Film Minolta Hi-Matic 7SII

jai

Regular
There aren't many cameras better than this, without being a lot bigger.

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I'm not crazy about the viewfinder, it's small and tinted blue. But I am crazy about the size, it's the film equivalent of an Nex 5. And the results from that lens, yes, it's really that good:

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Thanks! I also have the original 7S, which is OK but not any smaller than my Minolta SLRs. Doesn't feel as nice to hold either.

The 7Sii is just so small, and looks so cool. Hard to tell from those photos actually, maybe I should shoot it next to something for context.
 
Cool, let us know how you go.

Before I could really start using mine, I had to give it a good clean around the rangefinder patch and replace the light seals. Worth checking before you load in the first roll of film
 
Got it yesterday! :2thumbs:

Rangefinder is clean, or at least looks clean enough for me, but lights seals need some attention. Will probably have to handle it to some professional guy (any other tips welcome :D ) since it doesn't look as easy to DIY as other models. Would take the opportunity to have the shutter lubricated.

José
 
As long as you can see the patch clearly through the viewfinder, thats great. Mine was pretty hard to make out at first.

I replaced my light seals myself, using a some foam i bought off ebay. It was a bit fiddly, but I managed to do it pretty well (after a couple of attempts). The trick is to use the self adhesive foam around the take up spool and hinge, but in the tight groove sections use the non self adhesive foam.

In Australia, it would have cost more than the camera was worth to get a CLA and new light seals, so I didn't have much choice.

As for other tips, I have been using a standard 1.5V LR44 battery. You are not really supposed to, it originally had a 1.35V mercury battery you can't get any more. You can get Wein Cell replacement, and I probably will eventually. The small difference in voltage only affects the light meter operation. With the LR44 my photos come out correctly exposed by the meter outdoors in good light, but in low light I think the meter probably isn't accurate. In these situations I just use manual.
 
I've taken to using duct tape to block out extraneous light. Does the trick until I can get around to replacing the seals (which is likely to be never given my general laziness :rofl:)
 
Thanks for the inputs!

I've decided to give it a try and ordered that foam pack a few hours ago. Regarding battery, it did in fact arrive with an LR44 but it was dead and I've changed to a zink-air. Will probably shoot a roll over the weekend, before replacing seals, to see if there aren't any other problems.
 
Looks like it's working well. It was a difficult scene to meter for. If you wanted to, you could add a graduated filter in post to bring up the exposure in the grass.

What were the issues you had to solve?
 
^The light seals needed replacement, that was easy but took a while to get the foam from the UK. Then, after the first roll, the camera "died". Turns out a wire had disconnected... Now it's running well, but even if the metering looks OK, what the needle let's me know is not looking correct to me. Not sure if related with the new battery...

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Stairway
by José Saraiva, on Flickr
 
The meter will struggle with high contrast scenes like that one above. The bright areas of the image push up the average light metered and shadows will be underexosed.

There is no exposure compensation unfortunately, but you can push the ISO down a stop or two to give you a bit more light in situations like this.

Maybe test the meter by aiming it at a wall and comparing it to the settings a digital camera would get for the same shot?
 
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