Ok due to all the great things people have said in this forum and the links to other information posted from here on the Canonet QL17 ... I went into my first combat on Ebay this week and I WON!! As I wouldn't have even known about the little beastie had it not been for people here and as Sean is the daddy of APUG ... maybe I should send him the invoice LOL Thanks everyone for starting me on my rangefinder addiction if it's anywhere near as good as everyone says it is Tony
Gareth it will soon get a good testing as I hope to use it for my project on learning disabilities. I've found carrying a SLR in my pocket to catch them off guard isn't very convenient.
If I sent Sean the invoices for everything I've learned about on APUG, Sean would be a very poor man indeed. I suspect he's happier that I'm the one who's paying for my passion (i.e., my money pit).
Hey Tony, These are great little cameras and they do great work. Easy to haul around and quick to use. There are some common 'issues' though...Don't worry much about the built in meter and finding a useable battery; the meters are fussy at best and rarely meter properly. In my own usage, I've found that sticking to 'sunny-16' gives better results than relying on the meter, even when the meter is calibrated. The shutter speeds can be off unless it has been recently CLA'd. It's an easy fix, though and there are oodles of web-pages devoted to unsticking the shutters. The other common problem is tired light seals. Again, this is an easy fix. There is a chap on eBay by the name of Jon Goodman, he goes by the moniker 'interslice'. He sells light-seal kits and is probably the most honest seller on eBay. He has a lot of advice and documentation on putting new light seals into Canonets. Cheers, Kent
If it needs any work Tony ask about for local repair services. I know there is (or at least there was) a chap in Glasgow, he doesn't do any auto-focus, digi repairs etc but he does fix most problems on most cameras made up to the late 80's, and he's cheap.
Mongo - I was of course jesting ... dry English humour Kent and Gareth - many thanks for your comments. Happily it was CLA'd as few years ago, has new seals as of 3 months ago and has also been re-clothed in a rather fetching calf leather (don't tell the veggies) ... sounds and looks very nice from the spec and can't wait to play with it I could do with knowing where there's an online manual for it if anyone knows?
I can vouch for the ease of unsticking a sticky QL17 shutter (actually the aperture blades in my case). Mine is the non GIII version so I had to take the lens elements off from the front to expose the iris. It just needed a light push on the edge of the blades to open it up fully once and it has been OK for the 2 or 3 months now since I got it. I'm dubious about using lighter fluid with q-tips etc 'cos it just moves the gunk around and I'm sufficiently ham fisted to bend the blades... Anyway, I'm far from an expert but it worked out fine for me. I use hearing aid batteries with a washer (but you can probably get away without the washer/spacer) and the camera's meter reads about 2/3 of a stop out compared to my Sekonic meter so I increase the ISO setting on the camera by that amount over my normal rating for the film (which by coincidence means I set HP5+ to 400 on the camera). It's worth checking this which ever battery you use. Manual here: http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/instructionmanuals.html enter "free" as username and "manuals" as the password when prompted. Also, I too recommend Interslice. I know you don't need the foam (mine did) but he's an ex-Brit so I thought I'd mention it... Cheers, Bob.
Bob, Many thanks for the "using info" and the online manual (which I've saved off). Interesting I'll be testing it against my Sekonic and running the tests with HP5+ I'll also remember "Interslice" we have to support those ex-Brits as they re-discover the world. Btw ... Great signature, just wish he was still in politics to liven up our boring grey election.
As of April 18 2005 your CofR account is in arrears and payment is due and expcted promply. No new invoices will be accepted and bottles of HotRod will be withheld until payment is received and processed. Your overdue account is mostly for cleaning bills on your (officially sanctioned) church rode. (Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to get wine, let alone fixer out of these things?). Due to economic forces the CofR now accepts old cameras with good lenses as means of payment. Please submit cash or Canonets to accounting where I'll... um.. I mean... we'll set your overdue balance corrected and paid in full.
The church is furthermore expanding! The IRA (International Rodinal Army) and the german fraction, Rodinal Arme Fraktion, is gaining support all over the world (because of APUG). To get total control of the world no-one can feel safe anymore. Let the Rodinalution begin! We take no prisoners, we kill'em all! Greetings High Priest and Militia Leader Morten
Awwww but I've been sending in my payments ... I think maybe those dark forces of less noble soups have been intercepting them Morten with a name of "IRA" it may be more than the dark forces that will now be reading this thread ... look out they are behind you
