Yashica MG-1 or Ricoh 500G?

[atelier7]

Hi there,

Been badly bitten by this RF bug... I've just got a Hi matic 7s and I just think it makes great pics! (though there may be a sticky shutter problem)

However, I've found it to be a bit "heavy" to carry around all the time.

Am looking for something smaller, more compact and light.

i've found a Yashica MG 1 and Ricoh 500G for sale.

Are these much lighter and are they any good? Which one is better?

Or is there a much more compact and lighter RF you would recommend?

 

[JohnM]

I can't comment on the Ricoh - never had one.

I had an MG-1; it would be about 100 grams lighter than the Minolta. It's not a bad camera, but it gives off a little whiff of cheapness that I never got used to - not a lot of manual control, no bulb setting and the battery required a take up spring.

There are just better options; the Canonet QL17 GIII comes to mind. Even the Canonet QL25 or 28 are good inexpensive cameras. If compactness is a real benefit in your mind, the Olympus 35 RC and Olympus XA are both nearly half the size of your Minolta.

 

[Roman]

I agree with John - I also have a 7s and an MG-1, and the Yashica is not that much smaller than the Minolta, and also does not have a manual mode (which the 500G - which I don't own - has; the 500G shpuld also be a bit smaller).
Other compact cameras you might consider: Minolta HiMatic 7SII (smaller than original 7s, Olympus 35RC, or the smallest, Olympus XA.

Roman

 

[matu]

Hi Atelier7, I don't know that Yashica but I have a very similar Ricoh, with the same lense, same size, and I can tell you that is very handy, much smaller camera, than the Minolta and it has a very sharp lense, not quite fast but very reliable, the CDS meter on the front of the lense is very acurate. It's fully manual or Automatic. It works without batteries (an LR44 will do the trick with no CDS meter problem). Works great with flash it has a hot shoe.
Some weaknes:
It hasnt got parallax correction, the viewfinder and the framing marks arent very clear. The lense is not fast. It's shutter priority (for those that like AP). It hasnt got DOF scale on the lense.
If price is an issue, there are better cameras than this one, but all will depend on how hard is to find them or the price you can get on local market, the Konica C35, or the Canon Ql 17 - 19, are your target if money isnt a problem.
A cheaper handy camera, but fully automatic rangefinder is the Canonet 28 that was famous on the movie Pecker.
Well no matter the camera you get, post your images and share your work, welcome to the forum.