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Karthik
Tinkerer
Username: Karthik
Post Number: 1
Registered: 12-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 14, 2009 - 05:37 pm: | 
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Hi!
I recently bought a Minolta Hi-Matic 7s. The aperture blades and shutter seem clean and functional. Lens is clean, no wobble (read elsewhere that H-Matics often have this problem). Light seals OK. The only issues seem to be the following:
(a) Fungus and/or dirt in the viewfinder. I cannot see fungus on the beam spliter, but it looks dirty. Inner side of the front glass definitely has fungus. The yellow image reflects better from some parts of the beam splitter than others. Overall, the viewfinder is hazy, making it extremely hard to focus in low light/contast situations.
(b) Hot shoe is loose. It hasn't come off completely, but I don't know what is keeping it attached, so don't want to pull it off.
I would like to take the top plate off and
(a) clean the relatively safe pieces - everything except beam splitter and yellow glass?
(b) attach hot-shoe securely.
Before I inflict irreversible damage, I wanted to check a few points with people who have worked with this or similar models.
To remove the top plate, I see that I have to remove two screws: one at the back/center, another at the right side (same side as the film advance lever). But I am not sure how the film advance lever, shutter release, film rewind knob, and hot shoe come off prior to pifting off the top plate.
Q1: The film advance lever's top has a circular center-piece with two small holes at the ends of a diameter - does one insert forceps into them and unscrew?
Q2: Searching through Hi-matic posts in the forum, I found this description "To remove the rewind knob, you open the back, hold the rewind shaft in place and then just unscrew the knob." for Hi-Matic 9. Does the 7s work the same way?
Q3: How do I solve (b)?
Q4: For the work described above, what specialized tools (beyond screw drivers and forceps) would I need?
Any suggestions would be most welcome!
Thanks --- RK |
Karthik
Tinkerer
Username: Karthik
Post Number: 2
Registered: 12-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 14, 2009 - 06:26 pm: |
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Also found this comment related to Hi-matic 7. I am guessing 7 and 7s are essentially the same.
"Film rewind knob unscrews conventionally.
Then remove the top-plate cover screw as dead centre rear in the skirt of the top-plate.
With fine-point pliers unscrew the film advance lever centre cap then lift of the lever.
Top-plate then lifts off clean. "
Can someone explain the conventional way of removing film rewind knob? (Is it to hold the rod sticking into the body of the camera and unscrew the part on the top of the camera?) |
Karthik
Tinkerer
Username: Karthik
Post Number: 3
Registered: 12-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 14, 2009 - 06:53 pm: |
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Ouch - should have looked through this site more carefully 
Q1 and Q2 are answered in this article. |
Harryrag
Tinkerer
Username: Harryrag
Post Number: 143
Registered: 05-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 - 09:42 am: |
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As the Hi-M 7 and 9 are practically identical, the 9 being the more sophisticated model with some extra features, this is probably of some help https://kyp.hauslendale.com/classics/forum/messages/2/16254.html |
Harryrag
Tinkerer
Username: Harryrag
Post Number: 144
Registered: 05-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 - 09:47 am: |
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As for tools, look here https://kyp.hauslendale.com/classics/repairtools.html |
Karthik
Tinkerer
Username: Karthik
Post Number: 4
Registered: 12-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 17, 2009 - 04:53 pm: |
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*Harryrag*, thanks very much for the info! I have also checked out two books from the library on camera repair (Tomosy) for general background - never attempted opening a camera before. |
Harryrag
Tinkerer
Username: Harryrag
Post Number: 145
Registered: 05-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 18, 2009 - 02:49 am: |
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Hi again,
... in that case I do not think you should start with any Hi-M of that vintage, as the camera is rather demanding. You would probably walk a very slippery road and definitely will be on your own when facing a number of unprecedented situations once you are in the camera's innards.
