Unmetered Canon 7?

[breathstealer]

What on earth is this? It's sure no Canon 7 that I've seen. Definitely a repaint job, but I can't imagine how the top plate ended up missing so much stuff.

http://www.shoguncamera.com/products_detail.php?pid=22,87&id=1489

 

[Mackinaw]

Looks like somebody's gone to the considerable hassle and expense of removing the meter from a 7 and covering up the openings. I saw one of these modifications before, but the camera was black. An interesting looking beast, no doubt.

Jim B.

 

[px67]

Well guys, I was more surprised that nobody replied to this thread. I want to thank breathstealer for the link. The camera is now in front of me and I am not sure what it is. The engraving on the top plate is smaller then a regular 7, the engraving model and 7 are missing. The front engraving looks like a L. The flash shoe has a middle contact and the topplate is embossed. There is no sign of a lightmeter switch at the back. The camera is painted by hand in Leica grey. The selftimer lever has a dot. The serial number is probably 908785, hard to read due to the paint.
After all it is a nice piece in my collection.

Ernst

 

[gdi]

Well guys, I was more surprised that nobody replied to this thread. I want to thank breathstealer for the link. The camera is now in front of me and I am not sure what it is. The engraving on the top plate is smaller then a regular 7, the engraving model and 7 are missing. The front engraving looks like a L. The flash shoe has a middle contact and the topplate is embossed. There is no sign of a lightmeter switch at the back. The camera is painted by hand in Leica grey. The selftimer lever has a dot. The serial number is probably 908785, hard to read due to the paint.
After all it is a nice piece in my collection.

Ernst

I had seen that when intially posted - it looked nice. Do you have any photos of it you could post. Enjoy it!

 

[vbarniev]

Well guys, I was more surprised that nobody replied to this thread. I want to thank breathstealer for the link. The camera is now in front of me and I am not sure what it is. The engraving on the top plate is smaller then a regular 7, the engraving model and 7 are missing. The front engraving looks like a L. The flash shoe has a middle contact and the topplate is embossed. There is no sign of a lightmeter switch at the back. The camera is painted by hand in Leica grey. The selftimer lever has a dot. The serial number is probably 908785, hard to read due to the paint.
After all it is a nice piece in my collection.

Ernst

You are not the only one with an item not seen before in this forum. I have a Canon QL with a Carl Zeiss 1.9 lens that works great.

 

[Mackinaw]

Ernst----I saved pictures from the link Breathstealer gave us and agree that you've got a very unique camera. I'm most impressed and surprised by the "hot shoe" which appears to sit in a custom-made depression. Doing this wouldn't be easy or cheap!

I almost wonder if this is a special one-off prototype camera that Canon made.

Jim B.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

The original photo is gone, please post a few!

 

[Mackinaw]

Here are two:

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Wow--I really like that!

 

[Al Kaplan]

It's about time for Canon to introduce a Canon 8 Rangefinder. They already have that sturdy outside bayonet to play with so a goggled 180/4 lens should be no problem either.

 

[Mackinaw]

Forgot the front view:

 

[xayraa33]

Forgot the front view:

This must be the legendary Canon 7x.
Only made by special order for pro photo journalists back in the early 1960s. ;-))

 

[gdi]

Looks very cool - I think it is a 7s top plate with the meter window, h/l and on/off switches filled. Don't know about the hotshoe - does it work?

Maybe this is actually a 7s?

 

[Mackinaw]

Looks very cool - I think it is a 7s top plate with the meter window, h/l and on/off switches filled. Don't know about the hotshoe - does it work? Maybe this is actually a 7s?

That's what i thought too until I compared it to my 7s. Look at the picture of the modified 7 that shows the back. The hot shoe is considerably more sunken down on the modified 7 than on my 7s. In addition, the space between the frame selector dial and the hot shoe is much greater on my 7s than on this modified 7. Plus the shutter speed indicator mark is that of a ordinary 7 (the indicator mark on a 7s is on a different position).

Whoever did this modification really knew what they were doing. I'm still mystified how they "reformed" the top plate around the hot shoe. This is definitely not a DIY project.

Jim B.

 

[gdi]

Yeah, you're right - the shoe much closer to the Shutter speed dial on the 7s - and this one seems set deeper.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

So, even though I am actually SELLING stuff right now, I could not resist buying Dan Chang's meterless 7 from the classifieds today. These are his photos, hope he doesn't mind my posting them here:

Definitely not as nice a job as your camera, Ernst, but when on earth was I ever going to see one of these again? Dan didn't say who did the conversion, but I think I'll ask him to weigh in on this thread. Were all of these one-offs? Was there somebody out there doing this for people?

Clearly some real work went into the accessory shoe on your camera. The one I bought from Dan looks fine, but yours is really marvelous.

I love bizarre items like this...

 

[Dan Chang]

The difference between these two cameras, the first one painted over chrome when wear it will look less nicer than this black paint on brass.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

How can you tell it was painted on the chrome? A nice job like that, you'd think the person who did it would know to strip down to the brass first.

So Dan, do you know the story behind the one you sold me? Who did the conversion and why?

 

[ruby.monkey]

How can you tell it was painted on the chrome? A nice job like that, you'd think the person who did it would know to strip down to the brass first.

The first one is showing a shiny white metal underneath, where paint has chipped or flaked off the top plate (most obviously in the front view). It's a shame because the rest of the conversion looks to be a very neat job.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Ah yes, I see...looks like a job for digitalintrigue...