Minolta Auto Semi

[Brian Legge]

The recent thread on coupled rangefinder cameras lead me to gamble on a Minolta Auto Semi sold for parts on ebay. The auction was actually the first I'd heard of the camera. Its an interesting - a coupled rangefinder, combined VF/RF folder with auto stop on advance from 1938 or so. In this case, the price was low enough that I figured I'd give repair a shot.

It turns out the camera has a plethora of issues -
* The shutter button -> shutter coupling is messed up. Bent metal and a bad spring. Probably easy to fix with some disassembly and work.
* The auto film advance stop doesn't work and the red window is in the 6x9 position, so I only ended up with 8 shots on the first roll.
* The shutter blades aren't flat, letting light leak in between shots.
* The lens is in decent shape given the age. Uncoated, a bit of haze and dusty, it isn't very sharp at all. I've actually only found 2 shots taken with this camera online, both from a user here at RFF, so I don't really know what the lens was capable of at its best.

Anyway, here are a few example shots from the camera:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannelbrae/5392641498/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannelbrae/5392042123/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannelbrae/5392641044/

Unless a Super Ikonta falls in my lap, this will probably be a project camera for a while. After working with 70s rangefinders, this camera is refreshingly simple by comparison though I haven't made it into the shutter yet.

If I can find compatible optics, I may try swapping them with something more modern at some point. I'll hold onto the current - this camera seems rare enough that I don't want to do anything destructive - but I'd love to make a good shooter out of it.

 

[oftheherd]

The
...

- but I'd love to make a good shooter out of it.

Looks like it already is. Where is the light leak you talked about? BTW, how did you end up with only 6 shots? 6x9 should get you eight. What is the other format, 6x7? Anyway, isn't that 6x9 negative nice?

 

[batterytypehah!]

Semi means it should be half of 6x9, i.e. 6x4.5. I don't think this one's supposed to be dual-format, actually. There's a detailed write-up on Camerapedia, did you see that? http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Auto_Semi_Minolta

 

[Naumoski]

I like the photos, very nice tones, quite 3D-ish! 🙂

 

[Brian Legge]

The shot count was a typo. You are correct, it was 8. I updated the initial post.

The camera is 6x4.5 but the red window is positioned for 6x9. I assume either the film changed over time or the camera was meant to be used with the auto stop so it could be advanced without the red window. Since my doesn't work, I can only align 8 shots.

The light leak is coming through the shutter blades. One of them doesn't sit flush, letting light leak in. It has an effect of continuously exposing the frame in a somewhat even way. The effect is a bit like fogged film. Not as bad as a more traditional light leak but fixing it will be a pain as I'll have to get to the blades themselves. I'm thinking reordering them so that the one which is ever so slightly bent is in a different position may do it.

And yes, the camera is close to being a good user... minus the light leak, fiddly shutter and poor use of film due to the advancing issue. It definitely shows potential though.

 

[Brian Legge]

Wow, thank you for all of the information! I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to hear from someone else with one of these as they seem to be relatively unknown.

The shutter release spring and the piece of metal the shutter activates should be relatively easy to fix. I'd really like to get the frame counter working though.

I opened it up over the weekend and have a bit of an idea about what is going on but not about how it should be working.

Basically, advancing turns a gear. This gear has a small gear on top. This small gear drives the counter gear. The problem I have is that the small gear seems to move freely, failing to drive the counter. If I advances extremely slowly, it occasionally moves on its own successfully but I think its just friction driving it at that point. Any resistance at all and it stops. I'm not sure how these are suppose to be coupled together.

I'll get a few pictures up soon as I doubt this makes much sense. 🙂

I'd like to get this working as I've had bad luck in general with red windows and color film. Even if I'm cautious about when I advance and how - even shading it for only a few seconds - I often get light leaks on most folder I've used. I've thought about adding some additional protection to reduce the chance but haven't given that a shot yet. If the auto film advance stop, I'd certainly prefer that solution.

I haven't had a chance to handle a Weltur. My only folder experiences are with a Zenobia (love the lens, wish the camera were 6x6 and had a rangefinder), a Moskva 5 (don't mind the handling but the spring tension made photos challenging the and I never did get the lens especially sharp) and a Wirgin Auta (..it makes a nice decoration..). I'm still exploring, looking for a good folder I like. So far I've found most of the ones I'd prefer are out of my price range.

 

[Brian Legge]

I took a few quick shots before heading to work.

The problem I'm hitting is the coupling between the larger and small gear in the center of these photos. The winding knob turns the large gear, but the small gear which transfers the rotation to the counter knob rotates freely.

I'm not sure how these gears are suppose to be coupled together.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannelbrae/5396013912/

Here is a photo of the two gears causing the problems with the winding knob and film counter removed. The next step seemed like it would to take this whole assembly off the camera to see if I could see anything from the bottom.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannelbrae/5396013688/

 

[Brian Legge]

Given the small size of the steel cog, no ideas come to mind. If it were larger, I'd consider drilling small holes in it to insert support pins to hold them together.

Any idea how the cogs were originally coupled? The only obvious method that comes to mind for me would be the shape of the pin (ie a rectangular pin, etc). That would imply that either one of the cogs is stripped in the middle or the pin itself is. Given one cog is brass, I'd assume that one would be softer and strip first.

Ideally, the stripped part would be the pin itself. That would probably be the simplest to replace. I don't recall whether the pin rotates with the brass cog or not. I'll check this Saturday evening as I hopefully will be out shooting earlier in the day.

[Again, I apologize for my lack of vocabulary here. I've been getting in to camera repair over the course of the year but haven't read enough to use proper nouns for most of this. If you have any recommendations on getting the basics down - particularly with these older cameras - I'm definitely interested]

Thanks again!

 

[graywolf]

If the gear and pinion turn on that pin, then they were probably swaged together. Probably a cylindrical bit punched out of the center of the brass gear going into the hole in the steel pinion.

If that is the case, and the cylindrical bit is not sheered off, you can probably take a center punch and tighten it. If it is sheered off, you may need a gear out of a parts donor camera An expensive solution would be to have a new brass gear fabricated.