Back to the future: Hi-Matic 9 ?

[zumbido]

I'm using an E-PL1 with all sorts of old lenses, homemade lenses, etc. for my "small format" uses these days. Film is 120-only, except for very occasional nostalgic use of my Spotmatic/ME Super stuff.

I used to have a Minolta Hi-Matic 9 and absolutely loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it to death like no other camera. Then all six rolls I shot on my honeymoon came back completely blank thanks to an electronics problem I couldn't fix. I sold all my old fixed-lens RF stuff and moved on.

But, I still miss that camera. The thing is, it had the most effective auto-exposure that I've ever seen in my life. The only camera where I ever bothered to use fill, because it "just worked" (and I don't use flash enough to spend time learning it properly--I have a list that could fill a book of "learning projects" already). It had, and I know this will be blasphemous, the most usable RF I've ever tried. To be frank, one of the few usable RFs that I've looked through, better than any Leica. I won't claim this to be a fact, just a copacetic happenstance with my messed-up eyes.

So. All that said, can anyone recommend anything that is sort of like the Hi-Matic 9 (or 7/7sII if those are what you have experience with) that DOES NOT HAVE:

1. Mercury batteries
2. Wonky old circuits

Anyone? I know it's an ambiguous, open-ended question. So I'm interested in the "why" not just "an Agfa Isolette, because it's what I'm using this week and I like it."

 

[Greyscale]

Does it have to be a rangefinder, or would a nice scale-focus camera fit the bill? If so, the original Olympus Trip 35 comes to mind. Fantastic lens, auto-exposure, no dependence on mercury (or any other batteries), simple, dependable, and one of the best designed cameras ever, regardless of the price or type.

Find one that has been recently CLA'd, and you will be ready to take great pictures for many years to come.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I do not understand what Electronic Problem would cause to a Hi-Matic 9 to fail. It is a mechanical camera, the meter sets the exposure via mechanical trap-needle system. The shutter is mechanical. I suspect the shutter may have frozen up, need flood cleaning? Or- a gear went out, they were made of brass. I cannot think of another fixed-lens RF quite like the Hi-Matic 9, with its Easy-Flash system that had such a wide GN range. The Canonet Ql17L and GIII also have GN based "follow-flash", but are shutter-preferred auto. The meter turns off when on manual. The HM-9 meters while on manual, and has Program mode auto.

The Konica S3 is a nice, compact automatic RF. Not as heavily made as the HM-9.

 

[Greyscale]

...I cannot think of another fixed-lens RF quite like the Hi-Matic 9, with its Easy-Flash system that had such a wide GN range. ...

I can think of one, the Hi-Matic 11. But it lacks the manual exposure option of the 9.

Brian, I can't recall, having sold my Hi-Matic 9 several months ago (and regretting it), does the shutter lock on the 9 when in Auto mode and with no batteries in the camera, like on the QL17 GII? Maybe this was the electrical issue that the OP meant?

 

[ridinhome]

Have you considered a Konica Auto S2? Greg Weber can convert it to take modern 625A batteries.

 

[zumbido]

I do not understand what Electronic Problem would cause to a Hi-Matic 9 to fail. It is a mechanical camera, the meter sets the exposure via mechanical trap-needle system. The shutter is mechanical. I suspect the shutter may have frozen up, need flood cleaning? Or- a gear went out, they were made of brass. I cannot think of another fixed-lens RF quite like the Hi-Matic 9, with its Easy-Flash system that had such a wide GN range. The Canonet Ql17L and GIII also have GN based "follow-flash", but are shutter-preferred auto. The meter turns off when on manual. The HM-9 meters while on manual, and has Program mode auto.

The Konica S3 is a nice, compact automatic RF. Not as heavily made as the HM-9.

Brian: the shutter itself wasn't the issue, as it would still open appropriately on manual. In any automatic mode, it advanced and cocked and sounded in all ways normal... but the shutter was never opening. I assumed it was an electronic issue because I couldn't see something mechanically wrong, but I'll admit that was in my early days of camera work. Up to that point I'd only opened up Pentax K1000s, I think. Certainly possible that there was something subtly wrong in the mechanical linkage that I wasn't experienced enough to spot (not having a service manual or any diagrams to work with, either).

Edit to add: One observation that I recall was that if the hot shoe leads were detached, all auto modes ceased to function (this was back when they were still working). If that isn't a normal characteristic of the wiring in this camera, it could be a clue as to what was going on. Maybe someone had mucked around with it before I got to it... Offered for curiosity's sake.

 

[zumbido]

Does it have to be a rangefinder, or would a nice scale-focus camera fit the bill? If so, the original Olympus Trip 35 comes to mind. Fantastic lens, auto-exposure, no dependence on mercury (or any other batteries), simple, dependable, and one of the best designed cameras ever, regardless of the price or type.

Find one that has been recently CLA'd, and you will be ready to take great pictures for many years to come.

I'll look into the Trip. I'm not at all married to it being a rangefinder, and in the end I rarely used the HM9 below f2.8 so neither the speed nor critical focus are top concerns. I have other cameras for that sort of work.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I am guessing someone mucked with it. On "AA" setting, Program Mode, the Hi-Matic 9 defaults to 1/15th second and F1.7. The Hot Shoe circuit has nothing to do with the Electric Eye setting. The GN circuit is different. I just checked mine. Still perfect after 42 years.

So- Try another one!

 

[GSNfan]

Buy an Olympus 35 SP. Its the most good looking and well-built of all fixed lens RFs, not to mention it has a spot meter as well.

Its flaws are loud shutter compared to other fixed lens RFs, and the lens is low contrast so it suits color more than b&w.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The Olympus SP has a very sharp lens on it, the mechanics are not as heavily made as the Minolta. It does not have auto-parallax correction, uses fixed Parallax lines for close-up.

Mechanically, it has a very thin spring that is under constant pressure used in the film advance mechanism to stop the winding cycle. It broke on mine, replaced it with a spring from a parts Minolta Hi-Matic 11 that was used in the shutter mechanism. Worked much better, sold it here on RFF many years ago. Kept the Minolta HM-9.