This was a fun project that I built a year or so ago after lamenting with a friend how much I missed an M6 Panda that I had sold off. I thought it would be cool to make a 'Panda Canonet' to fill the void. (Pandanet??)
After a good amount of research and talking to a couple repair techs, it seemed the most logical path would be to find a black donor camera and swap out the chrome body panels vs. trying to swap over a black lens onto a chrome body.
I found a black QL17GIII body here in the states that was described as ‘recently serviced and CLA-ed/MINT’ condition. I was disappointed when I received the body as there were a good amount of marks on the outside barrel and front chrome ring of the lens. Even the front face of the lens where the writing is has a couple small marks if you look super close. I decided to go ahead and use the camera thought, the optics, finder and film advance are perfect and feel nice and solid. The glass itself if clean and clear and free of any scratches, mars or marks whatsoever and the shutter is solid down to a ¼ of a second (the camera does not have half or full second exposures, just BULB after 1/4 a second. The finder is clean and clear as well. It’s a solid camera, just not as factory pristine as I was hoping for.
Here is was done to make it into a Panda:
The camera is solid, this only thing I’m aware of is the battery test light does not light up and you do need a little piece of aluminum foil on one side of the battery to keep the connection solid. It’s a fun little camera, great EDC that has even caught the eye of a couple Canon film nerds. I am only selling it to fund another camera purchase.
Let me know if you have any questions. This and other custom camera are on my flickr page here: www.flickr.dirkfletcher/albums
$250 net plus $18 for ship in the US.
Thanks for looking (and reading the longest ad ever!)
After a good amount of research and talking to a couple repair techs, it seemed the most logical path would be to find a black donor camera and swap out the chrome body panels vs. trying to swap over a black lens onto a chrome body.
I found a black QL17GIII body here in the states that was described as ‘recently serviced and CLA-ed/MINT’ condition. I was disappointed when I received the body as there were a good amount of marks on the outside barrel and front chrome ring of the lens. Even the front face of the lens where the writing is has a couple small marks if you look super close. I decided to go ahead and use the camera thought, the optics, finder and film advance are perfect and feel nice and solid. The glass itself if clean and clear and free of any scratches, mars or marks whatsoever and the shutter is solid down to a ¼ of a second (the camera does not have half or full second exposures, just BULB after 1/4 a second. The finder is clean and clear as well. It’s a solid camera, just not as factory pristine as I was hoping for.
Here is was done to make it into a Panda:
-The film advance arm was moved over from the black camera.
-The PC cover from the black camera was moved over to replace the ugly cream colored one on the chrome plate. (Fun fact: when you push the PC cover down to expose the PC socket, the flash on the hotshoe is disconnected…pretty cool design)
-The tapered black film rewind is from a black AE-1 Program, looks a bit better than the more swoopie one that comes stock on the camera.
-Both the chrome and black QL's have a silver hot shoe next to the chrome rails. I ordered a replacement accessory shoe spring from an AE-1 (I think) so the entire hot shoe assembly would be black.
-I modified a Haoge HG-M6 hand grip originally intended for an M6 Leica to fit on this camera. The Dremel got away from me when I was working on the first one and left some silver marks in the metal grip and leather. I couldn’t stand how it looked so a second grip was ordered and I managed not to screw it up this time. You can change film without having to remove the grip, it helps the camera fit perfectly in your hand.
-I removed and repainted the G-III QL plate on the front of the camera but even sanding it down w/ very fine wet/dry paper, the Appliance Epoxy paint isn’t sticking as well as I hoped it would, it still looks better than the chrome and red plate though. It kinda gives you the look of the Lenny Kravitz Leica…maybe lol…
-The camera is finished off with a vented shade, black concave soft release and a leather wrist strap. The first iteration of this camera had a rectangular Haoge lens shade w/ matching metal cap but that has since moved over to a Horseman Convertible Wide Angle project.
The camera is solid, this only thing I’m aware of is the battery test light does not light up and you do need a little piece of aluminum foil on one side of the battery to keep the connection solid. It’s a fun little camera, great EDC that has even caught the eye of a couple Canon film nerds. I am only selling it to fund another camera purchase.
Let me know if you have any questions. This and other custom camera are on my flickr page here: www.flickr.dirkfletcher/albums
$250 net plus $18 for ship in the US.
Thanks for looking (and reading the longest ad ever!)
