Canon LTM Canonet G III QL 17 - Lens got fungus

[MiniMoke]

Hi, I got this cheap QL 17 which looks great but has a wobbly lens assembly (can be fixed by tightening the screws under the leatherette), but alas it's got a nice case of fungus growth on the front lens element.🙁

Can I replace it, and is it worth it?

Has anyone such an element that's taking up too much space, preferably in Europe due to postage costs?

Hope someone can help me.

 

[oftheherd]

Welcome to RFF. You might want to go the Members Only/Intro and introduce yourself. Hope you enjoy your time here at RFF. While you are waiting to see if you get a positive result from your question, you might want to clean the front element and see how that improves the photo taking of the camera. The general concensus is that problems on the front of the front lens do not show up as much as one might otherwise assume.

 

[MiniMoke]

Thanks, The front element is quite cloudy though......

 

[Mackinaw]

Is it worth removing the front lens element to clean off the fungus? Probably not, I would say, unless you already have a donor lens off another QL-1.7.

Considering Canonets are as common as air, it may be best just to buy another. Certainly much easier than taking apart a lens and then cleaning it.

Jim B.

 

[MiniMoke]

Guess you're right..... I'll look for another one!

Thanks for your input.

 

[Richard C]

In my limited experience, taking the front lens out and cleaning it is not terribly difficult. The hard part is the first thing that you come across which is the thin aluminium ring that is screwed inside the lens barrel at the front. This frequently breaks when I try to unscrew it and I have to use a filter to hold everything together afterwards. Once this part has been overcome, unscrewing the lens assembly is not too difficult. However you may find that the fungus has etched into the lens and is diffucult if not impossible to polish out.

 

[Contarama]

Brian Sweeney once did a thread showing how to recondition the Canonets...you may try searching for it in the Canon fixed lens section as I think he posted it here too. It is a pretty simple and straight forward deal to pull off DIY.

 

[Richard C]

Here is the thread but the pictures do not work for me:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90468&highlight=canonet

 

[MiniMoke]

Thanks for the help - great forum!

I'll see if I try to clean the lens or just forget it and get another one.

 

[tennis-joe]

A friend of mine took his to be repaired and was told his circuit board was burned out. That gave the push to get mine out and start taking pictures with it. Well I shot 3 rolls of Color at Thanksgiving and was pleasantly suprised. I also ordered the 1.35v batteries for it and it shoots great. The 1.50v battery was too stops off I realized but the 1.35v batteries are working very well. Posted a couple of pictures to RFF today from those shots. Ordered two Wein batteries of fAmazon and they came in about 5 days.
Joe

 

[Frontman]

The best way to clean out the lens is to remove the rear element. The front elements are more difficult to remove without good tools. Set the aperture to 1.7, and the shutter to "B". You can use a cable release to keep the shutter open while you clean with cotton swabs and lens fluid. The internal fungus usually comes out easily.

If the fungus is between the front elements, you can separate them by removing the lens retaining ring and letting the front element fall out. Once again, clean with a cotton swab and micro fiber cloth. Be careful to remove any dust before reassembly.n

 

[toolzinho]

I bought a QL 17-GIII on Etsy and it came with a problem on the shutter... The blades were to slow... I tried to go inside the lens but was afraid of damaging it, so I thought "Well let me try and put some lighter fluid on the lens, maybe it will reach the shutter blades through the spaces of the lens elements". And it worked, no unassembly needed. Some time passed and my aperture blades don't open... They get stuck at about 2.8... Tried the same process but I can't make them open manually above 2.8, despite they working well on auto mode. Does someone know how to reach those blades to clean from behind?

 

[tennis-joe]

I had that problem on an Argus C4 and tried the lighter fluid and it froze up also. Repair place said it was not worth fixing and just purchase another C4. Well I let it go an purchased a Leica IIIf later and then I had to purchase more expensive lenses also. But I later purchased a Canon GIII-17 and I really like that.
Joe

 

[toolzinho]

I'm not familiar with the Argus, but I wouldn't give up so easy on my cute Canonet =) So I read a bunch of articles in the forum and got to one where a guy says:

I just had the front lens elements off my 'bay Canonet this weekend. My aperture varies as I adjust the ring. As long as it is not set to A, you should be able to move the aperture. While I was degreasing the shutter, however, I noticed that the aperture was not changing.

The aperture mechanism uses very light forces and just the excess naphtha that had found its way between the blades was enough to prevent the aperture from moving. As soon as it evaporated ( an hour in the sun), the aperture blades moved freely.

Mine's a Hong Kong Canonet and the front lens elements removed as a single assembly (though it initially took quite a bit of force to turn the threads, which were gummed up with something, probably lubricant). When I got it off, exposing the aperture and shutter blades, I could see the retaining rings for the front and rear elements had drops of sealant on them. It's not really that hard to get the front lens assembly out, and a good cleaning of the blades couldn't hurt. My shutter and aperture work fine now.

Unfortunately, the front lens element has a good deal of scratching on it and the rear element shows tendrils of mold. So it's now a candidate for resale to someone who has a bad body with good lens elements.

So I put my canonet on the sun, the ronsonol evaporated and everything now works like a charm =)

 

[Gregoris]

Question: Is it possible to replace the lens on a Canonet? Because I bought one which had fungus (not mentioned in the listing), the seller felt remorse and reimbursed me 30 Euros. Sent the camera to be cleaned and the repairman said that he will try to clean the fungus off, but if it's not possible then he will replace the lens (?) and all that for -only- 30 Euros. The seller sent me a message saying that I shouldn't trust anyone who says that you can replace the lens on a Canonet, because it can't be done (maybe I should start a poll on this 😀).

So, can it or can it not be done?

 

[Mackinaw]

The seller sent me a message saying that I shouldn't trust anyone who says that you can replace the lens on a Canonet, because it can't be done (maybe I should start a poll on this 😀).

So, can it or can it not be done?

Well, since somebody installed the lens at the factory one can assume you can take it off too.

Jim B.

 

[Petrolhead]

Well, since somebody installed the lens at the factory one can assume you can take it off too.

Jim B.

Hi Jim,
The lens can be replaced, you need to remove the ring that holds the name plate in place and remove the front lens cell using a lens spanner.

The images below illustrates :
The ring that holds the name plate is at the top right hand corner of the image. It can be removed with 2 toothpicks using the 2 slots on the ring if it is installed not too tightly from the factory.

Another image with the name plate removed after removing the ring. The front lens cell is exposed now and it can be removed by a lens spanner using the two slots on the front lens cell.

Illustrated is the non G3 model. As far as I know, there are no mechanical differences between the G3 and the non G3 model.

HTH.