Ricoh 500 G


  • Type: Ricoh 500 G
  • Serial No: 05 696143
  • Manufactured: from the early 70's
  • Manufacturer: Ricoh
  • Format: 135
  • Shutter: two bladed metal leaf shutter
  • Shutter speeds: B, 8, 15, 30, 60, 125, 250, 500
  • Lens: Rikenon f=40mm 1:2.8 
  • Aperture: 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16
  • Lens Serial No: -
  • Lens mount: - 
  • Last CLA: 2012
  • Condition: light meter is not functioning

Ricoh 500 G

Falling in love with compact Japanese rangefinders form the 70's is easy. They usually are seriously good looking, have unique character, convincing feature list and some kind of professional air. The Ricoh 500 G is no exception. It was intended to be a cheap alternative of the higher quality rangefinders of the compact class. The lower price was achieved by using cheaper materials and leaving out the flashmatic function so the photographer had to calculate the right aperture setting for the given flash key number using a simple formula. But still, the little 500 G was a very capable little camera.

Ricoh 500 G and Olympus 35 RC

Compared to the beloved Olympus 35 RC, the Ricoh has almost the same size. Its body is thicker than the Oly's but the film winding lever is at the top so it doesn't extend behind the camera. Their overall thickness would be about the same if the Olympus did not use an indented filter thread. The winner here is the Oly with a few millimeters.

Ricoh 500 G and Olympus 35 RC

The first thing you realize when you take the 500 G in your hand after putting down the 35 RC is that the Ricoh camera is made of aluminium. The cheaper metal has its disadvantages though: the camera easily gets scratched or dented and the back of the camera deformed. The latter results in imperfect closure which leads to light leaking. The 35 RC is more resistant to physical impacts.

Another problem with the little Ricoh is the light sealing. By design, the whole back plate has to be covered with it which makes it prone to light leaking by design. And get prepared: the original sealing was not meant to be long lasting so it became a dark sticky mess for now. Replacing it a real pain. It's like a mix of half-dried glue and used engine oil. And you have to completely remove it before put on the new one. No light sealing kit available so you have to carefully select the thickness of the replacement material and do some handwork with the scissors.

Ricoh 500 G

Apart from the flashmatic mode the two cameras have almost identical technical parameters.
The Ricoh 500 G outperforms the Olympus 35 RC in terms of slow shutter speeds: it has 1/8 while the Oly's slowest speed is 1/15. But the Oly can stop down the aperture to 22 while the Ricoh's smallest hole is marked with 16. The rest is more or less the same: 2 metal blade shutter, 1 m closest focusing distance, etc.

I can't say anything about light metering and automatic mode because the circuitry in my camera is broken. Not a problem for me because I usually trust the light metering to my mobile phone.

And now the aperture of the Ricoh 500 G:

Ricoh 500 G

This is something the Olympus 35 RC should envy: an almost round 4 blade aperture. Do you remember its 2 bladed shame? No? Here it is, the Olympus 35 RC aperture:

2 blade diaphragm

Now let's see the handling. You have to set aperture, speed and focus with rings on the lens. One could think that The 35 RC's setup is eaiser to handle with the speed setting dial on the top but no. The rings of the 500 G are ergonomically designed and just stiff enough to let the photographer turn just one of them at a time. Definitely more handy than the Olympus setup where it's virtually impossible to set aperture without changing focus. However, a small Japanese hand comes handy to set the aperture on both.

Ricoh 500 G and Olympus 35 RC

Ricoh 500 G

In theory, focusing is more precise on the Ricoh due to the longer rotation of the focusing ring. I had no focusing problem with the Oly, though. Rangefinder base distance is the same.

The viewfinder has parallax marks on both cameras but the 500 G doesn't show the speed setting - only the aperture.

The overall feel of the camera is cheapo due mostly to the aluminium and plastic used and the sounds the camera makes. The Olympus 35 RC gives you a more pro feeling.

Now let's see the image quality. There are not too many photographers who still use this camera but the general opinion is that the little Rikenon lens is a good performer. I expected beautiful bokeh due to the rounded aperture. (The Olympus 35 RC disappointed me from this prospective.) Well, let's see what it looks like:

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It can be said that the out of focus area is not the strength of the Ricoh 500 G. Nor the wide aperture:

No contrast if aperture is wide

Those usually saturated colors get washed-out and that crisp contrast simply disappears when one opens the diaphragm wider. But at leas no vignetting - which can be disturbing stopped down to f/16:

Strong vignetting on f/16

Is this camera that bad? No. If you keep aperture on f/11 you can have nicely saturated and contrasty images like these below. Just don't forget to put everything in focus.

