This Ricoh 500 is an early film camera model designed as a 35mm rangefinder. The model entered the U.S. market in 1957 and was one of the landmark cameras that made photography accessible to the average person, reaching peek popularity in the 1970s. This one was manufactured in 1972 and is a beautiful Japanese piece made from silver aluminum and an attractive black texture plastic. It comes in its original brown leather case. This type of historic film camera can have a really tactile feel and people who love vintage technology can appreciate how it makes a lot of good old fashion clicking noise when the levers and triggers are pulled. It can be solidly made and aesthetically pleasing, whether you plan to use it or collect it. The Ricoh 500 uses a 35mm film type which uses a rapid throw manual trigger mechanism on the bottom. Focus is controlled by two buttons, at the 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock and this permits fast shifts of focus for manual settings. The shutter button is placed right over the letter "h" of "Ricoh’ and is designed with two large knobs for the photographer’s two index fingers to quickly focus. You line up your shot by looking through the viewfinder and simply shoot. This camera is supposed to work well on moving shots and for a photographic device of its era handles dimmer situations well. This is because the shutter is mechanically linked, so that once one combination has been matched to the ambient lighting conditions, a faster speed can be selected and a larger effective lens diameter will automatically be set. The lens is non-detachable. At the front of this Ricoh camera, there is a dial around the lens and here you will find a red lever which is used to select from M, F, and X flash synchronizations. The Ricoh 500 G can take a flash in hot shoe form on the top, or from a regular socket connection. There is a wired mount for an external flash unit, which is located in the center of the top. The focal length of the lens is 4.5cm and aperture range is f/2.8 to f/22 and the device can perform shutter speeds from 1 second to 1/500 second. This can make the camera a surprisingly flexible one, once you’ve got your head around all the settings. There is a battery check button, a multiple exposure switch, and connections for an add on auto winder. It works with LR44W alkaline cell or equivalent batteries. This Vintage Ricoh 500 rangefinder film camera came with a leather case. The pictures taken by the camera and the Ricoh device itself, can hold countless memories for people around the world and it can be a reminder of a time when technology was made to last and when every shot could say a thousand words.