Hopefully there are enough people trolling here that can give me some answers to my questions. I am currently building a stereo camera out of two Hi-Matics that I picked up for a little bit of nothing. One of the characteristics that is required for doing stereophotography is control over your depth of field. That means that one tends to opt for slow shutter speeds instead of opening the aperture in low light conditions. I have been testing the Hi-Matics out in various light conditions to see what the program it uses to get the exposure and it seems to operate in somewhat of a shutter priority mode for most of the light range. Does anyone know what kind of program the Himatic F uses for exposure? I need to know what shutter speed it tries to maintain in low light conditions and at what aperture it starts to increase shutter speed in high light levels. How long of a exposure time will the camera be able to handle. So far it has correctly metered out to about an eight second exposure in a dark room but what are the actual manufacturer specs?

My other question concerns disassembly of the camera. How do I get the rewind knob off? I have tried just about everything I can think of short of attacking it with a dremel and I cant separate the knob from the shaft. Is it pinned on or something in a way that is not obvious? Clearly it needs to come off before I can get the top cover off and attack the guts of the camera. Any help out there?

-- Fritz M. Brown (brownf{DHWTOWERS/TOWERS3/brownf}@dhw.state.id.us), April 07, 1999

Answers

To disassemble the rewind crank on a Minolta Hi-Matic F, open the back of the camera, insert a screwdriver or a rod into the fork of the rewind shaft and unscrew the top knob by turning it counter- clockwise. This answer may be a bit late, by now you probably have figured it out, or someone else has provided the answer, but good luck making your stereo camera.

-- David Williamson (antiques&images@brandywine.net), August 23, 2001.