broken meter on canon QL17 GIII?

[grissom]

hi all - new here, been unsuccessful in finding info on this particular issue I'm having elsewhere, so figured I would register and pose the question.

I've just recently gotten a QL17 GIII from an ebay seller who'd only tested it in manual mode (it was priced accordingly), and I can't get the meter working. did the reading on battery solutions and went with the hearing aid option (rayovac 675, zinc air, 1.45v) and got the rubber ring to keep them in place. the battery check lights up, so I assume the meter is getting power, but the needle just sits at f/5.6 no matter the light or the shutter speed with the aperture ring on A. the shutter does fire, but only at that aperture. am I missing something here or is the meter just cooked?

moreover, is there something about these cameras / this metering system that causes them to burn out easily? I see plenty of confirmed no-good meters on ebay on otherwise decent shape cameras, and I'm wondering what would've done it on my copy as well. it's in great condition cosmetically and everything else seems to function like new.

ultimately not the end of the world of course - this camera is plenty of fun to shoot manually - but I would like to have a working auto-exposure mode if I could. would be curious to hear anyone's insight!

 

[Pál_K]

Does changing the ASA setting to different values make a difference?

 

[CMur12]

Grissom, welcome to RFF!

My understanding of such matters is limited, but a couple of thoughts come to mind:

1. In the case of the old mechanical, match-needle SLRs, the needle was on a pivot and could be knocked off the pivot with the right kind of shock. My understanding is that all cameras with a metering needle, have the needle on a pivot with similar vulnerability. (So, your needle may be knocked off its pivot.)

2. The shutter-priority automatic system in cameras like yours is a trap-needle system. The needle registers the reading, a mechanical device traps the needle in place as you press the shutter button part way down, and finally the shutter is fired when the shutter button is fully depressed. (So, there may be a problem with the trapping mechanism.)

We have people here who know a lot about such things, so hopefully one or more of them will drop in.

- Murray

 

[madNbad]

Try moving the lever on the side of the lens between the Indoor (window), cloudy and sunny settings with the selector at "A". Good luck!

 

[grissom]

thanks for the input folks - no luck with adjusting the ASA or the shutter speed settings. I suspect the trap-needle system may be what's going wrong here, since the aperture always steps down to f/5.6 and just stays there when I switch from manual to auto and press the shutter button halfway. good to know!

might look into having it serviced at some point, but seeing as boston doesn't seem to have a local shop that's taking repairs at the moment, I suppose it's sunny 16 for now. I did get my first test roll back from the lab yesterday and everything else is working as it ought to.

 

[Doug]

^^^ "You dared to wake me?" 😀