Canonet GIII QL-17 question

[Russ]

Hello

It's me, the pest again.

Why when I mount a a flash unit onto the GIII, and dial in the flash guide #28, on the camera's aperture-flash ring, it still will not fire, under dim lighting? It acts exactly like it's being locked up, due to insufficient light. When I point it at a brighter light source, it works fine. Does one have to have the matching Canonet D flash unit? I do notice that there are two contact points on the hot shoe. It's a shame, because my Oly RC & Viv ES work great in the "flas-matic" mode, with just about any flash unit. Are the Canon "D" unit's hard to find? Is there a way to short out the second contact, in order to fool the camera?

Thanks again,
Russ

 

[rover]

The Canonlite D is not hard to find, there normally are a couple a week on ebay. I have a Canonlite, so I haven't tried another flash, but I believe that it should work fine using the guide numbers as you indicate you did. I did have a similar problem using my Canonet with the Canonlite last weekend. I mounted the flash, but wanted to shoot without it for a couple shots so I did not turn the flash unit on. The camera would not fire. It operated "normally" besides that one shot. I wonder if it defaults to a shutter speed, 1/60th or something, when the unit is mounted which threw, no that wouldn't be it. I will try to dig up the manual today and see what it has to say.

 

[Rob]

When you have it set on a GN setting, the meter is still active
and if your meter needle is in the red zone(too bright or too
dark) it will not fire. I just tested it with my huge Vivitar 283.
I have the Canolite D flash also and it really works well and is
compact also. It will still work the same way, just more compact
to hang on a rangefinder like the GIII.

 

[Russ]

When you have it set on a GN setting, the meter is still active
and if your meter needle is in the red zone(too bright or too
dark) it will not fire. I just tested it with my huge Vivitar 283.
I have the Canolite D flash also and it really works well and is
compact also. It will still work the same way, just more compact
to hang on a rangefinder like the GIII.

Rover

That sucks! What's the use of having a flash unit, in a dimly lighted room, if the camera will still not fire? Isn't that the main reason for the flash unit, do provide sufficient lighting to expose your film? That's a design flaw, on an otherwise, well designed camera. I can trip the shutters on the my Viv ES, Hi-Matic 7sII and Oly RC, regardless of the amount of ambient light. What's your take on this?

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I tested my Canonet with the camera set to the GN setting. The needle indicates F-Stop derived from the GN number and the distance indicated by the focus. It is a "follow-focus" type flash system. With an automatic flash, such as the Vivitar 283, set the Canonet to manual. Set the F-stop as dictated by the Flashes' automatic setting. For fixed-output flash, set the GN number (meters indicated on the Canonet) and any shutter speed. The F-stop changes as the distance changes. If the F-stop is in the range F1.7 to F16 you will get a good exposure and the camera will fire. If the required F-stop exceeds what the camera can provide it will not fire. In that case set the camera manually and take your chances. A distant shot at F1.7 will be underexposed but probably useable. If the F-stop "jumps" or does not move with the focus setting, the variable resistor that translates distance to the GN system is bad. Mine was jumpy, but settled with use.

 

[Russ]

If the F-stop "jumps" or does not move with the focus setting, the variable resistor that translates distance to the GN system is bad. Mine was jumpy, but settled with use.

Brian

This portion of your response makes sense. I was playing with it earlier, and it acts like you described above. It sounds as though yours fixed itself. Is the variable resistor, an expensive repair?

 

[rover]

Russ, I am heading out today with the Canonet and will experiment. With the Canonlite you use the camera in A mode and the flash exposure is automatically set. I may have had the camera in manual mode, again with the flash turned off, when it wouldn't fire. My thought is that the camera new the flash was mounted in a low light situation and did not fire since the flash was not powered.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

If I can get to a resistor element, I have been able to clean it with Radio Shack TV Tuner cleaner. I have several Nikon F Photomic heads that snapped back to life after a good cleaning. I have also had others "heal themselves" by putting them through the full range of motion. Try this latter first; go from nearest to farthest focus and watch the needle through the finder. If it is completely dead, you may hava bad circuit. If the element is dirsty you will see jumpiness. If it starts to settle down, you are in luck. I full CLA at a good repair shop will include cleaning of the resistor element if you state the problem. Precision Camera and Video repaired my Nikon EL2 that was hopelessly jumpy. A bad spot on the element produced an 8" shutter speed on auto.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

PLaying some more with the Canonet last night and discovered that the meter is indeed active while set to the GN setting. This was really smart of them: if the ambient light calls for a Higher F-Number than would be allowed with the flash only, the exposure is still set correctly. Ie, if the subject is at a distance that would require F2 as calculated by GN/Distance, but the ambient light called for F4; the camera uses F4. This can be useful for outdoor fill flash. If you want to go with Flash alone, use a higher shutter speed. If you want to set the ratio of ambient to fill flash, you could use the highest shutter speed, note the F-Stop as indicated for flash, and then change the shutter speed to get a higher number. Ie, if the F-stop indicated is F5.6 for flash alone, lower the shutter speed until you see F8. The Canon (and most leaflet shutter cameras) will X-Sync at any speed.