Here we continue to talk about the restoration of this peculiar Minolta Hi-Matic 7s that found me on its own.  If you haven’t read part 1, please read it first here.  Then you’ll understand why it is important for me to restore this camera.

3. Light seal

It is typical for old cameras light seal foam has decomposed in the camera or became unusable condition. This part is easy to fix. I just took some time to remove the old seal using lighter fluid and toothpicks. And sticking new ones on. I cut those light seal scraps myself. A guy said he used two hours to measure the length. I don’t know why it takes so long for him as it only took me less than twenty minutes to measure, cut and stick onto it.

The light seal is made of black cloth sticking onto the camera film compartment.

4. Cosmetics

This is the final touch-up of the exterior of camera. Just carefully clean the camera surface and use a bit of art skills to paint the the camera. Luckily the leather looks fine and no need to replace. This is an easy fix. 

Before (bottom) and after (top/left)

Afterthought

It looks refreshing after restoration. I finished this at 2am last night. I felt relieved after restoring this. Can’t wait to shoot a new roll with it and to understand what is the calling for me to restore this camera. I’ll post an update on pictures I shot with this Minolta Hi-Matic 7s and the new thoughts about this camera.

After this, I think I should restore my Canonet QL17 . It seems to have opened a new door for me to restore more old cameras.

Feel free to leave any comments and let me know your thoughts.

Comparison (Top is after; bottom is before):

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Reference to Part 1: https://instaxmagic.com/2020/02/09/a-strange-incident-regarding-a-minolta-7s-camera-part-1/