Just become a Canon guy!

[vladhed]

My first Canon

My first Canon

Seems to be the week for QL-17 acquisitions. I got just a chrome Canonet QL-17 (not G-III) with the flash off a guy at work for 15$ Canadian. The battery is dead - what do you all use?

According to Karen Nakamura's report on the Canonet QL17 GIII:

Canon engineers did the Right Thing™ and made the circuitry voltage compensating...you can use a standard alkaline PX625A battery which you can buy at most larger drugstores or a LR/SR44 battery with liberal amounts of tin foil

.

Is this true of the QL-17 as well as the G-III QL-17?

 

[sfaust]

The QL17 GIII I have had a PX625 Alkaline battery in it when I received it. The meter appears to be accurate, but it could just be at that sweet spot in the discharge curve and may later start reading incorrectly as the voltage drops. I'll actually put it on a meter tonight and check if anyone happens to know the average load I should use.

It was recommended to me to get the Wein cell MRB625 battery for the QL17s, one of which I have here in my hot little hands. I'll install it in the camera once the current alkaline starts reading incorrectly.

Can anyone else recommend alternatives, or is the Wein the best choice? Since I also shoot slides, accuracy is at the top of the list over cost, duration, etc.

 

[back alley]

i use the alkaline version w/ b&w film - so far all is well.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

For all of the new owners of Canonets: Do not forget that moving the aperture off of "A" turns off the meter and saves the battery. This is not true of the WEIN zinc-air battery which always discharges after breaking the air seals. ALSO if you see any PX14 batteries at photo shows pick them up; they are really two PX13 (PX625 equal) wrapped in cardboard. I bought 5 PX14's for $3 that way. Got the "You have a camera that uses those?"

 

[vladhed]

new family member...

new family member...

Okay, so there's my Canonet picture, with brother Nikon FE and bubba Zorki...

BTW, popped the mercury HD625 battery out of my Sekonic light meter into the Canonet (just fit) and it seems to be working just fine. Now it off "A" in the case (thanks Brian).

 

[vladhed]

Re: My first Canon

Re: My first Canon

Is this true of the QL-17 as well as the G-III QL-17?

My experiments with a Silver Oxide battery and a bit of aluminum foil shows otherwise:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14859#post14859

 

[Russ]

[

It was recommended to me to get the Wein cell MRB625 battery for the QL17s, one of which I have here in my hot little hands. I'll install it in the camera once the current alkaline starts reading incorrectly.

Can anyone else recommend alternatives, or is the Wein the best choice? Since I also shoot slides, accuracy is at the top of the list over cost, duration, etc. [/B]

Faust

I put a Wein cell, in mine about 3 months ago, and it's still going strong. I am down to one "mercury" cell left. I do plan on having it recalibrated to accept the silver oxide 1.55v batteries though. The very small Duracell "hearing aid" battery in my Viv ES just died after 3 months, but at $6.00 for six of them, no big deal. As I said, the Wein Cell in my Canon GIII QL-17, is still going strong. However, I do carry a couple of spares. The resulting readings and exposures are spot on.

Russ

 

[Russ]

Re: My first Canon

Re: My first Canon

According to Karen Nakamura's report on the Canonet QL17 GIII:

.

Is this true of the QL-17 as well as the G-III QL-17? [/B]

I was told by two different camera repair techs, that this is not true. It does not automatically adjust or compensate for batteries of a different voltage. I too, got excited when I read that. Too good to be true, I suppose...

Russ

 

[vladhed]

test roll...

test roll...

I shot a test roll through my (non-GIII) QL17 and I am suitably impressed with the performance of the 40mm lens.
1) I find this a nice focal length to work with, there's more room to work with than a 50mm, but the perspective is more natural than a 28, or even a 35 mm lens
2) It's at least sharper than my scanner can scan.
3) The lens is sharp at f/1.7, though not too hard, with little depth of field - which is a nice change from using my digital P&S. Also the RF seems to be spot on (see attached)

As for the meter, I found that all the low-light shots were underexposed by at least 1 stop. I guess that maybe part of the GIII improvements. I'll just have to remember to shoot manually indoor - it's too bad you can't tell what apeture you've set without taking your eye off the viewfinder.

The dedicated flash unit is a cute piece of analog electronic design! Not only does the apeture automatically change according to focus distance, but also as the flash charges more!