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vadim
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 14, 2005 - 02:10 pm: | 
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I bought a canonet QL 17 GIII about a month ago. After 5-6 rolls of film, something happened with the shutter. The speed ring feels very loose between 30 and 500, and does not go below 30. The shutter release does not work.
Is there anyway to fix it, or I should look for another camera? Do canonets considered to be reliable? I enjoyed mine a lot, while it was working.
Thanks for your help. |
Gary Turner
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 14, 2005 - 06:48 pm: |
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Vadim,
I think the Canonet GIII Q17 is 'relatively reliable' considering the sophistication of its design however, since so many were made and so many years have passed you will find a lot of bad ones and many others that are now in need of servicing.
Canonet GIII is a relatively complex & over-engineered camera that's harder to work on than some other contemporary 35mm rangefinder cameras. Realize that when the GIII came out there was a swing towards convenient automatic features such as built-in CdS metering, priority shutter or aperture metering, compact size. Such features complicated the basic Canonet design that had been released several years prior as a fuller size camera. Still, Canon offered a design with desired features that sold very well thanks to smart marketing and a fair price.
My experience repairing GIII is with sticky shutter blades & lens fungus. That is usually easy to take care of except with the GIII the lens elements are retained by very small hard to access retainers that are often held on tighter than they need to be. Some suggest special tools to service this model. Canonet is not a fun camera for me to work on.
The 2nd issue with Canonet I'm familiar with is the all too common gooey light seals in the camera back. That is a messy but not too difficult task. Jon Goodman sells a fine product to solve that problem.
Sorry, I can't help you with the sophisticated electronics inside a GIII. I don't have those skills or disposition. I'm sure you will find several amateur repairers both in this forum and elsewhere who can address those woes.
My favorite (preferred) 35mm rangefinders are the earlier Canon 7, Leica M3 (expensive), Konica III series, Kiev 4 series, Zorki 6, Olympus 35-RC....all of which are fine picture takers.
Canonets such as GIII have a strong following so they tend to hold a fairly good value when working. Professional repair @ $65 to $100 may be more than that camera is worth. Tough decision. If yours is in near perfect condition and you tend to use it a good deal, professional repair may be a good option. Otherwise look to eBay for reliable sellers and bid up to the camera's realistic value for a clean working GIII or the equivalent earlier equivalent Q17 compact that is made in Japan. Personally I would only bid up to $65 with postage @ no more than $7.
Best of Luck! |
Steve
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 14, 2005 - 07:12 pm: |
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The QL17 GIII has a mechanical shutter lock that keeps the shutter button from depressing if the camera is set on auto and the exposure needle is in the red on either end of the scale. It might be worth it to make sure you have a good battery and clean contacts and that the needle moves freely. There is a battery check light next to the viewfinder. Because the Canonet is completely mechanical except for the meter, I would suspect that there's something dirty, broken or stuck in the shutter speed system, like a spring or lever or something. |
Ken H
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 14, 2005 - 07:57 pm: |
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Vadim
If you decide not to have the camera repaired then my question is, would you sell it for parts?
I need a good front lens for a QL17 GIII and would be interested in buying it for parts if you are located in USA. |
charlie
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 15, 2005 - 08:34 am: |
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If you do a keyword search for "canonet" on this website you will find many discussions of various problems. Good luck. |
vadim
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, April 17, 2005 - 06:16 am: |
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Thanks for the answers, guys.
Steve: I am aware of the shutter lock, but I don't think that's the reason. I checked it in the full manual mode.
Ken: I am in touch with one guy who says that he may be able to fix the camera. If it does not wrok, I'll let you know. |
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