Minolta Hi-Matic F

Posted by: Tim Lewis aka Paps August 02, 2025

Minolta Hi-Matic F

This is yet another review of a Minolta rangefinder camera, specifically the Hi-Matic F, which fell into my hands while browsing eBay. I discovered it as 'never used', in an open box from Japan, and I simply couldn't stop myself from buying it. If you're into film photography, and you must be or you wouldn't be reading this, you owe it to yourself to buy at least one vintage camera in 'never used' condition. There is a level of joy (in seeing a camera the way it would have been seen on its release) that is hard to describe.

I'm not a street photographer, not because it doesn't interest me, but simply because I have always lived in the more rural areas of the country. It's a day trip for me to drive to a large city where I could practice such art, and I often find myself envious of those who live in a city where they can simply walk out of their door and start taking images. I mention that only to point out that the Hi-Matic F is a street photographer's camera. It is the smallest and lightest camera that I have ever owned, except for early digital cameras in the 90s. It's even smaller and lighter than many of the point-and-shoots that would follow it.

The Hi-Matic F is so small that it is hard to believe that a 35mm film cartridge will fit into it. And it's so light that your first thought is that it is made out of all plastic, but it's actually an aluminum casing. Before we begin to delve into those things that it offers and get into the specifics of shooting it, I'll get the statistical stuff out of the way.

The top-plate is largely uncluttered, since the camera is fully automatic.

The camera was released in 1972 by Minolta as part of its Hi-Matic series. I have reviewed other Hi-Matics on this page, and this is by far the smallest and lightest. It has a fixed 38mm f/2.7 lens that is known for its sharp images and minimal distortions. This wider lens reaches infinity (according to the markings on the barrel) at about 15 feet. Shorter than the usual 20 feet of other longer lenses on rangefinders.

It has a Seiko leaf shutter, since Minolta was partnered with Seiko at the time of its development, and it has speeds from 4 seconds to 1/724 second. This 'faster' shutter was also somewhat unique in a world where most cameras topped out at 1/500th. This extra speed helps on particularly sunny days, in keeping the image properly exposed.

The Hi-Matic F is incredibly small.

The camera is fully automatic and does not have a manual override. The ISO range is only 25-500 and is set on the lens barrel. Honestly, in the world of slow shutter speeds, there's no reason to have a more sensitive film in the camera, and a flash can always be used indoors.

The camera has a hot shoe and a PC sync socket and uses what was called the FlashMatic system. The camera will adjust the aperture based on the focal distance, provided you set the guide numbers correctly. The focus throw on this camera is very short and it's easy to quickly focus it, through the bright, uncluttered viewfinder.

The batteries are the obsolete mercury ones, so I used two SR44s with a little foil under each one to bridge the gap. This, of course, provides a different voltage, but it's what I had lying around, and I compensate the meter for it by dialing down my ISO one stop. So, on 200 ISO film, I set the camera ISO to 100. There are other options out there, from buying adapters and hearing aid batteries to soldering electronic components into the camera, but you can research those.

The Hi_Matic F has a battery check button on the back that illuminates a red LED on top if your batteries are good. This LED light also serves a second purpose that I'll explain later, but it's important to remember that, like many of the 'evolving' automatic cameras of its day, this camera won't run without batteries. There is also a film indicator on the back to remind you that there is a roll inside and that it's feeding correctly.

The battery check button and film indicator.

That finally gets us to the little criticisms and praises that come from using the Hi-Matic F. The red battery-check light also acts as a warning light for underexposed images. Being fully automatic, the viewfinder will display a red warning light to warn you that the camera should be placed on a tripod before taking the image. This is done when you depress the shutter button halfway. The battery-check light on the top will also illuminate at the same time, so you can see it from the outside, while the camera is on said tripod.

Here lies one of the problems with the infancy of automatic cameras. Because the camera will only show you a red warning light, and not tell you how underexposed you are, you have to hold the shutter button down until that same red light goes off (assuming you take the image anyway). Then release the shutter. So, if the image needs the (maximum) 4-second exposure, once you press the shutter or the plunger on the shutter cable, you have to trust the camera to turn the red battery-check light off when it is safe to release the shutter.

You may ask, "But what if the image needs more than 4 seconds?" and it would be a valid question. As far as I know, there is nothing on the camera that would indicate that, so most likely you would end up with an underexposed image when the light went out and you released the shutter.

Using an external meter would probably be the fix for these longer exposures, assuming you could rely on the camera choosing a 2.7 aperture and a 4-second shutter speed. There is nothing on the camera to tell you what settings it is choosing from one shot to the next, so it might take a little experimenting if that type of photography is important to you. But that's not really where this camera comes into its own.