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It is not impossible to take good photos with the Ricoh 500 G but if you are looking for a versatile little rangefinder then the Olympus 35 RC is definitely a better choice.




Olympus 35RC

  • Type: 35RC
  • Serial No: 185489
  • Manufactured: 1970-1979
  • Manufacturer: Olympus
  • Format: 135
  • Shutter: Olympus metal leaf shutter
  • Shutter speeds: B, 15, 30, 60, 125, 250, 500
  • Lens: E.Zuiko 1:2,8 f=42mm
  • Aperture: 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22
  • Lens Serial No: -
  • Lens mount: - 
  • Last CLA: 2012

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Which is the World's smallest 35mm manual rangefinder camera? One could think of the Rollei 35 or the Minox 35 as the smallest 35mm camera, but none of them has a rangefinder, unfortunately. Or the Olympus XA which has rangefinder but lacks manual mode. The thing is that there is a camera which is almost as small as the above mentioned three but it has a rangefinder, light meter, shutter priority mode with exposure lock, full manual mode, flashmatic mode, self timer, a sharp 5-element lens - basically everything an enthusiast photographer needs and even more. Surprisingly, this camera is not highly regarded, even barely noted by the Camerapedia. And it's damn cheap on ebay.

It is the Olympus 35RC. The ultimate compact rangefinder from the '70s.

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The Olympus 35RC is small. In fact, smaller than the half-frame cameras. A Fujica Half looks like a giant compared to it - and again, the Fujica has not even a rangefinder.

The shutter speed range is just right: 15-500 and B. No long times but come on, can you remember when you used 1/2 last time? The shutter is a two blade mechanical metal leaf type. Setting the right speed is easy with the top dial which can be turned in any direction.

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The aperture ring is a different story. It's so thin that there is a fair chance that you will move the focus ring with it when you set the aperture. There are three special positions on it: OFF, A and the lightning symbol.

The OFF switches off the light meter and prevents the shutter from firing. Logical.

The A sets the camera into automatic shutter priority mode. You set the speed, the light meter sets the aperture. Exposure lock can be activated with halfway pressing the shutter release. This way you can read the aperture set by the light meter as well. (It is shown in the viewfinder.) If no appropriate aperture exists for the given light and shutter speed, the camera won't fire. It's fool proof.

The lightning symbol sets the so called Flashmatic mode: you set the speed and the flash guide number and the camera sets the right aperture based on the focusing distance.

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The viewfinder is informative. You can see the selected speed on the top and the aperture on the bottom of the frame. There are bright parallax correction marks. The rangefinder spot is not too contrasty but usable. The rangefinder itself is precise. The small base distance is perfectly enough for the 42 mm Zuiko lens to be set on focus.

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Loading the film is as easy as it is possible with a mechanical camera. It's self explanatory as the most of the features of the little 35RC. (Not like the Pentacon Six which needs me to watch the video tutorial bookmarked in my smartphone every time before I load a roll of film into it.)

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The overal feel of this camera is a bit controversial. It's relatively heavy for its size and this implies some serious engineering inside. The way the aperture ring and the shutter speed dial works just validates this. But the plastic focus ring and the shutter release wobbles giving an imprecise, if not toy-camera feeling to the whole.

And the sharp and fast 5 elements Zuiko lens has a two-blade aperture. Can you believe this?

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The Olympus 35RC is an easy-to-use handy little camera. Good action shooter with
no-hassle features and the simplest possible control set. The lens is sharp and capable. The closest focusing distance is around 0.8 - 0.9 m which is an acceptable compromise regarding the camera size. The only thing I don't really like is the bokeh. This 2 blade diaphragm makes it mediocre. It has a 70's feeling, however.

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Sundial of the church's tower.

