At first, I thought we were discussing the larger (older?) Ricoh 500 with the bottom trigger-wind. I recently sold one of those, and I kind of miss it. The lens was as good as any other decent RF from that time (generally excellent) and it was my only bottom wind camera. The dual tab focusing around the lens was kind of fun and different too. But, that's not the camera of this thread...
The 500G is clearly a Konica C35-esque camera, as mentioned in posts above. This is one camera that somehow escaped my collecting days -- seems miraculous I never acquired one. But there were so many in similar size/format/lens/etc. from that time. I can say that the C-35 was definitely a bit small for my hands. It's probably best that I never got a 500G. My understanding is the Ricoh 500G was not a plastic wonder, but a properly built camera. Not surprising.
Now, if you ever get a chance to obtain the Ricoh 500 in good condition, you will probably like it. I sure did. Great fun to use, great lens, bottom wind attracts girls. But, the prices people ask these days!... not just for Ricoh 500, but for old film cameras in general. Wow.
I feel bad that I recently sold my Ricoh 500 for $15; my last Konica C35 for only $10. My intent was/is to sell off or give away the bulk of my multi-decade camera collection to people who will genuinely appreciate the cameras (and film) and actually use them. Put simply, I'm not using them and they are all getting stiff and seized up from non-use. Even if I'm giving those cameras away for free, it's generally a good thing. I wish I had some Ricoh's left to give to the OP. I have cameras that I used just 5 years ago that are today completely seized up with aging lubricant. It's all young and excited people (I can call them "kids" at my age) who are snapping up my offerings. Many of these young people who buy my cameras are well aware that the camera is not "broken" per se, but seized up and needs to be un-seized. A lot of them people are willing (and seem capable) to do the "CLA", either themselves or by sending off to a technician. That makes me feel good.
Now, I can understand why older, functioning, film cameras are priced at surprising levels. But I was really surprised at the young woman who was thrilled to pick up a box of Polaroid cameras from me -- I had about 10-15 Polaroid cameras (and a couple Kodak "polaroids") of many different vintages and models that I placed in a big cardboard box and offered up on craigslist. There were a few complete boxed sets with nice cases, flash units, documentation, etc, and several "loose" cameras of various models from old metal roll-film models to the newer plastic wonders. Maybe half of the cameras could eat a film type still available today. Anyway, the nice young woman was beyond ecstatic to get all of them (for $15 or 20, can't remember). She even asked me to search my closets/cabinets/garage to see if I had any more, including expired and dried out film. I'm not sure what's going on here.... Is there something happening with Polaroid and polaroid-like cameras these days that I'm not aware of? What's more, after she came by, I got many more inquiries about the "polaroid box". For Polaroid???
Anyway, very off topic now (!) Sorry. Clearly, Ricoh cameras were/are nice little cameras. All of the Ricoh models I have owned were good performers. I don't have any Ricoh left in my dwindling collection -- just an older metal A36 lens cap that says "Riken" that got left behind. Probably a nice little collectible lens cap for some early model (available to RFFers). Enjoy your Ricoh's.
