Early Canonet viewfinder info

[thsha1]

I've recently acquired an early Canonet 1.9 (the original model), and it doesn't work quite like any of the descriptions I can find on the net. I'm hoping someone here can shed some light on it.

The viewfinder doesn't have any indication of what aperture has been selected in auto mode i.e. there's no scale and needle there at all. What there is is two bright slightly arrowed patches at the bottom of the viewfinder, which seem to indicate if the exposure is over or under the range the camera can cope with. As you press the shutter it looks like there is a "blind" of some sort which slides across and obscures both the arrows when the exposure is in range. The shutter locks if either of the arrows is exposed.

Has anyone ever seen a Canonet like this? Do I have a particularly early one?

Thanks
Stewart

 

[ronnies]

I have a Canonet just like this. You're right there's not much about on the web for these early versions.

When an arrow is exposed it's telling you which way to turn the shutter dial to get correct exposure. 🙂

Ronnie

 

[ronnies]

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118479

What I found out last time. 🙂

Ronnie

 

[thsha1]

Thanks, Ronnie that's useful info. One other question - I've got a little play in the lens, mostly up/down/left/right rather than in/out. Is this fairly normal for these or am I looking at stripping off the cover to tighten something up? Most of my previous experience is with Yashicas so I'm a bit hesitant to just go in with the screwdrivers and hope for the best!

Cheers
Stewart

 

[ronnies]

Not sure. I've never had mine apart.

Ronnie