its official

scorpius73 · 07-10-2007

im swearing off of trying to get a minolta 7s. this is the second one ive gotten with a bad shutter. this one is in perfect cosmetic condition. the shutter will not open. ive tried it all. i think ill just stick with my canonet. its in ugly condition but works like a charm.

scorpius73 · 07-10-2007

no. i just got it in the post this morning. im not sure if i have the tools to it. it came with the flash. the manual and all. really nice condition.

jaypolaski · 07-10-2007

That's odd. I have my Minolta 7s and the shutter is spot on, but the aperture is stuck wide open. I found that out the hard way with a long strip of bookmarks that used to be my shots at the beach

. Anybody know how to fix that?

Steve Bellayr · 07-10-2007

Listen to greyhoundman. Try it. You have nothing to loose.

scorpius73 · 07-10-2007

i have looked online. ive found directions on how to get the lens off. i have no idea how to do it though. i see now way to get the the lens off from around the filter ring and name plate.

scorpius73 · 07-10-2007

i see it. it will not budge! i hate this camera!

scorpius73 · 07-10-2007

im just done with minoltas. i have 2 7's now. they will will make nice broken bookends. i give up. thanks though.

scorpius73 · 07-10-2007

ive never been known for my patience. its a wonder i still use film! but h**l. i love film. someother day ill come back to them.

ISO · 07-10-2007

scorpius73, know what there is some really nice people on this forum that can help you repair this camera. They helped me with some cameras and it is sometimes not that hard. You should not give up so easy. There is this guy, I think his name is "bluemanfox" or something like that. What other people say he does magic repairs on the fixed RF cameras. I still wish this guy would be in Europe :-). Sometimes he even offers clad fixed RF cameras for really fair prices on the classifieds. Keep your eyes open to catch one. They go fast. Otherwise find out who the guy is. Maybe he has the time to repair your camera but normally a stuck shutter on a 7s is not a hard to do job.

..his name is NOT "bluemanfox" - something close but I forgot.

Otherwise the right tool to remove the front element of the lens is a Spanner Wrench . You can get one on epay for less than $20 (Item number: 200126361746) and later sell it again for the same price. Also you need some Q-tips and Rosonol or lighter fluid. Repair should take around 30 minutes and the 7s is worth it. I like my Minolta 7 a lot.

scorpius73 · 07-10-2007

ill come back to it. i know. its a very beautiful camera. great shape. shutter just wont open. i just got my zeiss super ikonta IV back from certo6 today. sent it in for cla. ill play with that tomorrow. then ill come back to the minoltas.

Dr. Strangelove · 07-11-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by scorpius73

im swearing off of trying to get a minolta 7s. this is the second one ive gotten with a bad shutter. this one is in perfect cosmetic condition. the shutter will not open. ive tried it all. i think ill just stick with my canonet. its in ugly condition but works like a charm.

My first fixed lens RF was the "New" Canonet 28. Shutter firmly stuck. Removed the front AND real elements around the shutter (Canonet 28 has no separate diaphragm), used lighter fluid (Ronsonol) according to instructions from experienced DIY repairmen. The shutter is still stuck. Proper cleaning would require removing the whole lens barrel, which in turn would require peeling of the leatherette, desoldering the light meter wires etc. I paid 5 euros for the camera, so at that point I gave up.

So, it can happen to almost any old leaf shutter camera. There is still a fair chance that lighter fluid will unstuck the shutter of your Minolta, but there are no guarantees. If there is enough dirt in the shutter blades, the fluid will simply carry it to another place and as soos as the fluid evaporates the shutter might get stuck again. But it is perhaps worth a try, depending on how much you paid for the camera and how much you really want a working Minolta 7s...

scorpius73 · 08-11-2007

ok, i came back to it. i couldnt get the front off again. i managed to scratch the area around the knotches. that sucks because other than that. the camera was in perfect condition.
ok. i couldnt get the front off. so, me being me. i just poured ronsonal around the edges of the front of the lens. it seeped into the blades. i fired it a couple of times to move whatever grime there was before the ronsonal dried. i let it dry overnight. i got up this morning to check it. its firing still.
maybe this worked!!!!!

pesphoto · 08-11-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by scorpius73

i see it. it will not budge! i hate this camera!

oh man, that is funny!!! Im not laughing at you, I know exactly how you feel Actually, as IM sure many here do. But it's just funny seeing that in writing......Im glad you got it working, enjoy.

gavinlg · 08-11-2007

I've had 1 minolta 7s's and both have worked flawlessly. A very good lens and the camera is very very solid, but the metering system is kind of annoying.

scorpius73 · 08-11-2007

yeah, it was firing. but, at f1.8. i couldnt stop it down to anything else. it just stayed wide open. thats a step up from not firing at all. so, put more ronsonal into the shutter. then the blades fired at all apertures. now, ill just let that dry. well, see tomorrow.