Minolta Hi-Matic 7S - Fungus in lens

[Avispartner]

Hi all,

I had bought this camera somewhen last year at a relatively cheap price on Feebay (paid £ 27). Shutter fires fine, speeds sound more a less ok, self timer works, no oil on aperture blades.

I haven't run film through it until now as I was and still am very busy with renovating our house. With this project slowly coming to a hopefully good end rather soon, it's time to pick up shooting again rather than buying equipment and store it .

Now, the cheap price of the camera leads to its down side: it needs light seals (not a problem, I have a kit from John Goodman) and besides some dust there is a small amount of fungus inside the lens. Not really a patch, more like a small spiderweb. I don't know if this will have an effect on pictures, but I was wondering if it is possible at all to clean the lens from the fungus and few dust particles.

Whereas I find instructions on the web for cleaning lenses of other cameras like the Canonet QL17 GIII , I don't find anything on the Hi-Matic.

Does anyone have instructions available? Is it worth it at all, given the low price I paid?

Thanks for your input.

Cheers from Switzerland
Rob

 

[upnorthcyclist]

Closest I've found is this, for the Hi-Matic 9. I have both cameras - they are pretty similar.

http://geocities.ws/zzhuy/hiMatic9/hiMatic9.html

Good luck,

Mike

 

[ntenny]

The picture above of the partially-disassembled Hi-Matic 9 looks very much like what I saw when I took apart a dead 7s. As far as I remember, it was pretty straightforward to get the front elements off---I just kept taking pieces off until everything was out of the way---but getting the shutter detached from the body was a bearcat. I think I ended up cutting wires to achieve that part.

I've got the lens components in a bag in my "misc parts" box; there's gotta be something I can do with them. I just haven't figured out quite what it is yet.

-NT

 

[dnjl]

If you don't mind spending (way too much) money, here's the repair manual for sale:

http://www.testreports.co.uk/photography/wdc/stock/Model.asp?Model=7218&ModelPage=true

If all you need to do is remove the fungus, I'd look at some generic repair instructions, for example here:

http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/articles.html

 

[David Lyga]

I always remove either the front or rear lens group from rangefinders in order to get to the aperture area. Then I clean what has to be cleaned with a tiny amount of ammonia on a soft, very clean tissue. I cannot right now speak for the Minolta you have but chances are that there is a spanner wrench nut on the rear which can be loosened and removed to accomplish this. I do not have a spanner wrench; I use a very pointed set of sewing shears to do this. The front is probably just as easy to do.

Of course, set the shutter at Bulb and use a locked cable release to keep it there. - David Lyga

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

I took one of these apart a long time ago, but my memories are in line with the HiMatic 9 page, above.

The chances are the fungus is on the back of the front lens group or on the front of the back group. If remove the front group then you should have access to both surfaces.

I would shoot a few rolls with the camera as it is first to be extra sure everything is in working order. Major repairs on this camera - shutter, aperture, metering - are a nightmare.

 

[Avispartner]

Thanks for your helpful advice. Will probably try to remove the front group and then to clean with some ammonia.
Cheers from Switzerland
Rob

 

[Avispartner]

Thanks again for all your advice. I have now removed the front group and cleaned the lens with a Kimwipe and some antifungal stuff. Was very straightforward and the lens element is pretty clean again.
Have loaded the camera and would now wish it weren't so freeeeeezing cold here. Unbearable to be outside if you prefer the warm season like I do.
Cheers from Switzerland.
Rob