I took a chance and bought a Ricoh 500 rangefinder off of goodwill.com. I received the camera and love the rangefinder form factor. The camera is in really good condition. It does suffer from a sticky shutter. It took a while for the shutter to start working. Currently after any brief period of sitting the shutter sticks for the first couple actuations. The shutter will then work properly and accurate to shutter speed settings, as far as I can tell. Anyone know if some fixes for this. I only have about $25 invested, including the shipping, so I might be open to experimentation. Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Ricoh 500 Rangefinder
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I’ll suggest this with a caveat:
One or two drops of either naphtha or isopropyl alcohol on the shutter blades followed by exercising the shutter for a while might help.
The caveat: the risk with this type of armchair-mechanic repair is that you’re not actually wiping away the dirt and/or oil from the shutter blades, you’re just flushing it away. That means it has to go somewhere and that somewhere will still be somewhere inside the camera.
Quite often a drop or two of naphtha will flush the gunk to some area of the camera that doesn’t have any negative effect on the camera’s operation and the whole, easy fix is a success but there’s always a possibility that the gunk could end up on a lens element or get flushed into a part of the mechanism that just makes things worse.
If it were my camera I would give it a try as the risk is small but I didn’t want to present the option without letting you know that there is, in fact, some risk.
One or two drops of either naphtha or isopropyl alcohol on the shutter blades followed by exercising the shutter for a while might help.
The caveat: the risk with this type of armchair-mechanic repair is that you’re not actually wiping away the dirt and/or oil from the shutter blades, you’re just flushing it away. That means it has to go somewhere and that somewhere will still be somewhere inside the camera.
Quite often a drop or two of naphtha will flush the gunk to some area of the camera that doesn’t have any negative effect on the camera’s operation and the whole, easy fix is a success but there’s always a possibility that the gunk could end up on a lens element or get flushed into a part of the mechanism that just makes things worse.
If it were my camera I would give it a try as the risk is small but I didn’t want to present the option without letting you know that there is, in fact, some risk.
This being a fixed lens rangefinder, I will have to figure out a way to remove the front element(s) of the lens to get to the shutter itself. I am hoping the shutter is self contained and easily removable for cleaning.
Not all that likely. I don’t know the 500 specifically but you might find the shutter is more easily accessed from the rear element. That’s the case in a lot of fixed lens RFs I’ve looked at. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that was self-contained.
If you want to do a simple shutter cleaning (in-place), it is not all that hard. I have worked on half a dozen of them and the shutters all worked afterwards with what appears to be close speeds throughout the range.
You can use this guide to get to the front of the shutter; the internal difference between the 500 and 519 series rangefinders (and I have worked on both) is very minimal.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/7699588@N07/sets/72157634744246670/
Stop at the point where he unscrews the front lens element. NO NEED TO DISASSEMBLE BEYOND THIS POINT UNLESS THE SHUTTER IS TOTALLY GUMMED UP.
This point: https://www.flickr.com/photos/7699588@N07/9341333170/in/album-72157634744246670/
Get some cotton qtips or buds (lots of them), a small amount of naptha/lighter fluid and a small amount of 91 to 99% iso alcohol.
Clean the shutter blades in a circular motion gently, making sure to go the direction the blades overlap so that you don't snag the overlapping edges of each blade.
Get the q tip saturated with naptha and gently scrub the blades. Discard the qtip when dirty and then wipe gently with a dry q tip. Repeat at least 3 times.
Try firing the shutter on a speed above 1/60th of a second. This will pull the naptha that has crept back into the edge of the shutter into the area the blades have to travel. You should now see more oil and gunk on the blades.
Continue this practice until the shutter seems to be firing smoothly on 1/60th and then progressively increase the shutter speed each step, firing the shutter up to the highest speed to see how it's functioning.
If successful, then go back to 1/60th and start downward, firing the shutter a minimum of 5 times for each shutter speed. If you get to "B" without a problem, you are in good shape. However, if the shutter hangs on any speed, turn the shutter speed dial back one higher speed and do the cleaning routing again. A hung shutter will often close if you gently turn the shutter speed dial to a higher speed than what it stalled upon; if not, don't panic but gently swab the exposed portions of the blades with a DAMP q tip, but be careful because the shutter can snap shut, so don't have the q tip BELOW the edge of a shutter blade while cleaning.
