I have two Ricoh cameras 1. XR1 35mm SLR - a. camera back lets light in & I beleive requires a new soft seal. b. camera flash synchronisation appears defective. 2. 500RF Compact - camera backs lets light in & as above I believe requires a new soft seal. Can you please advise if repair work for each camera possible & typically what cost so that I might evaluate if it is worth pursuing. Thanks Rgs Peter Drury

This lightning strike depending on where you are seeing it is either showing you the button to push for the internal flash to pop up or it's telling you that flash is required for the camera setting you have chosen. If the lightning strike is an icon on the camera body it will be beside a button that's for an internal flash. If you see this in the viewfinder or screen then the camera is letting you know that the scene is going to require flash.

Like all non-specialist, non-collectable 35mm bodies, yours is almost worthless, sorry.

There is usually some demand for K-mount models like yours, but the prices are still very low (no more than £10) as a potential purchaser is likely going to need to get the foam light seals replaced, new batteries and will need to spend money on running a few test rolls of film and processing in order to check that the camera still exposes correctly. Although the light seals can wait until after testing, the film, processing and batteries are all a gamble if the camera is no longer functioning correctly. For all these reasons, cameras like yours are often offered free on FreeCycle/Freegle.

If you can prove that your camera has new batteries, light seals and has recently been serviced then it's worth up to around £40 maximum for the body only. US prices will be about 30% lower.

If you have Ricoh lenses that do not have electrical contacts, you can use the lenses on Pentax digital SLR cameras.
If you have Ricoh lenses with electrical contacts, you can not use them on Pentax digital cameras.

Stick black substance is probably the light seal the camera has along the edge of the door. Over time these foam like seal become stickey and start to fall apart. The same stuff is used as mirror dampening the mirror flips up when you take a picture. I think you can do a search on Google for an instruction to replace these deteriorating seals. I've had plenty of them myself on classic film cameras.

Sounds like the shutter needs repair. Either the opening curtain is sticking or the closing curtain is not holding long enough. Another problem might be the camera's sync speed might be lower than 1/125 of a second. Many cameras use 1/60th or 1/90th of a second as their flash sync speed.

prasadsu,

any camera store will have a flash for your KR5. buy a non dedicated type that fits on the hot shoe.
or try ebay for a used one.

You don't need anything special. Just buy a flash with a hot shoe.

Sunil, there's a huge array of flashes that will suit that camera.
What you have is one of the old-faithfuls of the camera world. Not over-the-top glamerous bits, just basic necessary features that work well, and that camera will go for a long long time.
The hotshoe, the 'slide' on the top of the camera that accommodates the flash, is NOT a 'dedicated' shoe which means there is no auto or specific links between the flash and the camera.
You need to talk to someone over the counter because models of flashes are changing every day and I do not keep up to cover them all.
What I would be asking for is firstly, a hotshoe flash, then, an auto flash (this means the flash itself will meter the light output and adjust itself), then you want to buy a flash for its power output (guide number) don't waste your money on useless features for that camera, put the money into to flashes power, higher the guide number the better (GN20 is low, GN30 is good, GN40-45 is very high and likely a huge flash).
So, and auto flash, not dedicated, no fancy features, good GN (high 20s-mid 30s)
Also, don't buy brand names (ricoh, canon, nikon), pointless in this case. Look for generics, Metz, Sun, Sigma etc.

About the only thing you can do is clean the batt. cover and contacts in batt. holder,use a pencil eraser, be careful with the contacts in holder. There are no parts avail. for this model. However this is a rugged camera and you could buy a hand held light meter.

Your second answer is the correct one. The seal at the edge of the film/back door needs to be replaced. The foam fails over time, a common problem