Help Needed > Once Again - Canonet GIII-QL17

[pradeep1]

Newbie to the forum. Recently went crazy and bought three rangefinders. A known broken Canonet 28 for $14.00. A supposedly great condition Yashica GSN which has a broken shutter - working with eBay seller to get refund. And finally today, my most anticipated camera arrived - a good condition Canonet GIII-QL17.

So I get the camera, put a new 1.5v Zinc Air 675 battery in it with a little aluminum foil to help it out. Check the battery light...it works! Encouraging. The shutter works properly at all speeds. The light meter works as best as I could test it indoors in the dark. The self-timer works. Lens is smooth, viewfinder etc. are clean, foam lightseals are wrecked, but all is as expected.

I leave positive feedback to eBay seller and put my camera away to play with later.

So about five hours later, I take out the camera and the shutter does not go off in automatic mode. Do the check battery and the light does not come on. I take out the battery and reinsert it with a bit more padding, etc. It doesn't work.

Then I peer into the battery compartment and see this (see attached photo - area of concern was selectively brightened) -> The negative terminal point is below the plastic side of the compartment! :bang: :bang: :bang:

I don't know how this happened? I didn't drop or move the camera much since I put the battery in earlier tonight.

I am finding my patience with vintage rangefinders dwindling and all the initial excitement of me doing the Cartier-Bresson style shooting seems like a dream. I am longing to go back to my film SLRs and my digital cameras. They seem more reliable than these rangefinders. 😛 Just kidding.

In any case, if anyone knows how to fix this, let me know. I saw the baseplate can be removed from another thread. I don't have the tiny screwdrivers needed to do that, but I'll get them tomorrow. Is this an easy fix? I am guessing that once I pop back out the negative terminal and fix that, the camera should go back to being okay?

Patience is a virtue. . .

And this will be the last time I buy a camera from a seller on flea-bay. I've been burned or at least not 100% satisfied too many times. Either it will be from an RFF member directly or through their auction...no more trusting non-camera persons.

 

[chendayuan]

Whenever you bought a used camera without warranty, youshould expect to do some work to bring it to a usable condition. you should take the botton plate off and look if any lose screw or bending contact. It should be a easy fix

 

[chendayuan]

Canonet GIII17 wire diagram

 

[r-brian]

When you take the bottom plate off, a small flat spring will pop out. Be prepared. It goes to the battery door. It's easy enough to put back if you know where and how it goes. Attached is another diagram for the Canonet. I hope it's not to large.

Brian

 

[pradeep1]

Thanks guys. I figured it would not be a such a big fix. Just was a little annoyed since so many things I bought on eBay were causing me trouble. Thanks especially for the diagrams - very helpful. Where do you guys find all this stuff? You guys are just old pros at this ... 😉

 

[Sonnar Brian]

"You guys are just old pros at this"

More like, "Just Old". Been giving cameras stupid looks for 30 years to see what is wrong, get lucky, remember how you screw em up worse and what you did the next time to make it better...

With a little patience, cameras come up here for sell fairly often as people trade-up, or just like fixing-up. I won't sell a camera here that I have not shot film through. How many EBay sellers will say that?