Is it Canon G-III QL or Canonet QL17?

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paulfish4570

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I visited my dad today for Thanksgiving. I asked him if he still had that Canon 35mm he had 30 years ago. He said sure, and asked if I wanted it, and I said sure. (This was while I was shooting photos of him; he is 82 and in very poor cardio-vascular health; I wanted a record of him as he is now.)
I ended up with two: his and that of his wife.
One of them seems to be working perfectly except for the meter and A. Shutter speeds seem correct, and the aperture seems to be moving perfectly.
The other one's shutter will not fire. Both have gummy seals and seal litter inside, but are pristine otherwise inside.
Anyhow, how are these rascals known? I'll be looking for seals for both, and maybe a CLA for the one that is not operating. I know they have good glass and are excellent picture-takers. Is a CLA worth it for the one? I can handle seals ...
 
The GIII is quite nice. They have a good reputation and I think it is well deserved. Of the compact rangefinders, I think it had one of the beat finders; big and clear. It also has a nice bit of weight to it.

Normally I don't know if I'd pay for a CLA on one - there are a lot of them around in decent condition. Different case here as it has family ties. I haven't used the older model so I can't comment on it but the GIII is worth it. It's also nice to have a something with optional auto exposure every now and then.
 
That's a treasure for sure. My dad gave me his QL17. This was an earlier (1965) model, larger, heavier, with a 45mm F1.7 instead of the 40mm F1.7. This camera took many rolls of film of our family for most of three decades. It's got a foggy viewfinder, and the meter looks jerky; otherwise, it seems mechanically fine. I plan to have it overhauled one of these years, and the meter adjusted to use 1.55v batteries.
 
Canonet QL17 Canon GIII QL

Canonet QL17 Canon GIII QL

A) Canonet (model)
B) QL17... for Quick Load feature and 1.7 lens
C) Canon ... OEM MFR
D) GIII .... latest model
E) QL ... again for Quick Load which appeared on many other Canons of the era, including some SLR models. It's the mechanism that springs out of the back of the camera and catches the film leader and auto loads it upon closing the camera and winding on.

1.2 million sold over a ten year period. Yes, I would never CLA one (except a black model), since most of them have all functions working and usually only need a light seal kit. Many that do not appear to work will free up with exercise...(a few hours of sitting in front of the TV, working the mechanism--not on A--), or perhaps a light ronsonol flush.

This is the web page I link to for third party referral when I sell one of these models on eBay... usually a half dozen a year.

http://cameraquest.com/canql17.htm

Look familiar to anyone here??
 
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Thanks, Kuzano.
By the way, I messed some more with good G-III last night, and learned the meter/A still is working, and appears to do so correctly. I checked the meter against known light values in our front at ASA400. Seems right on ... 🙂
 
Nice camera. I have the other GIII QL19, the 45mm 1.9 that came from my uncle in new york. I do full manual on it and got decent pictures without any CLA whatsoever. Goodluck on yours.
 
They are good cameras for sure. You might check Brian Sweeney's forum. I think there were a couple of threads where he and somebody else showed how to CLA these cameras. It didn't look so easy, but not impossible either. Remember these originally used mercury batteries, so you either need weins or neet to get it adjusted for the newer batteries. I have one of each.
 
There are interesting little cameras. The only difference between the GIII and the non-GIII camera is the lens coatings and battery test function, otherwise they are the same. There are no real quirks to worry about, the only problems I occasional come across are inaccurate shutter speeds when shooting at 1/8 sec or slower.

I also sell quite a few of these on eBay (one or two per week or so), they are quite popular nowadays. I've got a black one for sale now, and have a couple more on the way,
 
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