5 long ago. The light meter is borked, the seals need replaced, and the shutter is slow. But I've had fun shooting it. Eventually, I got one of the range finder models (a 500GX) and it is a corker. It's also in the camera shop for different issues, and I dearly look forward to shooing it like a madman
