Minolta Hi-Matic 7s II - questions

S

Snaker

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Hi All,
I bought my first RF before only 2 weeks, so I'm RF newbie.
I have few questions about my Minolta Hi-Matic 7s II:

1) I was little suprised by viewfinder. I thik is little less bright then SLR viewfinder. I don't mean that the view is not shar or foggy. Is it normal?
2) My lens has small clearance in all directions (maybe 0,5-1mm), but fotos are sharp.
Is it normal?

Its all for now. thaks for answers, and excuse my english.

Best regards from the Czech Republic.
 
Can you see haze in the finder at all? This is common in most of these cameras if they have not been cleaned. It will make the finder appear "dull". Shine a light into it to check. The top of the camera comes of easily, but has a wire soldered to the "hot Shoe".

Some play in the lens is notmal for these cameras. If the pictures are sharp at F1.7 and close-up, it is nothing to worry about.
 
I own two of these. Both lenses have some play and the viewfinders are dim compared to most of my other cameras. Even after having one cleaned it's viewfinder still can't compete with the brightness of my Olympus 35 RC rangefinder. But, the 7sII do shoot very sharp pictures.
 
I just checked out my nearly identical Vivitar 35ES and it exhibits those same 'features' (it's not a bug!).. there's a little play in the lens that I never noticed before, and yeah the viewfinder isn't super bright.. altho I think that's how most RF cameras would appear to people who are used to SLR eyepieces

but it doesn't matter to me.. I love my little Viv enough that I just paid $40 for a lens hood for it
 
jamesdak said:
I own two of these. Both lenses have some play and the viewfinders are dim compared to most of my other cameras. Even after having one cleaned it's viewfinder still can't compete with the brightness of my Olympus 35 RC rangefinder. But, the 7sII do shoot very sharp pictures.
Click to expand...

Thaks for your reply. How I recognised, the right term is "play" not "clearence" (dictionary offer both):)

I made 2 films and Im really suprised, photos are very sharp on f1.7.
 
From all the fixed-lens rf's i handled so far (Yashica GSN, CC, minolta hi-matic 9, canonet 28, ql19, ql17GIII) only the canonets are without any play. The rest all have bigger or smaller play for the whole lens barrel. Tried to tighten it on one of the GSN's but i didn't find a way how to.
 
The viewfinder of the minolta is dimmer and less contrasty, especially in low light, than some of the other "one-lens" rfdrs. It has all the money invested in that piece of glass.
 
The Minolta 7s-II has a cemented pair for the front group of the viewfinder. That cement in mine "hazed". After cleaning the optical surfaces, it was the only haze left. The Konica S3 is based on the same Cosina chassis, but separated the front pair. All of the surfaces could be cleaned and the result was a more crisp view of the world. The Minolta is "not bad at all", but not as bright compared side-by-side with the S3.
 
Neither my Olympus 35SP nor Konica C35 have any lens play at all. My Minolta 7s has very slight play, but nothing that I've noticed until I just now checked it. I don't think my RC has any play, but it is not at hand and I'm too lazy to go check. ;-)

Trius
 
Snaker said:
1) I was little suprised by viewfinder. I thik is little less bright then SLR viewfinder. I don't mean that the view is not shar or foggy. Is it normal?
Click to expand...

Others have noted the possibility of haze, but bear in mind that it IS normal for this finder to be a bit less bright than average. I believe it is one price that you pay for the small size of the camera -- the finder window does not admit as much light.


2) My lens has small clearance in all directions (maybe 0,5-1mm), but fotos are sharp.
Is it normal?
Click to expand...

The one I used to own also had this clearance. I believe it is normal. If yours is like mine was, you will find that the clearance only affects the metering section of the lens -- the actual optical elements have little if any movement. This is why you can feel the lens move, but the pictures still are sharp.
 
Snaker, Please some pics from the minolta hi-matic s7ll. I am thinking about buying one from a friend, but haven't seen any reviews on the net. Thanks.
 
John35 said:
Snaker, Please some pics from the minolta hi-matic s7ll. I am thinking about buying one from a friend, but haven't seen any reviews on the net. Thanks.
Click to expand...


normal_02%7E5.jpg

03%7E5.jpg
 
Holy cats. I'd say you're getting pretty durn good results from that little camera! Kinda makes me wish I had kept mine...
 
Based on those great pics, I had better move my 7s up the ranks a bit. Incidentally, the viefinder in mine is quite bright (particularly after the Contax IIIa), and there is very little play in the lens.
 
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