Naumoski
Well-known
Hi,
I recently bought a very nice, black, very well cared beauty, also my first RF camera ass well, so i wanted to share my first expericence, love and critics to the forum.
Here's my camera:
Things I like:
It's small, compact, light, medium, lens are OK, the shutter it's quiet, the meter it's very accurate and gives good exposure.
Things I don't (or I will get used to):
the Viewfinder its pale, the scale and the black line it's almost invinsible, the composing wasn't always the exact, the focusing window it's very very small, the focus ring it's very tight (0.9 to 5 meters), and it was difficult to get and to see the right focus, I get like 3 overlaping images, so I used the meter scale to predict the focus.
--
The photographs below are at taken at AUTO and at almost all photos are taken at speed 1/500. The camera was in its leather case. This are original scans at 72dpi, 1818x1228, and they are quite poor without edit (only resized). I printed some images, the differency is really visible.
Film used - Fujicolor 100 (expired 2007). For portraits the film is ok, but quite grainy, especially in the shadows, not the best for testing.
I've used UV filter on pictures that i noted.
I choosed phots that are critiquable both good and bad.
----
Portraits, focus, light, colors - it's fine here (with UV filter):
Bokeh and reversed focus (with UV filter):
Contrast and color (with UV filter):
Light leaks, low contrast (with UV filter):
Aginst the light:
Focus, bokeh, colors:
Infinity focus, sharpness:
Nice overexposure:
In shadows / against the light (with UV filter):
----
Also i have some problems with my camera:
The aperture rings opens only at f/16, f/11 and f/8 (on other apertures the ring doesn't change but it opens when i shoot.
I will need light seals replacement (that it's the reason for the light seals?), and how can i fix the light seals?
I recently bought a very nice, black, very well cared beauty, also my first RF camera ass well, so i wanted to share my first expericence, love and critics to the forum.
Here's my camera:
Things I like:
It's small, compact, light, medium, lens are OK, the shutter it's quiet, the meter it's very accurate and gives good exposure.
Things I don't (or I will get used to):
the Viewfinder its pale, the scale and the black line it's almost invinsible, the composing wasn't always the exact, the focusing window it's very very small, the focus ring it's very tight (0.9 to 5 meters), and it was difficult to get and to see the right focus, I get like 3 overlaping images, so I used the meter scale to predict the focus.
--
The photographs below are at taken at AUTO and at almost all photos are taken at speed 1/500. The camera was in its leather case. This are original scans at 72dpi, 1818x1228, and they are quite poor without edit (only resized). I printed some images, the differency is really visible.
Film used - Fujicolor 100 (expired 2007). For portraits the film is ok, but quite grainy, especially in the shadows, not the best for testing.
I've used UV filter on pictures that i noted.
I choosed phots that are critiquable both good and bad.
----
Portraits, focus, light, colors - it's fine here (with UV filter):
Bokeh and reversed focus (with UV filter):
Contrast and color (with UV filter):
Light leaks, low contrast (with UV filter):
Aginst the light:
Focus, bokeh, colors:
Infinity focus, sharpness:
Nice overexposure:
In shadows / against the light (with UV filter):
----
Also i have some problems with my camera:
The aperture rings opens only at f/16, f/11 and f/8 (on other apertures the ring doesn't change but it opens when i shoot.
I will need light seals replacement (that it's the reason for the light seals?), and how can i fix the light seals?
Last edited:
heespharm
Member
Naumoski
Well-known
Thank you!
heespharm
Member
np great pics btw
Armoured
Well-known
Very nice. It's a very capable camera with a solid heft to it and a good lens.
The lens flares easily, though, and is very sensitive to light in the picture, including backlight. I'm still looking for a hood that will fit well and not block the rangefinder.
The lens flares easily, though, and is very sensitive to light in the picture, including backlight. I'm still looking for a hood that will fit well and not block the rangefinder.
Naumoski
Well-known
Right. It's very sensitive to lens flare, and as you say on backlight (that's shown on the last photograph), even i used UV filter.
Does buying a hood will help a lot? And have you found some that would work ok?
I want to try this camera with B&W film, I have Kodak T-MAX 400, for street daylight, but much for for some night photos.
Armoured
Well-known
Lens hood suggestions welcome
Lens hood suggestions welcome
Not that I've been looking very hard, but no, I haven't found a good hood. Obviously it won't help for light sources in frame, but should help in general - particularly for a lens this sensitive.
I've found most plain-type hoods block the viewfinder too much (and rangefinder patch). I'd like to find one of the metal or plastic 'cutaway' hoods, but most of these seem to be made for smaller filter sizes.
Should be a good camera for B&W, once you get the light seals sorted.
Lens hood suggestions welcome
Not that I've been looking very hard, but no, I haven't found a good hood. Obviously it won't help for light sources in frame, but should help in general - particularly for a lens this sensitive.
I've found most plain-type hoods block the viewfinder too much (and rangefinder patch). I'd like to find one of the metal or plastic 'cutaway' hoods, but most of these seem to be made for smaller filter sizes.
Should be a good camera for B&W, once you get the light seals sorted.
bensyverson
Well-known
These look great! I think it's too hard to determine what the camera is really doing without a decent scan or print, so I'm glad you did some printing. The 7sii's lens is definitely flare-prone -- I don't think it's multicoated very well. Personally I don't mind a little flare... I love the way the light is wrapping around the subjects in your shots.
It sounds like your aperture acts as expected. It should stay at f/8 when in A or in manual mode at f/8 or below. It will only close down if you manually set it to f/11 or f/16. As you press the shutter release, it should open up or close down to the selected aperture. I'm not sure why it's like that.
