Hi:

I just got a QL17 GIII which is immaculate except that there is play in the lens assembly. If you grab the lens barrel and move it side to side, it has clearly visible play. Viewed from inside the camera, the black box part of the lens barrel (the part between the rear element and the shutter) move side to side.

Is there any way to fix this, or should I write the camera off as an eBay loss?

Thanks in advance, jj

By rick oleson on Friday, November 30, 2001 - 02:17 pm:

Peel back the leather on both sides of hte lens and remove the little cover panels. Under that, there are 4 screws holding the lens assembly in place. You can see one of them just to the left of the arrowhead in the photo at the bottom of this page:

http://members.tripod.com/rick_oleson/index-30.html

These screws tend to work loose and let the lens wobble. Tighten them up and it should feel better.

rick =

By Winfried on Friday, November 30, 2001 - 03:21 pm:

Some of these screws are not very evident. The one on the bottom right of the lens mounting plate can only be accessed if you advance the film half way so that the cocking slider moves a bit. The one top left is somewhat hidden behind the shutter release slider.

Another reason for a wobbly lens might be a loose main retainer ring. This ring holds the outer part of the helical to the body plate. To get access to it, you will have to open the camera body. But in most cases, tightened the above mentioned screws (and glueing them, as the Olympus guys did) will help a lot.

There are also two brackets on top and bottom of the lens barrel (seen from the rear side of the removed lens mounting plate) that might be somewhat loose. These brackets are guides for the lens barrel, if they are loose, you will be able to turn the lens barrel a bit.

By J.J. Elias on Friday, November 30, 2001 - 03:33 pm:

Thanks for the advice; it was in fact those pesky screws. Now the question is, where can I get leatherette to redo the front of the camera (it refused to come off without beign chiseled in little bit with a micro screwdriver......)

Thanks again.

By rick oleson on Friday, November 30, 2001 - 04:18 pm:

i usually use morocco pigskin from tandy leather (part number 931001) - like all leather it varies a bit from one piece to another. micro-tools also has the same stuff, plus some good leatherette.

to make a pattern, cover the body shell with masking tape and trim it around the edges with an X-acto knife, then peel the tape off and stick it on the leather and cut around it. it works well if you're careful (though the cutout for the GIII badge is unfun). you can glue it with contact cement.

rick =

By Kar Yan Mak (Admin) on Friday, November 30, 2001 - 06:40 pm:

I happened to came across this great site that offers pre-cut custom genuine leather for specific cameras.

http://homepages.together.net/~msparks/leathers/index.html

Scroll down the page and you'll see the QL17 G-III listed. There's lizard skin, cowhide...etc. And best of all, they are self-adhesive so you don't have to deal with the gluing part. If I haven't mistaken, you can choose any leather you see on that site and they'll custom cut it for your camera. Look into the pages of other cameras for pebbled leathers too. The site doesn't list their prices so you'll have to email and ask.

Micro-Tools offers a few selections of leatherettes as well.

By Ray Reese on Saturday, December 01, 2001 - 08:14 am:

I'm a satisfied customer of Morgan Sparks. He has a web page for the Canonette too (http://homepages.together.net/~msparks/canonet.htm). He offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee. The only problem... Which skin to choose, they're all beautiful. - Ray R

By Steven on Wednesday, April 17, 2002 - 04:46 pm:

I have read Rick's info on fixing a loose lens on the QL17 GIII.....

I have an old Canonet S. Everything forward of the focusing ring is loose, and the aperture ring turns but does not influence the size of the opening (currently about f16). I went in and re-aligned the workings of the shutter, and that seems to work fine if you hold the lens tight against the camera body. Is the Canonet S lens held to the body like the GIII, or do I begin somewhere else?

Thanks.

steve dwine

By Winfried on Thursday, April 18, 2002 - 01:23 pm:

I do not know the Canonet S. But very few cameras have the lens mount plate attached to the body like on the CanonetQL17. On the latter the mount plate is deeply recessed to give easy access to the shutter release and AE mechanism. This means that the screws holding this plate to the main body are deeply recessed, too, and are not secured by the leatherette glue like on most other cameras. I severely recommend to secure these screws with a tiny drop of glue once you retightened them.