The Ricoh SLX-500

A recent eBay purchase, the Ricoh SLX 500 is a solid 35mm SLR with limited choice of shutter speeds, featuring an all-black metal body, a hot-shoe, PC flash connector, stop-down metering, and an M-42 lens mount. It was introduced in the mid-1970s as a cheap beginner SLR, and also takes a Mercury battery. The camera I bought is in excellent cosmetic shape, and the Ricoh 50mm f/2 lens seems plenty sharp. Unfortunately, the meter is wonky, as the needle really jumps around so much as to be unreliable, so I used the camera with an external light meter. I had to replace the mirror bumper foam and the light seals on the back, or risk black gooeyness. As a note - before using any older SLR camera, check the mirror foam and back light seals before using. Chances are, the camera will need things replaced about 90% of the time. The hardest part is removing the old stuff, but it should take anyone less than an hour to do this.

The M-42 mount gives one the opportunity to use a slew of various old lenses from Pentax, Cosina, Ricoh, Fuji, Meyer-Optik, Carl-Zeiss Jena, and others. The shutter speed choices are limited to B, 1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500 sec. , which isn't bad, as compared to something like an Argus C-4. From what I could find out, the original cost in 1976 was about $250 with the standard lens. The SLX-500 doesn't seem to have had the production run of cameras like the Singlex and Singlex II -both of which I owned at one time, nor does it have as meany features. It appeared at about the time the M-42 mount was being phased out in favor of the K-mount, and within a few years, a plethora of 35mm SLRs at competitive prices would be flooding the market. However, it IS a basic SLR, and despite the limited range of shutter speeds, it should be adequate for a lot of photography. I loaded mine with the old standby - Kodak Gold 100, and sunny-16 for exposure guide. For most of the shots I used the Rikenon 50mm 2.0 lens.




Like a lot of cameras from the 1970s, it's well-built, can be used as a weapon, and a battery is needed only for the meter.