Minor Minolta Hi-Matic 7sii problems/questions

[cjolson140]

I'm new to photography, and found this camera (my first film manual film camera) in my basement, ran a test roll through it, everything seems to work correctly, no light leaks or anything like that. There are a few things I've noticed, for one, the lens barrel is a bit wobbly on the front of the camera. Not enough to be visible, but you can feel it if you work it back and forth. Is this bad, and do I need it fixed?

When I got it out of the basement, I tested the battery (mercury 675 or 625 I think), no unloaded voltage whatsoever. I replaced it with a zinc-air "Mercury Equivalent" battery bought for six dollars, will my meter need recalibration?

One last problem, my test roll has one frame with a double exposure, and several frames with a sliver of the previous exposure visible on the left edge of the print. Is this an advance problem? I think the double exposure was my fault, I got the end of the roll without realizing it and forced the advance lever, causing it to slip. Posted is one of the shots with the previous one visible on the left. I'm aware it's quite green, this exposure was partially a test to see how this light would appear on film.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

A Minolta 7s-II should use an MS-76 battery, 1.5v Silver-Oxide. At least mine did.

On the double-exposure: after you load the camera, take up the tension with the rewind knob. Not too tight, but enough to watch the rewind crank when winding. Watch that it spins as you advance it. Could be anything from the film sprockets jumping the mechanism, to a bad tooth in the gear.

Otherwise, you found a really nice camera. Nice Basement!

Be careful of advancing at the end of a roll with a 7s-II. The camera is a compact, and the gears are a bit lighter made than some of the older cameras.

 

[FallisPhoto]

An unaltered Minolta Hi-Matic 7SII does not use a silver oxide battery. It originally used a PX675 mercury battery and the zinc/air 675 battery you have installed should work perfectly, although it won't work as long as the original mercury battery did before needing to be replaced. The zinc/air batteries have an initial voltage of 1.4 volts, vs the mercury battery's 1.35 volts, but the 1.4 volts quickly drops down to 1.35 volts and stays there until the battery dies. It should work fine. Incidentally, if you are paying $6 per battery, you are being badly ripped off. 675 zinc/air batteries are sold in drug stores, for use in hearing aids, at about a dollar each. A couple of months ago, I bought a package of 12 for $10.

There is probably a bit of play in the gearing that engages the double exposure prevention. Be sure that you have pushed the film advance lever as far as it will go (but don't force it).

 

[FallisPhoto]

A Minolta 7s-II should use an MS-76 battery, 1.5v Silver-Oxide. At least mine did.

Sorry, but that's wrong. You can use silver oxide batteries in there, but you will get some exposure errors, particularly in low light. The cameras originally used a 1.35 volt PX675 mercury battery.
http://www.cameraquest.com/min7s2.htm
http://www.jwhubbers.nl/mug/HiMatic2.html#anchor149509

Edit: If you want one, and if they have not run out, here's a place that sells real honest-to-god PX675 mercury batteries: http://www.photobattery.com/PX675.html

 

[cjolson140]

A Minolta 7s-II should use an MS-76 battery, 1.5v Silver-Oxide. At least mine did.

On the double-exposure: after you load the camera, take up the tension with the rewind knob. Not too tight, but enough to watch the rewind crank when winding. Watch that it spins as you advance it. Could be anything from the film sprockets jumping the mechanism, to a bad tooth in the gear.

Otherwise, you found a really nice camera. Nice Basement!

Be careful of advancing at the end of a roll with a 7s-II. The camera is a compact, and the gears are a bit lighter made than some of the older cameras.

Thanks for the advice. I have a habit of turning the rewind knob clockwise after every exposure to take up the slack, not quite sure why I do this, but I would sooner blame that than a stripped gear. I'll try to refrain from that on this next roll, haha.

I think this camera used to belong to my aunt, as no one in my family recognizes it. There's a sticker stuck on the inside of the camera, in the pocket where the film canister sits, that says REPAIRED BY BOB - '80, so it seems to have seen it's share of mishaps.

One last thing I noticed, it's the only thing that appears broken on it. Both the viewfinder window on the lens side of the camera, as well as what I believe is the rangefinder window (white square with clear square hole in it), are quite loose, especially the rangefinder window. It's gotten to the point where I have to tilt the camera forward before the exposure, so that the white plastic square is flush with the front of the camera. However, I haven't had any difficulty focusing, and my test roll came out nice and sharp. Another shot from the same roll as before, I really like this lens.

 

[cjolson140]

An unaltered Minolta Hi-Matic 7SII does not use a silver oxide battery. It originally used a PX675 mercury battery and the zinc/air 675 battery you have installed should work perfectly, although it won't work as long as the original mercury battery did before needing to be replaced. The zinc/air batteries have an initial voltage of 1.4 volts, vs the mercury battery's 1.35 volts, but the 1.4 volts quickly drops down to 1.35 volts and stays there until the battery dies. It should work fine. Incidentally, if you are paying $6 per battery, you are being badly ripped off. 675 zinc/air batteries are sold in drug stores, for use in hearing aids, at about a dollar each. A couple of months ago, I bought a package of 12 for $10.

There is probably a bit of play in the gearing that engages the double exposure prevention. Be sure that you have pushed the film advance lever as far as it will go (but don't force it).

I'm considering buying a 15 pack or whatever the bulk size is of 675 zinc-air hearing aid batteries, and removing the outer ring from the 6$ cell when it goes dead. I guess the only difference between the cells is the mercury replacement ones are slightly larger in diameter, which can cause a problem if your camera makes electrical contact on the side of the cell and you try to use the smaller diameter 675. Apparently the company that makes these replacement batteries just uses 675 hearing aid cells, and stamps a metal ring around them to increase the diameter. I've read of people removing this ring and slipping (banging?) it on to the cheap cells to save money.

 

[FallisPhoto]

I'm considering buying a 15 pack or whatever the bulk size is of 675 zinc-air hearing aid batteries, and removing the outer ring from the 6$ cell when it goes dead. I guess the only difference between the cells is the mercury replacement ones are slightly larger in diameter, which can cause a problem if your camera makes electrical contact on the side of the cell and you try to use the smaller diameter 675. Apparently the company that makes these replacement batteries just uses 675 hearing aid cells, and stamps a metal ring around them to increase the diameter. I've read of people removing this ring and slipping (banging?) it on to the cheap cells to save money.

Those are #625 cells where they remove the ring. A #675 zinc/air cell and a #675 mercury cell (and in fact a #675 any other kind of cell) are all pretty much the same size. They are all close enough that you usually don't have to make any modifications for size. When they are off, it is never, in my experience, by more than the thickness of a tiny piece of aluminum foil. The only modifications you do have to make, with the various #675 batteries, is for voltage (when you want to use alkaline or silver oxide cells that are not 1.35 volts). However, since zinc/air batteries and mercury batteries are both 1.35 volts, no modification is necessary (the zinc/air batteries sometimes say they are 1.4 volts, but they are all actually 1.35 volts).

 

[conradyiu]

buy an adapter and use a SR43 which is available on market, work great.