Minolta Hi-Matic 7 SII
- Thread starter calebk
- Start date
Hi,
It was my first rangefinder camera. The lens is very sharp, I often use it wide open and the photos never cease to put a smile on my face, it blurs the backgrounds so gracefully. I often use it now to photograph my daughter at play... and now I'm wondering if it's my daughter or the lens (that makes me smile). It's also whisper quite... it would make an M-Leica blush (no offense meant). Focus, shutter speed, aperture, and ISO adjustments are all located along the lens barrel and this has worked fine with me... some have quips about the aperture ring being too thin... it is a little thin, but there's little instances that I found this a problem, actually... no instances.
I hope that helped.
It was my first rangefinder camera. The lens is very sharp, I often use it wide open and the photos never cease to put a smile on my face, it blurs the backgrounds so gracefully. I often use it now to photograph my daughter at play... and now I'm wondering if it's my daughter or the lens (that makes me smile). It's also whisper quite... it would make an M-Leica blush (no offense meant). Focus, shutter speed, aperture, and ISO adjustments are all located along the lens barrel and this has worked fine with me... some have quips about the aperture ring being too thin... it is a little thin, but there's little instances that I found this a problem, actually... no instances.
I hope that helped.
I've shot quite a lot of rolls from this impressive tiny camera. From the negatives, it looks fine. I don't have the time to scan my negatives yet, or even use my loupe and proof the pictures.
The viewfinder is pretty small and, not very impressive. But, it is great considering the size of the camera. Unfortunately, the rangefinder patch isn't a beaute, it's so tiny, and probably quite faint as well (considering its age). Quite often in poor lighting, I have to just fiddle the focus ring where it feels natural for me and just take the shot.
The rangefinder accuracy is very poor as well (due to rangefinder base length). Make sure you fiddle the focus ring with an angels touch if you're shooting close at f1.7.
This camera isn't the cheapest or readily available out of all the fixed focal length rangefinders.
But a f1.7 lens (IQ seems pretty alright), with some form of automatic exposure (shutter priority), in a midget body. The downsides to this camera is nothing compared to all these benefits.
You cannot buy a third-party screw-in hood on this camera, even the vented ones. It will definitely block the rangefinder and the bright frame illumination (which is pretty dim to begin with).
Uses LR44 batteries, which is a handy thing when my main body is an M6 (inter-changable batteries!)
You can read up on it on cameraquest.
The viewfinder is pretty small and, not very impressive. But, it is great considering the size of the camera. Unfortunately, the rangefinder patch isn't a beaute, it's so tiny, and probably quite faint as well (considering its age). Quite often in poor lighting, I have to just fiddle the focus ring where it feels natural for me and just take the shot.
The rangefinder accuracy is very poor as well (due to rangefinder base length). Make sure you fiddle the focus ring with an angels touch if you're shooting close at f1.7.
This camera isn't the cheapest or readily available out of all the fixed focal length rangefinders.
But a f1.7 lens (IQ seems pretty alright), with some form of automatic exposure (shutter priority), in a midget body. The downsides to this camera is nothing compared to all these benefits.
You cannot buy a third-party screw-in hood on this camera, even the vented ones. It will definitely block the rangefinder and the bright frame illumination (which is pretty dim to begin with).
Uses LR44 batteries, which is a handy thing when my main body is an M6 (inter-changable batteries!)
You can read up on it on cameraquest.
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Thanks for the extensive info and user experiences! Saw someone using it yesterday and it looked like a really small package so was wondering if it's a competent camera. Seems to be pretty much on par in terms of size as the Leica CL, but looks plasticky though :/
Sold mine the non ii version off to a guy...i really love it...but that is the start of the whole RF thing...haha
as i got more n more...it became a display item in my dry cabi...
it perform at the same level as the yashica...but perform rather well!
some pics of it here...
love the dof!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mystudi0/sets/72157623148835971/with/4299808677/
as i got more n more...it became a display item in my dry cabi...
it perform at the same level as the yashica...but perform rather well!
some pics of it here...
love the dof!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mystudi0/sets/72157623148835971/with/4299808677/
I'll have some flatbed scans at 6400 dpi ready for the both of us to benefit in a moment.
---
links up, will be ready next morning
6400DPI, Epson V500, Full scan, 16-bit TIFF, no correction (thus lack of contrast and sharpness)
~126MB each picture
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_001.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_002.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_003.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_004.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_005.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_006.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_007.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_008.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_009.tif
Pardon my poorly composed shots, subject movement, and awkward compositions.
---
links up, will be ready next morning
6400DPI, Epson V500, Full scan, 16-bit TIFF, no correction (thus lack of contrast and sharpness)
~126MB each picture
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_001.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_002.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_003.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_004.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_005.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_006.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_007.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_008.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19872079/FStest1_009.tif
Pardon my poorly composed shots, subject movement, and awkward compositions.
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"links up, will be ready next morning"
Anyways, mild sharpening and levels.
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I don't fancy the bokeh quality of this lens. Moderately strong hard-edged bokeh rings.
Other than that, the IQ is pretty decent enough for me judging from the scans. I will have to make some darkroom prints to confirm that.
2 quirks I forgot to add ...
- Manual exposure has no metering. You'll have to be on shutter priority first, check the readings, then set your aperture as told.
- Because of of that, exposure compensation isn't very fluid (can do so by changing the ASA settings).
Anyways, mild sharpening and levels.
---
I don't fancy the bokeh quality of this lens. Moderately strong hard-edged bokeh rings.
Other than that, the IQ is pretty decent enough for me judging from the scans. I will have to make some darkroom prints to confirm that.
2 quirks I forgot to add ...
- Manual exposure has no metering. You'll have to be on shutter priority first, check the readings, then set your aperture as told.
- Because of of that, exposure compensation isn't very fluid (can do so by changing the ASA settings).
It won't go above f8 I believe. Is there anywhere or anyone that is recommended to go to for repair?Just got my Hi-Matic 7sII as my first rangefinder and so far few quite happy with it after the first roll. Here is some photo to share:
nice framing and colors.
care to share what film did you use?
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