Wonky HI Matic 7s EV scale?

[lulalake]

Hi Folks,

I just bought a Minolta HI Matic 7S and all seems well with the camera except for the EV scale in the RF.

It seems no matter how bright or dim the ambient light, the EV scale won't go above EV7 or 8. It does move, but not much. If I put my finger over the sensor it goes into the red, when I take it off it slides to between 7 and 8, bright sunlight or not, all different shutter speeds and apertures.

It has a brand new Wein cell.

Is it whacked? Could it be a bad Wein cell?

Thanks for any suggestions; I'd really like to shoot with this camera.

Jules

 

[phototone]

Perhaps something is restricting the swing of the meter needle? You won't know unless you take off the top plate. CDS cells seem to have quite a long life. I have several cameras from that same time period as well as hand-held meters using CDS cells as the meter cell, and they all work just fine.

Is the HiMatic 7S a shutter priority auto exposure camera? My HiMatic 11 is. This system uses a trapped needle to set aperture. The needle is trapped when you press down the shutter release. With this system, it is possible for the various parts to have gotten out-of-whack, if the camera was dropped or whacked.

 

[lulalake]

Thanks for your quick reply,

I will be removing the top as the RF is pretty cloudy so I'll see if the problem is in a sticky needle.

I don't think it got dropped, I know the fellow who sold it to me, he's the original owner, got it in Viet Nam when it was new. I also ordered a few more batteries to see if the Wein Cell I got was just an old one.

I'm not sure of the priority; the "S" designation seems to indicate it though. The manual, I got the original, doesn't mention it.

I am amazed at the amount of really good rangefinders out there, and for great prices. The 7s cost me 10 bucks.

Cheers

Jules

 

[cbass]

Jules,

The Hi-Matic 7s is not, to my knowlege, a shutter-priority camera. It can be used in either metered manual or AE mode, but not Aperture- or Shutter-Priority. The main differences between the 7 and 7s are the addition of a hot shoe, safe film indicator and repositioned starp lugs. (The 7s also claims to use the CLC metering system, but where did Minolta put the other cell?)

The needle in my Hi-Matic 7 sometimes takes a little "coaxing" to move up the scale, even in bright sunlight. My guess is that the foam needle stops on your camera (and mine) have begun to degrade and get gooey. Taking off the top plate and cleaning the area carefully may do the trick. Or, you could replace them. I don't know how ticky that may be, but you'll know once the top plate is removed.

I wish you luck with your camera. And don't be discouraged if you can't get the meter working properly. The Hi-matic 7s is perfectly useable without it.