This does not mean that a repair is not possible for a newbie, but to put it bluntly usually people just entering the tinkering business are usually neither skillful nor experienced enough to do a repair. The very basic thing to overcome this difficulty is, work slowly and note down all the steps in a kind of documentary diary, incl. rough sketches of what you find. Using these notes "backwards" makes reassembly and a correction of steps in the wrong direction lot easier. I would only venture into this project if a loss of the camera after an erroneous repair is not too much of a disaster.
The beginner's route usually includes to practise on junkers or get cameras and lenses going again that were said to be of little worth or FUBAR anyway. Learning by doing includes learning from one's mistakes, but, frankly speaking, a defective but repairable Mi-M 7 or 9 is too good to be wrecked in a first amateurish repair attempt. |
Karthik
Tinkerer
Username: Karthik
Post Number: 5
Registered: 12-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 18, 2009 - 02:16 pm: |
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That confirms the suspicion I had after reading a few chapters of the camera repair books. I think in this particular case I will suppress my desire to tinker with it - I am sure I will find truly broken cameras later for experimenting.
Thanks again for the advice! |
Mndean
Tinkerer
Username: Mndean
Post Number: 174
Registered: 08-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, December 18, 2009 - 07:01 pm: |
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My first attempt at camera repair back in the '90s was a Hi-Matic 9, and it did not go well. Demanding is the correct epithet for a Hi-Matic, especially for the novice repairer. Not long after that disaster, I successfully repaired a Minoltina AL-s, so that may tell you something. |
Nickon51
Tinkerer
Username: Nickon51
Post Number: 116
Registered: 05-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, December 20, 2009 - 05:33 am: |
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Rk, If you only want to clean the rangefinder then its not that hard. The shutter is a different matter, as Mndean and Karthik have suggested.
I think you have guessed how to remove the top cover.
Here's some photos
Open the camera, slip some pliers or a chopstick into the fork and unscrew the rewind crank.
Use some dividers or needle pliers to unscrew the cover plate and the rest like this.
The range finder is clearly visible. If the wind counter and metering is ok, then leave it alone.
Note the screws for the hotshoe screw in from the top side.
Here is a view of the rangefinder. Be careful around the half mirror thats in the lightpath from front to back. Use a blower brush, if that doesn't do it then clean with a q-tip using the weight of the q-tip only. No more pressure than that. Use some lens cleaner. The other glass is just optical glass.
Be prepared to cut to light seals, one around the rewind crank and one around the eyepiece
Carefully prise the serial no plate up at the rear edges and slide it forward. You can see the hotshoe screws.
Good luck
Greg |
Needz
Tinkerer
Username: Needz
Post Number: 1
Registered: 04-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 30, 2010 - 12:39 am: |
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Hi,
I own Minolta Himatic E, could you tell can i enhance its lens? Right now i have 49mm lens seiko-esf.
Pease advise cool lens upgradation
Also can i get it cleaned on my own by opening? I am not expert at this. |
Mareklew
Tinkerer
Username: Mareklew
Post Number: 66
Registered: 03-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 30, 2010 - 03:31 am: |
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Ad #2: re-read the thread you posted in.
Marek |
Kabadam
Tinkerer
Username: Kabadam
Post Number: 1
Registered: 05-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 25, 2010 - 04:14 pm: |
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I am also trying to clean the viewfinder, and I have followed the steps described (remove the rewind crank, film advance lever), but left hand of the cover does not move at all, as if something is holding it (the side of the rewinding crank). Am I missing something? |
Kabadam
Tinkerer
Username: Kabadam
Post Number: 2
Registered: 05-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 25, 2010 - 04:15 pm: |
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...and of course I removed the two small screws |
Nickon51
Tinkerer
Username: Nickon51
Post Number: 134
Registered: 05-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, May 25, 2010 - 08:16 pm: |
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There is this small threaded ring.....
 |
Kabadam
Tinkerer
Username: Kabadam
Post Number: 3
Registered: 05-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 - 05:21 am: |
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Thanks a lot!
After removing that thread the case lifted so easily of course. |
