Another Set of Pics From November's SFTC Camera - Ricoh 500G 35mm Rangefinder

We're well into December, and the final month of Skeletons From The Closet (SFTC), a series I ran throughout 2014 where I take out and shoot a different old camera from my collection each month. I will be posting the December camera selection soon.

 

November's SFTC camera was the Ricoh 500G. (Click Here) to read my introductory post on the the camera. And (Click Here) to see the first set of results, some street photographs from NYC.

 

And now for some very different results - not from the city but from a hike in the Virginia hills. These were all shot on a single hike, using iso 400 print film.

 

 

 

The place I hiked, Beverley Mill, has a couple of old rural cemeteries on its trails. I found this one (Dawson cemetery) on this, my first hike in the area:

 

 

It's crazy how the tree grew around the single headstone. It's a pretty lonely place.

 

I love the light on the tree in this shot below:

 

The little Ricoh 500G rangefinder makes a very good hiking camera. It's tiny, and produces decent images. No frills, but it is easy to throw in a backpack, and is extremely light weight.

 

I hope you've enjoyed SFTC and the results from this unsuspecting little camera.

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

 

SFTC Results For November - Ricoh 500G Rangefinder

I took the little Ricoh 500G out to do some street shooting in NYC.

 

(Click Here) to read about the camera. I loaded it up with some Kodak iso 400 color print film and went for a walk. One practical point, this camera is so small that I was not able to mount my CV Meter II (auxiliary exposure meter); the hotshoe is too close to the rewind knob, which interferes with mounting the meter. But, the small size of the camera also made it essentially invisible to people I photographed on the street.

 

Glasses, by Reed A. George

Ricoh 500G, Kodak iso 400 Color Print Film

 

Gotta Let You Go, I'm Getting on the Subway, by Reed A. George

Ricoh 500G, Kodak iso 400 Color Print Film

Hairpin, by Reed A. George

Ricoh 500G, Kodak iso 400 Color Print Film

 

Shopping Buddies, by Reed A. George

Ricoh 500G, Kodak iso 400 Color Print Film

 

Highrise, by Reed A. George

Ricoh 500G, Kodak iso 400 Color Print Film

 

I was able to find a small shop on 32nd street that developed my film overnight, and made me a CD with high resolution images, for $9. That was convenient.

 

My hit rate with the 500G was not super high, mostly due to the fact that I needed more light. These were the only keepers out of 24 exposures. I shot most of them at 1/125 sec. and f5.6. I would have like to be able to push up to 1/250. Also, since I was shooting very quickly, I prefocused at about 8-10 feet and then just walked to that estimated distance from my subject and shot. Sometimes I got the distance wrong. A smaller aperture would have given me more tolerance for misjudged distance. I'm also sure that my own fast motions added blur to some of the images. But, I enjoyed these.

Finally, it seems that the transport mechanism in this old camera isn't 100% reliable, as I got non-uniform spacing between shots in some cases. I can probably remedy that by being more careful when I advance the film.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these!

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

Skeletons From The Closet Camera for November - Ricoh 500G

Ricoh 500G, November's SFTC Camera

 

We are nearing the end of 2013, and I'm on my eleventh monthly SFTC camera. This month's selection is a fun choice, the Ricoh 500G, a 35mm rangefinder camera from the early 1970s.

 

I've always been partial to Ricoh cameras for some reason, probably because my first rangefinder camera was a fine Ricoh 35, which has a nearly silent leaf shutter and nice 45mm f3.5 lens.

 

The 500G sports a 40mm Rikenon f2.8 lens. 40-45mm is nearly the perfect focal length for a fixed lens rangefinder in my opinion. At f2.8, this one's certainly fast enough for most street photography. The camera is quite small, and looks old and cheap enough that people are unlikely to be concerned if they notice you pointing it at them.

 

Mine came along with the purchase of my higher-end Konica S1.6. See my SFTC posts from June to see what that camera can do. When I got the 500G, it's rear door seals were dissolved and sticky with old adhesive. I removed them and replaced them with new foam strips.

 

If you are looking for light seals, I bought mine on ebay from Jon Goodman for about $10 several years ago. I assume he's still there (seller name: interslice (J Goodman - Dallas, TX United States)). The kit had enough material to reseal several cameras.

 

Anyway, I only shot one roll with this camera, ever, before it went into the closet. So, hopefully it'll be ready to roll this month. Even though it has a built-in meter and does both fully manual and shutter priority auto exposure, I'll be using it in manual mode. It has a clean but empty battery compartment, and I'm not compelled to go find a modern battery for it. I'll just attach my Voigtlander Meter II and we're ready to go!

 

DMC-365.blogspot.com