Minolta 7sII - frst (RF) experience

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stevco

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Nov 13, 2009
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Macedonia, O
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35mm
Hi,
After quite searching for the right model and a camera in good condition, 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:

IMG_5001.jpg


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 photos that are critiquable both good and bad.

----
Portraits, focus, light, colors - it's fine here (with UV filter):
CNV000001.jpg


Bokeh and reversed focus (with UV filter):
CNV000012.jpg


Contrast and color (with UV filter):
CNV000021.jpg


Light leaks, low contrast (with UV filter):
CNV000023.jpg


Against the light:
CNV000033.jpg


Focus, bokeh, colors:
CNV000032.jpg


Infinity focus, sharpness:
CNV000036.jpg


Nice overexposure:
CNV000031.jpg


In shadows / against the light (with UV filter):

CNV000011.jpg


----

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?

Will using a lens hood will help about reducing the incoming lihgt and backlight, also the overal contrast?
 
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John Koehrer

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The pictures all look to be a little overexposed except the one with the young man against the red wall. Exposure will change the saturation of the colors.
With the age of the camera you might try setting the ISO to the next higher speed. There should be marks between the numbers, either dots or hash marks so just one increment higher.
It's probably the resolution of the computer screen but I can't see any truly sharp area, that's best determined by looking at the negative with a magnifier.

Seals are easy to change, Interslice on ebay is an excellent source.

If you have a small piece of yellow or orange transparent plastic you can put it over the rangefinder window & improve the contrast for focusing. Maybe from a report folder or the like.
 
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stevco

stevco

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Nov 13, 2009
Messages
94
Location
Macedonia, O
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35mm
John, thanx for the tips and opinions!

They might be a little overexposed, but i don't think that's from the metering, but from the very sensitive lens which overexpose the entire light from the scene (direct, reflected or back-light). The image with the boy and the door, as seen from the light and shadows, the sun comes above-behind the camera so in this condition I am assuming the camera/lens works very well. I have some other images from portraits in front of a lake and against the sun, and they are very blown out.
 

ntenny

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I have the "ancestor" of this camera, the original 7s, and I'm really impressed with it. I keep thinking I shouldn't need a cheap fixed-lens RF since I have a couple of spiffy interchangeable-lens rangefinder systems, but I still find myself grabbing the Minolta as a bulletproof camera that will get out of my way and do the right thing when I need it to. And that lens is sharp enough to cut yourself on.

I agree about the exposure---maybe the shutter is running a little slow. I don't know what your options are for having someone work on it in Macedonia; is it realistic to have someone do a CLA?

-NT
 
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stevco

stevco

Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2009
Messages
94
Location
Macedonia, O
Format
35mm
I have the "ancestor" of this camera, the original 7s, and I'm really impressed with it. I keep thinking I shouldn't need a cheap fixed-lens RF since I have a couple of spiffy interchangeable-lens rangefinder systems, but I still find myself grabbing the Minolta as a bulletproof camera that will get out of my way and do the right thing when I need it to. And that lens is sharp enough to cut yourself on.

I agree about the exposure---maybe the shutter is running a little slow. I don't know what your options are for having someone work on it in Macedonia; is it realistic to have someone do a CLA?

-NT

There isn't here some authorized CLA, but one older photographer told me about a man who new to fix cameras, but I would not go that risk about fixing the shutter. I will try set the film with 1 ISO stop faster nest time.
 

r-brian

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What battery are you using in the camera? The 7sII uses the 1.35v mercury battery. If you're using a 1.5v battery the exposure will be off.

I had a 7sII for a while. I felt the lens was one of the sharpest I've ever had, almost as sharp as my 55mm Micro-Nikkor.
 

ntenny

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What battery are you using in the camera? The 7sII uses the 1.35v mercury battery. If you're using a 1.5v battery the exposure will be off.

Are you sure it doesn't have some kind of a bridge circuit? I'd assumed this as well with my 7s, but I dropped in a modern 1.5V battery and found that the meter matched my known-good meters. I've been using it without a problem with the higher voltage, including with slide film where any mismatch should be obvious. So it might be worthwhile to check with the higher voltage before assuming that a 1.35V replacement is necessary.

That said, I may just have gotten lucky with my particular camera.

-NT
 
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stevco

stevco

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Nov 13, 2009
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Location
Macedonia, O
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The battery is 1.35V. I bought the camera with the battery included.

I was shooting with B&W film today, T-MAX 400, rated at ISO 400, camera on AUTO and again mostly with speed 500/1. This time the results might be variable because of the manual development. I will post the results here too.
 

TimmyMac

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Dem minolta colours! Nice. I considered one when looking for a 35mm rangefinder too.
 
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