Shot from the 60's

Honda 750 Four

Dürnstein

The Authentic

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Hapo 66-E

  • Type: Hapo 66E (Mess Baldix)
  • Serial No: I couldn't find any
  • Manufactured: 1955-1961(?)
  • Manufacturer: Balda Kamera-Werk - Max Baldeweg Bünde
  • Format: 120 6x6
  • Shutter: Pronto metal leaf shutter
  • Shutter speeds: B, 25, 50, 100, 200
  • Lens: Enna Haponar 1:4.5/7.5 C
  • Aperture: 4.5, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22
  • Lens Serial No: 239251
  • Lens mount: - 
  • Last CLA: 01/2012

I bought this neat 6x6 folder at the Mostra Scambio Imola in 2011. A German camera from an Italian oldtimer fair. It looks serious: rangefinder integrated into the viewfinder, auto-erect mechanism, self timer, shutter lock, frame counter, flash synch, what else do you need from a 6x6 folder?

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The Hapo 66-E is a rebranded Mess Baldix. It was manufactured by the West German Balda Kamera-Werk and sold by Photo-Porst.

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The coated lens seems to be rebranded as well: it's most probably an Ennagon from Enna Werk München (size, construction and comparative shots make it obvious but no written proof found so far).

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The shutter is an inexpensive pronto with very limited speed range from 1/25 to 1/200 and B. Film sensitivity has to be carefully matched to the light conditions. But you have a self timer lever marked with a red dot. Looks really cool.

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The rangefinder is uncoupled: you have to read the measured distance from the scale of the RF knob on the top of the camera and set the same distance on the focus ring of the lens. It seems to be a complicated and unreliable process but in fact the focus is dead on even in close distances. It just needs some time to be set.

Monte Baldo

An interesting feature of the Hapo 66-E is the most complicated double exposure prevention mechanism of the known Universe. To be able to understand how it works, we have to know the film winding mechanism first.

After loading the 120 film you have to go to frame 1. To do this you have to turn the film wind knob counterclockwise until it stops then turn it clockwise until it stops and repeat it until you see the number 1 in the red window on the back of the camera. Be careful, this ratcheting wind is not aligned with the frame width so you have to stop somewhere in the middle of the turn, most probably.

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Now we have to set the frame counter to 1.

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There is a little switch on the camera back between the viewfinder and the film wind knob. Push and hold it to the right. At the same time turn the film wind knob counterclockwise until it sets the frame counter back to 1.

And now let's see the double exposure lock. There is a little dot behind the shutter release button. It's white when the camera is ready to take a shot. It turns to red if the double exposure lock is activated by firing the shutter. The lock is deactivated by the racheting film wind mechanism when you turn the wind knob counterclockwise until it stops and turn it clockwise. It makes the little dot white again. Forget this and your shutter won't fire.

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My overall impression of the camera is that it is solid and reliable, something that I could take with me for a motorcycle ride or for hiking without being afraid of breaking it and knowing that it worked for sure. The only real drawback of the Hapo 66E is the image quality it offers.

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There are at least two versions of this camera: one with 3.5/75 Haponar lens and one with 4.5/75. The latter have inferior image quality: sharp at the center but blurry and distorted towards the edges. Vignetting is also noticeable. Even the better 3.5/75 shows signs of distortion and blurriness on the corners. Not a high quality Zeiss glass but the performance is acceptable at its price level.

(Please read the rest of this post because there is important information about image quality there.)

Lake Garda

Limone sul Garda

Limone sul Garda

Expired Velvia

Limone sul Garda - Lemon house

Lake Garda

Limone by night

Horses

Important update: The TMX Treatment


Did I say medium image quality? Well I took this camera with me to the Seiberer Bergpreis in Weissenkirchen, Austria and took some shots on a roll of Kodak Tmax 100 expired long-long time ago (in 1992 to be precise). And this is what I got:

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One P.M.

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I couldn't find the words when I first saw these images. Incredibly sharp, full of detail with perfect tonality. This is what the old Hapo 66-E made on the expired TMX. I was completely amazed. I couldn't believe that this was the same camera which took the color shots before. I have no explanation just a theory: the lens may not be color corrected, that is why it wasn't able to render perfect images on color film. All in all, I must give the Hapo 66-E a very good mark when it comes to image quality in BW.

The camera turned out to be a good action shooter as well. Setting it was easy and film winding and shutter cocking became a second nature after a few shots. To be honest, I truly enjoyed every second of  the usage of this old folder.

And again, the focus was dead on. This uncoupled rangefinder far exceeded my expectations.

Excellent BW image quality, reliability, charm and pleasure. What else to expect from a classic camera?

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