Himatic in the house... 7sII

[dreilly]

Just received an evilbayed Himatic 7SII. Took a risk because the seller didn't know anything about it.

But this baby is minty!

The seals are long gone. Okay, we knew that. The metering system works. I've only got silver oxides so I don't expect it's accurate. I'll have to pick up some 675 hearing aid batteries.

Neat little camera. RF patch is a little dim, but looking under the hood, the RF/VF optics are pretty clean. I've heard the VF/RF is a little dim in these. Not bad, just not great, y'know?

I like the way the AE system works...pushing the shutter release down sets the appropriate aperture, and holds it. It reads the selected aperture in the VF, which is useful for turning the shutter priority system on its head by setting the speed until you get the aperture you want.

The aperture control is a little fidgety and close to the body. Thankfully it has a tab. The aperture and shutter blades are spotless. And the ever ready case is spotless. Not bad for a 30 year old camera!

More to follow.

 

[JoeFriday]

congrats! they're a fun little camera, much like the Canonets

 

[r-brian]

I had one for a short time but sold it to buy a scanner. Tested the lens with slide film; some of the sharpest slides I had. comparable to my 55mm Micro Nikkor. Wished I had kept that camera.

Brian

 

[dreilly]

Just picked up some zinc cells and film, shot a test roll of my daughter, dropped it off, did new seals (in that order!), and cleaned the RF/VF. Better, but still a little dim. Others reported haze between the first two cemented elements in the VF--that's probably what I have, but it's not bad. I moved the thin metal plate over a little bit, which eclipses the aperture readout area of the VF just enough to make the numbers visible in low light. On the bright normal background they fade out. Now you can move your eye a little to the right and see them, and a little to the left and see the whole frame. This is a nice little camera!

 

[darkkavenger]

Ah you and your beautiful Flexaret 😊 I was considering purchasing a Hi-Matic 6 or 7 in the upcoming month. I just love their designs!

 

[jmilkins]

Great get - a 40mm / 1.7 Rokkor (!) housed in a pretty well designed compact body.

That's good shootin'!

 

[dreilly]

Well, got the test shots back. Even without the seals, it took great photos! Good meter on this thing! See "some snaps" below for the sample shots, or just follow this link:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=16633&cat=500&page=1

And this is on color print film, which I always scorn. I'd load some slides into this but I'm afraid Zora will cut herself.

 

[Snaker]

Congrats and wellcome in club 🙂

 

[JoeFriday]

how easy is it to take the top off? I need to clean up the finder in my Vivitar 35ES.. same camera, I assume

 

[dreilly]

Wicked easy. There's a screw on the side, and two under the film rewind wheel/lever. The chrome disk on top of the shutter advance lever comes off easily...I don't have a point spanner, but a pair of needle-nosed tweezers works for me. Take off the advance lever, undo the right-hand screw, wedge something in the fork for the film cannister and twist the rewind lever off, two more screws, then pull it off. Not nearly as tricky as a GSN or a Lynx. Those aren't that tricky either...

There is a wire to the shoe, so don't pull it off too far!

good luck

 

[jamesdak]

Congrats, I have two of them and they are quite sharp little cameras. Both viewfinders are dim though compared to my sons Olympus 35RC which is honestly much easier to focus. But I did a comparision test few months ago and the hi-matics gave sharper images with better contrast. Both of my meters are dead though. Garrys Camera repaired the one meter while doing a CLA but is shortly afterwards died again. I lost the paperwork in a move so I haven't bothered him for a warranty claim. Enjoy, Jim