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

[kbg32]

It is up to whether it is worth it. How much do you want to use this camera? Some fungi can actually etch themselves into the glass elements. I would take it to a local repair shop and get their opinion.