Don't get impatient; this sometimes takes a few hours to days to do right. If you get impatient, just cover the shutter with a cloth and go do something else until you regain your composure.
Once the shutter appears to be working OK on all speeds, then clean the aperture the same way; alternately working the iris open and closed until all traces of dirt and oil are gone. NOTE: you will have to put the shutter on "B" and lock it open with a cable release to do this...
Then clean the shutter and aperture iris again with the iso alcohol until they are totally shine free and dry.
Then, put the shutter on "B", lock it open and carefully clean the front surface of the rear lens element.
Once you are sure, reassemble the camera and dry fire it about 100 times. If you have any problems, start again.
You will get there and don't be discouraged if it sticks a bit after your first cleaning. You might have to clean it two or more times, but eventually, it will work smoothly and you now know how to service it in the future.
You can use this guide to get to the front of the shutter; the internal difference between the 500 and 519 series rangefinders (and I have worked on both) is very minimal.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/7699588@N07/sets/72157634744246670/
Stop at the point where he unscrews the front lens element. NO NEED TO DISASSEMBLE BEYOND THIS POINT UNLESS THE SHUTTER IS TOTALLY GUMMED UP.
This point: https://www.flickr.com/photos/7699588@N07/9341333170/in/album-72157634744246670/
Get some cotton qtips or buds (lots of them), a small amount of naptha/lighter fluid and a small amount of 91 to 99% iso alcohol.
Clean the shutter blades in a circular motion gently, making sure to go the direction the blades overlap so that you don't snag the overlapping edges of each blade.
Get the q tip saturated with naptha and gently scrub the blades. Discard the qtip when dirty and then wipe gently with a dry q tip. Repeat at least 3 times.
Try firing the shutter on a speed above 1/60th of a second. This will pull the naptha that has crept back into the edge of the shutter into the area the blades have to travel. You should now see more oil and gunk on the blades.
Continue this practice until the shutter seems to be firing smoothly on 1/60th and then progressively increase the shutter speed each step, firing the shutter up to the highest speed to see how it's functioning.
If successful, then go back to 1/60th and start downward, firing the shutter a minimum of 5 times for each shutter speed. If you get to "B" without a problem, you are in good shape. However, if the shutter hangs on any speed, turn the shutter speed dial back one higher speed and do the cleaning routing again. A hung shutter will often close if you gently turn the shutter speed dial to a higher speed than what it stalled upon; if not, don't panic but gently swab the exposed portions of the blades with a DAMP q tip, but be careful because the shutter can snap shut, so don't have the q tip BELOW the edge of a shutter blade while cleaning.
Don't get impatient; this sometimes takes a few hours to days to do right. If you get impatient, just cover the shutter with a cloth and go do something else until you regain your composure.
Once the shutter appears to be working OK on all speeds, then clean the aperture the same way; alternately working the iris open and closed until all traces of dirt and oil are gone. NOTE: you will have to put the shutter on "B" and lock it open with a cable release to do this...
Then clean the shutter and aperture iris again with the iso alcohol until they are totally shine free and dry.
Then, put the shutter on "B", lock it open and carefully clean the front surface of the rear lens element.
Once you are sure, reassemble the camera and dry fire it about 100 times. If you have any problems, start again.
You will get there and don't be discouraged if it sticks a bit after your first cleaning. You might have to clean it two or more times, but eventually, it will work smoothly and you now know how to service it in the future.
Last edited:
Wow...
Well, I know who I’m going to ask the next time I need to fix something!
Well, I know who I’m going to ask the next time I need to fix something!
Wow...
Well, I know who I’m going to ask the next time I need to fix something!
Well, I know a few things, but I am NOT a trained camera repair person. Only do this if you are willing to gamble on the outcome and know the risks...
One more bit of advice: if the shutter continues to be problematic, remember that you are only cleaning the FRONT surface of both the shutter and the aperture blade assembly and gunk from the rear of each can creep around and foul the mechanisms, so that's why it often takes several cleanings.
If you want to clean the rear of the shutter and aperture blades, you'll have to remove the rear lens element and there's not a lot of room to work back there. Use a lens spanner tool only to loosen the lens and go get one of these: https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p...VQiSGCh2grwc-EAQYASABEgIKu_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
It's a valve grinding tool with a suction cup on each end. Great for removing and replacing/starting lens elements and it's cheap.
Follow the same basic guidelines for working from the front and you should be fine.
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