Lomography

In this review, I'll tell you about my favorite camera, the Minolta Hi-Matic F, and the benefits of rangefinder cameras.

Photo via Corbella Collection

The Minolta Hi-Matic F was first developed in 1971. My camera is from 1972 as well, so this year will be its 40th anniversary. In a nutshell, it’s a typical rangefinder camera from seventies with an exposure meter derived from the Yashica Electro 35. I got it from an old man about 1.5 years back and right away was told that it’s ideal for street photography. In fact, beacause of that camera, I loved this genre so much. So what’s so special about this camera? Let’s see:

• Wide Rokkor 38mm f/2.7 lens with electronic shutter
• Fast automatic exsposure metereing
• Small dimensions including 360g weight
• It’s looking good(people don’t fear it)
• Fast and accurate rangefinder focusing

Lets talk about rangefinders for a bit:

For those who don’t know, it’s way of focusing by combining two images in viewfinder (you can easily find out about it in Wikipedia). Since this method does not require mirror to focus, the camera is way more compact. But you also get the parallax error because you don’t see the exact frame in the viewfinder, but eventually you’ll get used to it, so it’s not a big problem.

The camera itself is quite strong; after two or three drops, performance is still great. Some people have a problem with the batteries, but the original batteries are easily replaced by two pairs of LR44. By the way, the batteries are essential for opening the shutter and there is big red button to check the charge. It has a double flash, so it is possible to connect a flash through hot shoe, or a cable. There is also a guide number selector.

Let’s see some pictures:

As you can see, Rokkor is a pretty sharp lens with no vignetting.

I love black and white films. Some say that real street photos can only be taken with black and white film.

Photos by coolbober

The only downside is the exposure meter. I don’t know about others but my camera sometimes gives out underexposed images.It’s probably becaus of element or battery but I don’t care :3

Hope you liked my review and convinced you to buy a rangefinder!