The Marvelous 7s

My Minolta Hi-Matic 7s was the last great thrift store. bargain in my collection of old film cameras; I got it about five years ago for less than what it now costs for a single roll of film.  It came with a case and a lens cover, and it works like new.  The 1.8/45mm Rokker lens is superb and the CLC metering system achieves perfect exposures under any lighting condition.   I especially like the auto-parallax correction which is a big aid to precise framing.

Like many of the mid-'60s cameras, the 7s meter wanted a 1.35V mercury battery.  That battery is no longer available, but a 1.5V battery has always worked well for me, though it does make a better fit in the compartment if you add a rubber O-ring and top it with a small pad of aluminum foil for good contact.  All of the camera's many features are well documented in the 7s manual at the Butkus site.

The 7s is particularly well suited to street work because of its quiet shutter and reliable performance.  The camera hangs nicely from the neck strap, and on a sunny day you can select a small aperture for maximum depth of focus and shoot from the hip with abandon.  On a sunny Friday stroll through Old Town Albuquerque I finished off a roll of Kentmere 400 in about twenty minutes.