Canonet QL17 shutter problem

[spl]

I have a beautiful QL17 Canonet. I am fond of the camera because it takes beautiful clear photos with a special character, and because I repaired the rear lens element of a scratch with diamond polishing paste and got lucky, making the camera perfect for about a year.

Now though a sad thing has happened: The A mode won’t fire the shutter. This is new behaviour.

I put in a fresh LR44 battery in the correct adapte adapter. The camera will fire in manual mode, and the aperture and shutter work perfectly then, no gunked up components, no lubrication experiments, all perfect.

When I press the battery test it drops the needle down below 5.6 which is just at the top (Low voltage?) end of the battery test range.

When I set up a shot with sensible shutter speed settings and I press the shutter button, the needle wobbles a bit and the shutter won’t release.

The winding and double exposure work perfeclty.

So, in short, everything is perfect but the shutter won’t release on A, the needle just wobbles and shutter is locked.

I have read some posts relating to the mechanism being jammed and needing lubrication, however I don’t think that’s my problem. I’ve read about battery contact problems, but the battery check is perfect and the battery compartment is as clean as new.

I am willing to remove the lens assembly and top cover to effect any fix if I know it’s a good chance of fixing it. I thought it might have been the photocell, but it does seem to work occasionally, and nobody else online is blaming the photocell. Can anyone advice based on this symptomology?

 

[spl]

I have a beautiful QL17 Canonet. I am fond of the camera because it takes beautiful clear photos with a special character, and because I repaired the rear lens element of a scratch with diamond polishing paste and got lucky, making the camera perfect for about a year.

Now though a sad thing has happened: The A mode won’t fire the shutter. This is new behaviour.

I put in a fresh LR44 battery in the correct adapte adapter. The camera will fire in manual mode, and the aperture and shutter work perfectly then, no gunked up components, no lubrication experiments, all perfect.

When I press the battery test it drops the needle down below 5.6 which is just at the top (Low voltage?) end of the battery test range.

When I set up a shot with sensible shutter speed settings and I press the shutter button, the needle wobbles a bit and the shutter won’t release.

The winding and double exposure work perfeclty.

So, in short, everything is perfect but the shutter won’t release on A, the needle just wobbles and shutter is locked.

I have read some posts relating to the mechanism being jammed and needing lubrication, however I don’t think that’s my problem. I’ve read about battery contact problems, but the battery check is perfect and the battery compartment is as clean as new.

I am willing to remove the lens assembly and top cover to effect any fix if I know it’s a good chance of fixing it. I thought it might have been the photocell, but it does seem to work occasionally, and nobody else online is blaming the photocell. Can anyone advice based on this symptomology?

I literally just picked up the camera now, screwed off the 1A and saw the needle reading correctly. Then five seconds later it stopped, and retreated back to the top of the range.

 

[spl]

Okay, I see a problem now. I discovered this completely at random. There are threads on the front of the lens where you would screw a filter. Normally this silver piece doesn’t have any function beyond holding a filter. If I grasp it and turn it anticlockwise (looking into the lens) the exposure meter works perfectly again, and if I turn it clockwise, with a travel of less than 1mm, it stops working, so I’m guessing there is a bad contact either at the photocell, or in the electromechanical mechanism around it.

I might be able to finish the roll of FP4 on my holiday with this workaround.

Still I am very open to ideas for a permanent fix.

Might require disassembling the lens, cleaning any contacts and careful reassembly?

I am guilty of leaving the camera cocked and on the A setting for long periods … might this have damaged the lens/exposure contacts?

 

[Bill Burk]

Sounds like a short maybe a frayed wire that’s touching depending how you twist.

It intentionally won’t let you take a picture when the needle is in home position so that’s not malfunction.

 

[fiddle]

I know this is of no help, but. I have a Canonet ive owned for years, at one point it stopped working, shutter was jammed. Said to myself, oh well, my young son enjoyed playing with it, so he would use it mimicking me taking photos. One day he threw it across the room, slammed on the floor. Camera has been working perfect ever since.
About 10 years ago now.

 

[BrianShaw]

Interesting repair technique.