[These still are cameras with modest specifications. The lenses are good, but they're not that good. Most have simple trap-needle autoexposure, as well as having top and bottom decks of a dentable lightweight alloy.
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Having first begun selling cameras retail in the middle 1960s, I have seen a few cameras come and go. IIRC, we sold the Taiwanese-built Canonet for 69 dollars--hardly a cheap price at a time when a brand-new VW beetle could be bought for$1,500; 25 sheet envelopes of Kodak paper for $2.50 and Micke Dees fries were a dime. Considering the quality of the glass (six element lens); the parallax correcting rangefinder/viewfinder; the distance- adjusted automatic flash exposure with 1) the dedicated flash 2) or by dialing in the guide number; and the full manual over ride, the Canon GIII was a whole lot of excellent picture quality and innovative design features.
I acquired a GIII some years ago that I sent to Ecuador with my wife, who wanted excellent-quality pictures, but wanted to go with a camera that would not distress us too terribly were it lost, strayed, or stolen. This in lieu of her pristine, much loved Canon IVS2. Her chromes were outstanding.
I sold off that camera with a whole lot of other equipment some years ago. I now have one and do not plan to part with another one.
The "down" part of the camera--it's limited ASA range in auto bothers me not one whit. I rarely shoot anything over ISO 25. The real aggravation to me is that I have to use a step up ring because of that @#$* 48mm filter size.
I never considered the similar Ollie 35RC or the little Minoltas as good a camera. FWIW.
