Ricoh 500G

[ncd_photo]

Just had the fortune to try out a Ricoh 500G from a good friend. I'm pretty impressed with the camera overall, nice sharp lens, small and compact body, accurate meter and quiet shutter.
To be honest it was almost too small and I didn't know whether to keep it in my pocket or walk around with the camera in my hand.
In all, a nice compact RF which delivers the goods and has whetted my appetite for something perhaps a little more exotic......

more here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ncd_photo/sets/72157608035492855/

 

[Ducky]

A nice camera, not much to control but fun to shoot. Enjoy.

 

[racoll]

It's really a cool little camera. I found mine at the Grand Opening of a new Goodwill store in our town, where it was marked at $2.99! Everything on it works perfectly and with a little cleaning, it looks very nice with only a few spots of the black trim paint having worn off. It's surprisingly sharp and does give you quite a bit of control-from auto mode to full-manual along with a nice bright rf patch. It's not exotic but it's solid and reliable, so if you have a chance to acquire one, don't let the chance pass you by.

Andy

 

[fraley]

Anyone repair these? I was given one, but now after the first shutter firing, it goes always at the same speed...

 

[Roger Hicks]

. . . so if you have a chance to acquire one, don't let the chance pass you by.

Dear Andy,

I'd gve the exact opposite advice: DO let it pass you by, unless it's a better camera than you already own.

This is from bitter experience (hey, I didn't say I take my own advice). I have bought scores, perhaps hundreds, of cheap cameras over the last 40+ years.

And (surprise, surprise) the vast majority of my best photographs come from my best cameras. I have only a limited amount of time and money to spend on taking pictures, so why would I waste time taking pics with ancient point-and-shoots?

If anyone can answer that last question, I'd be grateful, because it's what I've been doing for decades. I'm a bit like a drug addict or a smoker, saying "Don't make the mistakes I've made and am still making."


Cheers,

R.

 

[D.O'K.]

"I have only a limited amount of time and money to spend on taking pictures, so why would I waste time taking pics with ancient point-and-shoots?

If anyone can answer that last question, I'd be grateful...".

Can't answer it for you, as it's so subjective--but for me, their (relative) inferiority usually forces me to slow down, to think more, and generally to work harder. Sometimes the pain can produce surprisingly good and satisfying results: the more so for having worn the hair shirt...

Alas it's only "sometimes": often the pictures are hard-won dross which send me scuttling back to my reliable cameras...

Regards,
D.

 

[Roger Hicks]

"I have only a limited amount of time and money to spend on taking pictures, so why would I waste time taking pics with ancient point-and-shoots?

If anyone can answer that last question, I'd be grateful...".

Can't answer it for you, as it's so subjective--but for me, their (relative) inferiority usually forces me to slow down, to think more, and generally to work harder. Sometimes the pain can produce surprisingly good and satisfying results: the more so for having worn the hair shirt...

Alas it's only "sometimes": often the pictures are hard-won dross which send me scuttling back to my reliable cameras...

Regards,
D.

I love the phrase 'hard-won dross'.

As for the rest of the diagnois, I think that in my case it's a love of a 'bargain', even if it isn't a bargain when analyzed rationally. If I hadn't wasted so much money on 'bargains', but put the money in a piggy-bank, I could have bought something I really wanted instead...

Cheers,

R.

 

[zuikologist]

A nice camera, not much to control but fun to shoot. Enjoy.

One of the real plus points of the Ricoh 500 series is full, uncoupled metering in manual mode. There are not many small fixed lens RFs that offert this feature.

The other plus of such "inferior" cameras is that thye can be used without fear of signficant financial damage if the camera is damaged.