I'm joining the club!

[Rey]

Hello,

I just picked up a nice QL17 GIII at the local thrift store. It's in pretty good condition and It came with a working Canonlite flash. I've wanted one of these for a few years so I'm quite happy. When I put one of the criscam adapters in the camera the battery check light quit working, I'm not sure what happened there? But anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself to the rest of the Canonette club. And by the way, the build quality on these cameras is amazing!

 

[Austintatious]

Hi Rey, and welcome!

I have one of them also and its a great camera. You will enjoy it a lot.
So many cameras, so little time!
Nice area you live in, my brother works at the LANL & lives in White Rock.

Charles

 

[JoeFriday]

welcome to the Canonet Club, Rey.. most of us are now, or have been, members 🙂

 

[leica M2 fan]

Rey, Welcome

Rey, Welcome

You'll really like the Canon once you get everything sorted out. It is a truly wonderful camera. I love the 40mm lens and the viewfinder, it is my go to camera especially when I want small and portable. The pictures are superb!
Can you tell I really like it? 😀

 

[dmr]

I just wanted to introduce myself to the rest of the Canonette club. And by the way, the build quality on these cameras is amazing!

Congratulations and welcome to the club. 🙂 I'm glad the gang here talked me into getting one a while back. I'm sure you will like it.

 

[Rey]

Thanks everyone for the kind welcome. I've loaded the camera with acros and I have shot a couple of frames with the flash as a test. Works great. My only concern is the battery test light. It worked fine before I put the battery adapter in, but now it won't light up. Either it burnt out, or, possibly, the camera has been modified to accept 1.5v batteries? If thats the case the adapter will not provide sufficient voltage. Anyone else seen this problem? I'll try replacing the 1.5v batteries today to check if the light works again.

 

[JoeFriday]

honestly, I never checked to see if my 'check battery' light works.. I just put the camera on "auto" and point it around to see if the meter needle moves

 

[Rey]

It's probably fine. I just want to avoid underexposing a whole roll if I can.

 

[BrianShaw]

The battery test light WILL NOT WORK when using a Criscam (or similar) voltage converter. The meter will, however, work correctly (as long as the battery lasts).

 

[Rey]

Brian,

Thank you! I was just about to post another thread about this. I replaced the 1.5v battery and the meter light worked fine. From this, I assumed that the camera had been modified to accept 1.5v batteries. But I guess that is not the case. Anyone know why the battery light does not work with the adapter? Just curious!

Rey

 

[anirbax]

Hello Rey,

The Chriscam adapter is probably just a resistor, that gets added in series with the rest of the meter circuit. The current with the resistor is too low to light up the battery check light. I'd also be wary of using alkaline batteries with the adapter, only the silver oxide ones are good with a resistive adapter.

Anirban

 

[Rey]

Hi Anirban,

I guess that it really isn't an issue, but, if the battery light measures the circuit voltage in order to monitor a low battery, and the adapter resistor lowers the voltage so that the battery light dosen't work, then wouldn't the voltage be too low for the camera to funtion properly (i.e. proper exposure)? My guess is that the battery light draws power from a connection somewhere else in the battery chamber, which the adapter doesn't contact properly. This is just curiosity. Oh, and I do use silver oxide with the adapter, thanks.

 

[BrianShaw]

The Chriscam adapter is probably just a resistor, that gets added in series with the rest of the meter circuit.

I recall reading several places that all of these adapters use diodes to step down the voltage.

p.s. if you search the RFF archives I beleive that you will find a post by Greyhoundman (I think) explaining how these work and why the battery test light doesn't work. My recollection is like anirbx says: the current after the diode voltage drop is sufficient to power the circuit but not enough to illuminate the battery test bulb. But do the search... don't trust my memory!

 

[Rey]

Thanks Brian,


I just found this in an archived post by John Neal:

"The voltage will be near enough the same on all adapters, it's the current carrying capacity of the diode that matters ...The capacity of the Cris device is measured in micoamps (uA) as he uses a surface mount diode that is both tiny and unable to carry high currents. ...The test circuit in a GIII QL17 needs to draw something over 150mA in order for the bulb to light - far higher than the Cris device can deliver. His adapter is very well made and will run the shutter OK, it just won't light the lamp."

So that explains it. My curiosity is satiated!