Himatic 7s Rangefinder is Off....expensive to fix?

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Hi,

I bought a Minolta Himatic 7s for $20 and it looks gorgeous and the shutter and everything seemed to work good. Rangefinder was aligned good and everything, but when I shot my first roll of film, it was backfocusing. I had shot some tests specifically for this and they showed it clearly as did all my other shots. Is this easy to fix myself, and if not is it expensive to pay someone, and who should do it? Thanks.

This is my second rangefinder, my older one is an Olympus XA. Been considering a Bessa-R while Stephen still has them cheap but afraid of knocking the rangefinder out of adjustment and discovering it by shooting a roll of film and having them all ruined like with this Minolta. Might stick to my OM's.

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Anyone know anything about this?

[Scarpia]

If you like the camera you're probably better off buying another one as any repair would surely cost more than double what you paid for the camera at the very least. I don't think it would be easy to repair this yourself. About 10 weeks ago I bought a 7s in apparently very good shape for $22.00 at an antique shop in upstate NY. I am running my first roll of film through it right now. Best of luck with it. I've seen your work in Pophoto and liked it very much.
Kurt M.

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Thanks Kurt,

Post again when you get your film processed and let us know how it comes out. I realize it will cost more than the $20 I paid for the camera to fix it...if it costs me $50 or $60 that's ok....these cameras typically sell for that much through camera shops and I'd know mine was working right. But I know everytime i've ever had any work done on an SLR its cost me at least $150 and that's not worth it for this camera

[Pherdinand]

it is not really difficult to repair it yourself.
Depends on what is your experience with little screwdrivers and such. But i guess if you asked, you are not afraid of such things.

I have here a minolta hi-matic 9, that has a shutter that stopped working, i took it two times apart, took even the pieces out of the shutter but i just can''t figure out why it is misfiring. But the rangefinder mechanism is relatively simple.

I think the 7s has the same lens like the 9 (rokkor 45/1.7). It is an excellent lens. I made some really great shots with it, and i would say it is much better overall than the canonet ql17's lens, and also maybe better than the yashinon on the yashica gsn.
But i am almost giving it up on the shutter.