Toronto Photography Meetup Group

I believe my father had a Minolta Hi-matic 9 Rf but it may have been a 7. Of all the photos I can find on the net, the 9's lens has an all metallic finish, I have not yet seen a photo of the 7 with an all metallic finished lens. I have a line on a 7s and I am wondering if I should wait for a 9 to show up.

Does anyone know which is the better camera. I am particularily interested in a quite shutter as well as image quality.

OK I found some more net photos and the camera my Dad had was a 7 not 7S. The all metallic lens lens finish and release dates of the cameras clinch it. My Dad had the camera in 64 at the latest in Bermuda, 1 year after the 7 was released and two years before the 7S and the 9. The 9's lens is reported to be better quality, but I am still interested in shutter noise for from the hip street shooting.

They would all be extremely quite since they're all leaf-shutters. I have a 7S, which is a full-size RF and a Himatic G, which is much smaller with a full-auto mode.

As with any 30 year old camera, how it's been treated is likely more of a factor than how good it was 30 years ago. My 7S is very sharp and easy to use.

Another good 70's RF is the Yashica GS series or Konica S2, but they do present problems with batteries for the Yashica and a tendency for a loose barrel for the Konica.

Thank you for your reply.

See my post about mercury batteries.

http://www.tpmg.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13252

Went to PHSC Fair on Sunday and picked up a Minolta Hi-matic 7S, Canonet QL 19 metal finish top and a Canonet QL GIII 17 all black. Light seals on the QL GIII 17 are in rough shape and need to be replaced, but I put a roll of film through it today and there was no light leakage. The QL 19 seals look good and in the film cassette compartment there is a sticker for Int. Camera Repairs on the the Queensway.

Anyone know how long they have been in business or if they moved to the Queensway in the last few years. Might give me an outside number on how long ago the service was done.

Stan is the owner of International Camera Repairs and they are located on the queensway... he's been in business for 30 years... I doubt he has records that will tell you when that QL19 was serviced.. if it's working don't bother spending money on a CLA.. they cost less to buy that to have a CLA done by a professional technician

Thanks Ken. How much does light seal replacement cost, I am not up to doing it myself? The seals in the GIII are coming off and are really sticky. I don't want that stuff getting into places it has no business getting into.

Light-seal replacement is probably one of the _easiest_ things to do yourself. I use black "foamies" from Michaels or Walmart, cut it down to thin strips. On a camera with gummy seals, I don't even use glue, just wipe down enough of the old mess with q-tips and some lighter-fluid, and then use what's left of the "goo" as a glue for the new seals.

light seal replacement is easy, no idea how much technicians charge for it, however I can't imagine a professional technician doing it for less than $50-60... servicing the shutter requires appropriate tools and a full CLA will probably cost more than the cost of the camera... QL17 can be had for as little as $50-75, QL19 are quite a bit less than that ... check ebay for prices