S R Massey
Newbie
Ah, the Canonet. No matter what you think of them, you can't deny that there are a lot out there. The one I ended up with has an interesting problem:
In all Canonet G-IIIs, turning the aperture ring to 'A' engages shutter-priority automation. The needle in the viewfinder window moves to indicate the automatically-selected aperture corresponding to the user-selected shutter speed. Mine does this, but as you turn the focus tab to a nearer point from infinity, there's always a good chance that the needle will erratically jump down to smaller apertures.
This is like a randomly occurring and unpredictable version of the meter needle/aperture selection program that you get when you turn the aperture ring past 'A' to one of three guide number settings. In those settings, the camera selects progressively smaller apertures as you focus closer.
This camera seems to have some kind of confusion about the presence of a flash, or about the position of the aperture ring.
I think it must be a short, or a bad electrical connection somewhere, but I really don't have much of an idea of where to start looking. I've taken off the top plate before, to clean up the VF glass, but I wonder if there are maybe some more electronic mechanisms inside the lens/dial assembly.
Can anyone with knowledge of this model perhaps give me an idea on where to start looking to address this issue? Or maybe knows where I could find a factory service manual or something similar?
In all Canonet G-IIIs, turning the aperture ring to 'A' engages shutter-priority automation. The needle in the viewfinder window moves to indicate the automatically-selected aperture corresponding to the user-selected shutter speed. Mine does this, but as you turn the focus tab to a nearer point from infinity, there's always a good chance that the needle will erratically jump down to smaller apertures.
This is like a randomly occurring and unpredictable version of the meter needle/aperture selection program that you get when you turn the aperture ring past 'A' to one of three guide number settings. In those settings, the camera selects progressively smaller apertures as you focus closer.
This camera seems to have some kind of confusion about the presence of a flash, or about the position of the aperture ring.
I think it must be a short, or a bad electrical connection somewhere, but I really don't have much of an idea of where to start looking. I've taken off the top plate before, to clean up the VF glass, but I wonder if there are maybe some more electronic mechanisms inside the lens/dial assembly.
Can anyone with knowledge of this model perhaps give me an idea on where to start looking to address this issue? Or maybe knows where I could find a factory service manual or something similar?
Two useful documents here:
https://learncamerarepair.com/product.php?product=24&category=2&secondary=1
https://learncamerarepair.com/product.php?product=24&category=2&secondary=1
Sounds like the guide number mechanism in the lens needs cleaning.