The focus ring shouldn't be so tight -- maybe try exercising it back and forth for a few minutes? Sometimes that clears away some dirt that was causing it to stick.
One note -- if you get a hood, you'll need to get a lens cap that fits the front of the hood. If you don't cap the camera when not in use, it runs down the battery unfortunately.
It sounds like your aperture acts as expected. It should stay at f/8 when in A or in manual mode at f/8 or below. It will only close down if you manually set it to f/11 or f/16. As you press the shutter release, it should open up or close down to the selected aperture. I'm not sure why it's like that.
The focus ring shouldn't be so tight -- maybe try exercising it back and forth for a few minutes? Sometimes that clears away some dirt that was causing it to stick.
One note -- if you get a hood, you'll need to get a lens cap that fits the front of the hood. If you don't cap the camera when not in use, it runs down the battery unfortunately.
rolleistef
Well-known
Naumoski
Well-known
Ben, you are saying that the aperture behavior it should be like this, and that's isn't a problem just on my camera?
Getting a hood should be a clever step, I'll be happy if i can find one.
thanx for commenting.
Naumoski
Well-known
This is a nice example and portrait.
Because of this light-lack that lens have, maybe it's better not using the camera for shooting against the light source etc, but sometimes it's just better that way
racoll
Well-known
What a timely post. I just got one of these, well, actually two of them, and I love them! My first one seems to work perfectly while the second may have some light meter issues which means I may just shoot manually with it. I've tried using a hood from my Zuiko 50/1.4, which fits nicely but does block out the lower right corner of the viewfinder. It doesn't interfere with the rf patch though so it may work out. Nice pictures, btw!
Andy
Andy
Naumoski
Well-known
Minolta 7SII + B&W film T-MAX 400
Minolta 7SII + B&W film T-MAX 400
Hi,
I'm back to add some examples using Minolta 7SII.
I used a B&W film Kodak T-max 400, developed at the photo lab which developed also the color photographs above. I don't know which chemicals were used in the development, i think to ask them about this.
Overall, the film is overexposed, that's most visible in the shadows, and shadows/mid-tones are quite noisy because they are not as black as they should be, on scans that's not that visible, but i got very poor noisy prints. On the prints the black are truly black but the mid-tones, and the faces of the people are very grainy. I scanned 3 prints with Epson 3-1 printer-scanner, they look quite soft but the exposition look similar to the real prints.
Here is the link to see the rest of the photos and the prints:
http://s845.photobucket.com/albums/ab17/SNaumoski/Minolta 7sII T-max 400/
I don't what is the reason to have overexposed scans, is it the shutter delay, or maybe something with development?
If it's the shutter, how to compensate this, I can't rate the film to let's say 500 ISO, the higher iso on the camera after 400 is 800. Maybe it would be ok to say to the photolab to develop the film on 500 ISO instead on 400?
Minolta 7SII + B&W film T-MAX 400
Hi,
I'm back to add some examples using Minolta 7SII.
I used a B&W film Kodak T-max 400, developed at the photo lab which developed also the color photographs above. I don't know which chemicals were used in the development, i think to ask them about this.
Overall, the film is overexposed, that's most visible in the shadows, and shadows/mid-tones are quite noisy because they are not as black as they should be, on scans that's not that visible, but i got very poor noisy prints. On the prints the black are truly black but the mid-tones, and the faces of the people are very grainy. I scanned 3 prints with Epson 3-1 printer-scanner, they look quite soft but the exposition look similar to the real prints.
Here is the link to see the rest of the photos and the prints:
http://s845.photobucket.com/albums/ab17/SNaumoski/Minolta 7sII T-max 400/
I don't what is the reason to have overexposed scans, is it the shutter delay, or maybe something with development?
If it's the shutter, how to compensate this, I can't rate the film to let's say 500 ISO, the higher iso on the camera after 400 is 800. Maybe it would be ok to say to the photolab to develop the film on 500 ISO instead on 400?
Last edited:
Naumoski
Well-known
Also I would have another question, I don't want to sound silly, but: Does using expired B&W film (year 2005) does something with loosing sharpness and contrast?
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dbarnes
Well-known
What battery do you have installed? Incorrect voltage can affect meter readings.
Naumoski
Well-known
Battery
Battery
I found the battery that it's installed in my camera. On the battery the voltage it is not written, so i checked on internet.
It is model AG13, by Tian Qiu, button cell, 1.55 volts
This camera obviously uses 1.35 Volts battery. Does using 1.55 would lie the meter, and it's (one of) the reason for overexposed photos?
For details here: http://www.100candles.com/items/item_8587.htm
Battery
I found the battery that it's installed in my camera. On the battery the voltage it is not written, so i checked on internet.
It is model AG13, by Tian Qiu, button cell, 1.55 volts
This camera obviously uses 1.35 Volts battery. Does using 1.55 would lie the meter, and it's (one of) the reason for overexposed photos?
For details here: http://www.100candles.com/items/item_8587.htm
Last edited:
dbarnes
Well-known
Alternative battery
Alternative battery
Recommend trying the zinc/air "Wein" cell that fits the camera. Has short life (weeks or months) but voltage that matches the mercury cell that the camera was designed for.
Alternative battery
Recommend trying the zinc/air "Wein" cell that fits the camera. Has short life (weeks or months) but voltage that matches the mercury cell that the camera was designed for.
racoll
Well-known
Something else I've learned is that by turning the dial off of "Auto" it seems to turn the camera off; both of mine had been draining the batteries and have not done so since I started turning the dial off of "Auto" when I'm not using the camera. I've been using the 675 Wein Cell for mine with great results.
Andy
Andy
