Minolta hi-matic 7s IIBought at a flea marked, the camera is in overall good condition. There was some dust on the lens but no scratches or any visible damage to the glass. I briefly tested the shutter speeds and looked through the aperture and everything seemed ok. However, all the original light seals had transformed into a gooey substance and needed to be cleaned up and replaced with new foam. There is also a little amount of play in the lens attachment which seem to be quite common on that camera. We will see how it performs!
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Sample images
Replacement of the light seals
The original light seals for the back of the camera were badly damaged. This seem to be common on this type of camera, the foam used to seal the back degrades over time and turns into a messy and sticky black substance. The first and most time consuming task is to remove all this old foam. I used acetone and rubbing alcohol to dissolve it and clean it. Since the camera is all metal, there is no risk of dissolving it as well. Once it was all cleaned up, I installed new foam seals. I used light sealing foam from Micro-Tools. I hope that the result will be light proof, we will soon find out.
An accidental double exposure
On the first roll I got one involuntary double exposure. It it probably because I have pressed the rewind button before advancing the film. The two frame were not exactly on to of each other but about 2mm apart. I only notices it when scanning the negative so I'll have to be a bit careful, at least now I know how to make double exposures! In the end I actually quite like the scanned frame:
Conclusion
The new light seals seem tight enough, I have seen a few signs of light on the sprocket holes of the film but nothing coming close to the frame. I will check on the next few rolls to see if there are any signs of leaks. Overall the camera seem to work great, the aperture and shutter speed seem to work as they should. I have not tested the auto mode since I have no battery for the camera. In terms of focusing, I think that the rangefinder from the Olympus 35 RD is slightly brighter... I'll have to do some side by side comparison to check if it is just an impression or if there is actually a significant difference.