Joys and woes of a Canonet Ql 17 newbie

[zimster]

1. I have given up on Walgreens. I went back to show the photos with the stripe and they claimed it was the film--not their error. I was given a fresh roll. When I saw it was generic I threw it out.

2. I am now dealing exclusively with a local camera store in business for 95 years. Each employee I have asked for help has gone out of their way. Yesterday one cleaned the filter and later checked the lens and cleaned that too.

3. I am a watercolor artist and have moved on to taking photos of my paintings wherefore the woes of the Canonet (or rangefinders in general) or a longer learning curve than I expected.

4. My first photos with Walgreens 400 were great taken inside with good color on the red paintings and fair on the mixed color ones and proper exposure but there was 9 inches on the right side of each painting missing (at a distance of 42 inches) i.e. the camera focused 9 inches further to the left than I desired and the right 9 inches of the painting were cut off in the photograph. When I look at my other photos I now see this right shift in all of them--though proportionately more for the landscapes.

5. So on asking my friendly camera store employee (I have spoken with 7 already on six visits) I decided to shoot outside on a cloudy day to get better colors and adjust the camera so I could see 9 inches further left. (again at 42 inches distance which is the distance I get my specific paintings--22 x 30 inches-- to fill the frame).

6. The photos were all overexposed with Fuji Superia 400 but I was still thrilled because I got the paintings to fill the frame. (they were overexposed because I was still using f2, which worked great inside--I am a bit new at this). Outside, next time I will use f5.6 and f8. And I do have a tripod and cable release.

Next time for the paintings I will be using Kodak Portra 400 but first I have to deal with the light meter. I seem to have solved the right shift problem.

Question #1 Is this right shift a rangefinder quirk or my specific camera's quirk? or my vision?

Question #2 It is hard to see the lightmeter. I got a grey card yesterday so I can get the proper exposure on my paintings with their light and dark areas. But I can't get it to work because either the camera or I cast a shadow on the card. Anyway the lightmeter needle (rather a bar) stays on the left whether I am in sun, cast shadow, shade or inside. But in the camera store it works. Is it time to buy a light meter? Can I get an old one from ebay or a flea market?

This is an update written 10 minutes later than the rest of this, without my glasses it is much easier to see. I did set the camera to auto to test the meter and now it is working--it goes all the way from 1.7 to 16 when I move it closer to the light. Is this a battery problem because it doesn't work that often. I have a PX1A 1.5 volt unmodified.

PS I love the excitement of going to the store to pick up my photos. The anticipation of whether I will get something wonderful or dreadful doesn't matter. How all this is lost with a digital where you just erase the bad ones immediately prevents you from learning from your mistakes (plus get a good laugh!).

Thanks for all the feedback and support. Zimster

 

[zimster]

Fell off retaining wall, I am still alive, camera not

Fell off retaining wall, I am still alive, camera not

I was trying out my little Canonet QL 17 for night photos. When changing location moving over a field to the post office parking lot I fell over a hidden retaining wall. The camera bounced twice very hard while hanging on my neck.

The camera bottom is now dented, The light meter and frame have shifted halfway out of sight. It still takes good photos but I don't know what I am looking at.

I was trying to take photos of my artwork and half of the painting is off the frame. I tried compensating today but the shutter now sticks.

This is nine days after owning my first camera. I took it to my camera store, I think the employees were sadder than I.

C'est la vie (d'un camera). One consolation an aunt gave me an Olympus XA2 an hour before my accident but it won't shoot my paintings I was told.

Zimster

 

[zimster]

Thanks to Ebay getting another Canonet QL 17

Thanks to Ebay getting another Canonet QL 17

I won a bid on another Canonet QL 17 tonight. It includes a leather case to protect it next time it bounces on blacktop.

Zimster 🙂

 

[jano]

Reading your post.. it seems you might actually be better off with digital to take pictures of your paintings. Easier to work with. But of course, nothing like film to have some fun with 🙂

 

[John Shriver]

Look at the negatives before you conclude that the camera cut off 9 inches. Many paper formats do not have the same 2:3 aspect ratio as the 24 x 36mm frame on 35mm film. So they have to crop one or both ends to print to the edge of the paper.

Yes, you can use a manual light meter with the Canonet. You can also just try several different exposures with each shot of your picture, this is called "bracketing".