enhancing a minolta SR 7

[le vrai rdu]

Hi

I had a wrecked minolta SRT (and 4 more working) and a minolta SR7

The SR7 is really nice, with no meter in the finder but on the top plate, quite nice and vintage

Unfortunatly the SR 7 as not this huge viewfinder like the SRT

The cause is in the condenser / prism couple. I am not an optic specialist but the SRT as a much "flatter" condenser than the SR7 , I supposed it had some consequences on the eye relief, and it seems I am right
The finder is still nice but not as easy for focusing as the one of the SRT

So I decided to fix it and put a SRT condenser an prisme in the SR7

First of all you need spare parts from the viewfinder system of an SRT or an X300 X700 etc (but I tried with SRT spares)

before opening the SR7 , the prism in front is from an X300 but finaly I used an SRT one

the top plate removed, notice the nice and funny meter system

another view

prism removed, just buy removing the bridle maintaned by helicoidal springs

Trying différents prisms, the SRT prism and it meters removed because it wouldn't fit under the SR7 top plate

removed the original condenser, I tried the SRT one smaller of about 1/2 mm in width and thinner, that will need a compensation

using the wedges of the SRT condenser to compensate for the slightly smaller width

and then putting a frame frome the SRT finder on top of the condenser so that the springs can press the condenser wich is thinner than the original one

then put the springs back
take your time, avoid dust

I removed the rectangular cache in the big screwed hole for the eyepiece(not sure it is usefull to remove it, I should have tried before removing it )


there you are
put back the top plate and enjoy this vintage camera with a much nicer eye relief 🙂

dont worry about the focusing it wont be affected

the only mistake you can do is to remove it when you remove the condenser, and not put it back the good way

to make sure, control with a lens focused to something at the infinity, if you can't focuse, it is because you put it upside down



here a test shot with a 50 1,4 wide open
It was much more easier to focus because now the picture is much wider in the finder

focused on the chuck, and there it is 🙂

 

[Nokton48]

Well done! I love projects like this, myself.
Putting a broken SRT to good use is another reason to do this.
The SR-7 looks like a neat camera.

 

[le vrai rdu]

Yep a nice camera, I also adjusted the meter by changing the position of the paper indicator 😀 wich is glued to a small "conveyor belt" (?)

I had the camera for 15$ on ebay, with a very nice 58 1,4 58 not 50mm) wich was full of grease
I had to dismount it piece buy piece and clean each glass with water and soap

the barrel and helicoide was awfully hard to put back together with every part in the good place, 😀 it took me several hours but now it is quite fine 🙂 and much cleaner

 

[le vrai rdu]

My next project is to make a stereo camera with two SRTs 😀

 

[Nokton48]

Well, Good Luck with it!