This camera is a quick, light, and quiet shooter. It's quite apparent that the Hi-Matic F was not designed for long landscape shots on a tripod. It was made for quick, candid, and subtle shots of everything around you. With the lens reaching infinity at only 15 feet, you can zone focus and be certain that everything beyond that is in focus. That leaves you with nothing to do but raise the camera and push the shutter. The one thing faster than auto-focus is not focusing at all, and that's easy with the Hi-Matic F.

I prefer needle-match meters on my cameras. That's one of the reasons I'm such a fan of Minolta's SRT line of SLRs. I like to take dark, moody, underexposed black and whites, but that only works if I have some idea of how underexposed I am. The light-up meters, using "+" or "-" signs, or in this case, red warning lights, make this a challenge. I've learned to guess at this with some success, using adjustable ND filters that I turn until I get the warning light and then turn the other way a couple of stops in the hopes I hit the 'sweet spot' that I am trying for.

Again, however, creative photography is not what this camera is designed for. If you regularly do street photography or simply want a very small, and weightless camera to keep around you all day, this is the one. Travel photographers would love this camera as well, as it just gets out of your way and lets you concentrate on composition. Less tinkering with settings and more shooting.

The Rokkor lens, though slower than other rangefinders by Minolta, still delivers incredibly sharp and low-distortion images. It will record whatever you shoot, at a very professional level, and nobody will ever ask you if you used auto-exposure or if you tinkered with settings for 45 seconds before each shot. So in my case, if I get the punchy, moody, B&W image that I want, how I manage to do it with this camera is irrelevant.

I took it out for its maiden voyage today, and there was heavy cloud cover in the "Sunshine State". I knew, as I drove to a small town near me, that it would be next to impossible to get the photos I like. I rarely go out with black and white on days like this because I don't generally get the 'punch' and 'grit' I'm craving. Surprisingly, this lens still did its best, as you can see below. A couple of these images were quite contrasty with the camera's chosen exposures, and one I was able to trick into dark moodiness, with an ND filter.

There is one thing all of the images had in common, though. They were all pin-sharp. Rokkor lenses never cease to impress me with their sharpness and clarity, and it really doesn't seem to matter what camera they are attached to. Even a small, pocket camera like the Hi-Matic F.

I found the focusing very easily, even with my personal vision problems and aging eyes. I soon found myself focusing it quickly and intuitively with the strangely placed focus tab, under the lens barrel. What seemed odd when I unboxed the camera suddenly made perfect sense when I found my index finger resting on the tab each time I brought the camera to my eye.

Being the first to use this camera since its birth in 1975, I found a small issue with the film advance lever that soon began working itself out as I continued to shoot. I would wind the film after each shot and then have to push the lever again to get the shutter button to unlock. As I said, it passed after a few shots, and I was relieved to see by the negatives that it did not affect the film advance. I had a similar issue with the Kiev 19 I reviewed on this site, and it too passed. Possibly a side-effect of sitting in a box for decades.

I did notice that when I took photos that included the sky, and used the ND filter to meter them, it was difficult to see the red warning light that told me the image was underexposed. I suppose this would never be an issue without the filter, and the bright light would certainly ensure that the image was not underexposed anyway.

Speaking of the 'warning light'... being overcast today, I never had to worry about having too much light for the shutter. But as far as I know, there is no warning light when the image is in danger of being overexposed. For me, I typically keep a variable ND filter on my vintage cameras (that can be set to 'min' when I don't need its help), so I am used to playing it safe by adding a couple of stops of filter on an overly-bright day.

THE SNAP

If I have one criticism of this camera, and that is, that it's simply too much fun to shoot. I can see where you could go through a lot of film just because it is so easy to frame and push the shutter button. One of my realizations when I was deep into digital photography was how easy it was to go home with 200 images on a card and have to delete most of them as duplicates. This isn't THAT bad, but it is a lot of fun to just keep shooting.

As a person who is not all that impressed with the shooting experience of most rangefinders, I find myself excited to take it out again and see what else I can find. It is truly less of a camera and more of a very sharp lens that will happily and quietly record anything that you want to point it at. Slipping it into your pocket is as easy as putting your wallet away, but you won't feel the need to do so with its incredible lightness.

I would highly recommend this little weapon to anyone who wants a small camera to take with them on a walk or even serious photographers who are trying to blend into the crowd and capture those candid moments. The exposures, from such a small package, were spot on, as was the focus, and I'm not sure what else you could ask of a camera.

I hope you find this review helpful, and I would love to hear about your own experiences if you own one of these.

The camera was made for walking around with it on your wrist, always ready.

The sharpness of the lens speaks for itself.

This old, Florida boat house was well exposed with the camera's settings.

This was the minimum focusing distance, and the lens shows plenty of detail on the metal railing.

These folks didn't even see me grab this photo of them, despite me being quite close.

I was able to underexpose this image with a variable ND filter. I simply increased the filter level until I got the red warning light and then backed it off a couple of stops, before pushing the shutter button.