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L. Camilleri
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 07:59 pm: | 
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I just rescued a Canonet GIII QL17 from a local thrift store. I have been able to free up the stuck shutter, aperture blades and self timer with cleaning. My problem is when I set the camera to "A" to turn the meter on, the meter reading goes up and down as I move the focus back and forth. I believe that this would be normal when a dedicated canonlite D flash was installed and charged as a way to adjust exposure for the flash but this is happening with no flash installed. Thanks for any help. |
Jan Dvorak
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 08:43 pm: |
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Check if the battery compartment contacts are clean. Sometimes just a slight change in pressure on the camera body will result in variation in the battery's voltage, resulting in the meter needle behaving as you describe.
Good luck,
Jan |
L. Camilleri
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 09:55 pm: |
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Jan
Thanks for the reply. I checked the battery, connections are clean. The extra movement of the meter only happens when the focus is changed. The movement is linear and constant. As the focus dial moves back and forth, so does the meter. When I place the aperture ring to one of the guide number setting, the meter settles down and acts normal. |
Jan Dvorak
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 10:35 am: |
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This seems to be an electric problem; looks like the camera is behaving as if it 'thought' there was a flash attached. Unfortunately, my knowledge does not extend to this kind of problem, I am quite sure one of the main gurus here will be able to solve it for you.
Good luck,
Jan |
Reiner
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 12:47 pm: |
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The Canonlite-D flash dedicated for this camera has an additional contact to bring the camera automatically into flash mode when it is plugged onto a Canonet. There is a short circuit or a resistor in the flash which is recognised by the camera. It think the culprit must be somewhere here. Perhaps the additional flash contact is shorted against the camera body. You should take off the top cap. These contacts are easily found under the top cap. |
L. Camilleri
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 07:21 pm: |
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Thanks everyone for the replies. Taking Reiner's advice, I traced the flash wiring to a switch inside the lens. This switch has an armature that is supposed to close the circuit when the aperture ring is turned to the guide number settings. The switch was incorrectly positioned so that it was closed when it should have been open, accounting for the extra voltage to the meter in the "A" setting. I repositioned the switch and all is well. Thanks again. |
Reiner
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 12:50 pm: |
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That was a really rare and interesting failure.
One note from my side: if you use the QL17 in flash mode the meter will also react on ambient light. You can easily check that. I have not tried it in practice but the metering circuit should do some kind of ambient light balancing as both effect are added. Canon realized that without making a lot of marketing noise as Konica did for it's Auto S3.
A second note: never let this camera in flash mode for a longer period with a battery inserted. Within some days it will drain your battery. |
