I have a Minolta Hi-Matic F that is good at everything my Olympus 35RC is not and vica versa. It has a brilliant rangefinder but underexposes slides by, I think, one stop.
Is there an easy way to adjust the lightmeter on these?
There was no reply to my question so I decided to figure it out myself. Here are the steps to calibrate lightmeter on Minolta i-Matic F as well as many similar cameras.
1-Unscrew the metal ring around the front element, the one that is concentric to the film speed dial. You will need a small spanner wrench. Caution: It is easy to slip off the scratch front element.
2-Take off the film speed dial as well as the plastic piece with the little window for the lightmeter. Do not lose the metal tab that makes the ASA ring click as you are adjusting film speed.
3-Locate the plate that has the ASA numbers. It will be held in place by two screws. It is possible to loosen these screws and slide the plate with ASA numbers to either side. My camera was underexposing 2/3 stops so I made a little mark where 100ASA dot was. I then slid the piece after loosening the two screws so that the mark aligned with ASA160 dot.
The ASA plate sets the limits for the film speed adjustment ring so it is possible to set the film speed from 25 to 500ASA even after adjustment. I observed that in my camera there was room for about 2/3stops adjustment for either side.
