New Canonette QL17-L

[skucera]

I found a QL17 at a thrift store yesterday, but started feeling like I was in the Twilight Zone when I searched the internet last night looking for the user manual. This camera didn't exactly match any of the manual PDF's that I could find, with little differences from the QL17 or the GIII QL17 manuals that I could find.



New Canonette QL17-L by Scott Kucera, on Flickr

I found on the Canon camera museum web site that this camera was another model entirely, a "New Canonette QL17-L" which became the G-III later, with a few thoughtful improvements. I haven't found the manual for it yet, but it is so similar to an G-III that its manual is close enough. Oh, the "L" was for "luxury," but I'm not sure which feature in particular seemed luxurious to the marketing folks at Canon. I have a feeling that the marketing folks in America didn't get it either, which is why it was just marketed here as a QL17, but mysteriously a little smaller than the previous QL17, and with a different battery check function.

My new camera came in really good shape, but missing the front half of its eveready case. Those are rare too (can't find a good one on eBay), but I've seen on historical photos that the earlier leather eveready case was used originally, before switching over to the later ABS and mouse fur case that is on my camera, or part of it is on my camera anyway.

It might be time to clean a thumbprint off the lens, load some film and a fresh Wein battery, and see how well this camera works.

Scott

 

[hlockwood]

"My new camera came in really good shape, but missing the front half of its eveready case. Those are rare too (can't find a good one on eBay), but I've seen on historical photos that the earlier leather eveready case was used originally, before switching over to the later ABS and mouse fur case that is on my camera, or part of it is on my camera anyway."

Scott,

I have an old (complete) Canon QL17 leather case that you are welcome to, for postage. PM me your email address and I'll send you a snap from my phone.
HFL

Edit: Found a manual for it as well. Same deal.

 

[skucera]

Thank you, Harry. I just PM'ed you.

 

[tomken]

Those are nice little rangefinders, what exactly is the difference with the QL17 and QL17 GIII?

I would have loved that leather case for my Canonet...

 

[Dwig]

Those are nice little rangefinders, what exactly is the difference with the QL17 and QL17 GIII?

I would have loved that leather case for my Canonet...

The original QL17 was a Quick Load version of the old larger chassis Canonet series. The second QL-17 was on a a smaller, lighter chassis and is what the OP has. I've always thought of this as the G-II (for Generation 2) because the slightly "improved" next version was branded the G-III (Generation 3 ?).

The slight differences visible to the user were the battery check function (one has a dedicated light and the other uses the meter display needle in the VF) and the "safety hot shoe switch".

This latter feature change was something common across many models and brands. When hot shoes began many photographers were quite shocked (literally) when they discovered that electronic flashes used high trigger voltages. Plugging in an electronic flash to the PC terminal exposed the 300-500v trigger voltage at the hot shoe contacts, not something you would want to brush your nose against. Nikon altered the insulator around the little rear contact behind the rewind knob on the F as a result and many ISO hot shoes evolved to have a switch contact that disabled the center contact unless something was in the shoe to press the switch. Slip in covers for the hot shoe and push in covers on the PC terminals are also the product of this issue and not for any dirt protection issues as all to often stated.

The G-III approached this issue by putting a swinging cover over the PC terminal. Swinging this aside to insert a PC cord disables the hot shoe and without the PC cord the PC terminal is covered so that there is no shock potential when a hot shoe flash is used.

 

[tomken]

The original QL17 was a Quick Load version of the old larger chassis Canonet series. The second QL-17 was on a a smaller, lighter chassis and is what the OP has. I've always thought of this as the G-II (for Generation 2) because the slightly "improved" next version was branded the G-III (Generation 3 ?).

The slight differences visible to the user were the battery check function (one has a dedicated light and the other uses the meter display needle in the VF) and the "safety hot shoe switch".

This latter feature change was something common across many models and brands. When hot shoes began many photographers were quite shocked (literally) when they discovered that electronic flashes used high trigger voltages. Plugging in an electronic flash to the PC terminal exposed the 300-500v trigger voltage at the hot shoe contacts, not something you would want to brush your nose against. Nikon altered the insulator around the little rear contact behind the rewind knob on the F as a result and many ISO hot shoes evolved to have a switch contact that disabled the center contact unless something was in the shoe to press the switch. Slip in covers for the hot shoe and push in covers on the PC terminals are also the product of this issue and not for any dirt protection issues as all to often stated.

The G-III approached this issue by putting a swinging cover over the PC terminal. Swinging this aside to insert a PC cord disables the hot shoe and without the PC cord the PC terminal is covered so that there is no shock potential when a hot shoe flash is used.

I had no idea that hot shoes caused that kind of problems in the past! Also didn't know that the cover of the PC terminal had that kind of a feature. Thanks for the info!

 

[skucera]

I heard it differently from my dad, who pointed out that hot shoes weren't a shock hazard, but the old bulb flashes that first had hot shoe contacts on their bottoms passed the full voltage, or rather amperage, to fire a flash bulb through the contact and the shell. Bridging those contacts with a wet finger would fire the flash bulb and zap the bejeezus out of the unwary photographer. I noticed when replacing the capacitor in my Konica flash cube flash that there was an extra resistor to reduce the signalling voltage through the hot shoe contact, and I bet it was just to reduce this hazard.

I also have a Canolite D electronic flash. I haven't gotten it working yet, but I'd like to. It was one of the first intelligent flashes, in that it used the focus distance to control the flash intensity. Does anyone have a schematic for this thing? Its capacitors and resistors aren't marked in the usual (modern US) way. I've had it open, but its design puzzled me so I closed it back up without making any changes.

Scott

 

[ronnies]

I heard it differently from my dad, who pointed out that hot shoes weren't a shock hazard, but the old bulb flashes that first had hot shoe contacts on their bottoms passed the full voltage, or rather amperage, to fire a flash bulb through the contact and the shell. Bridging those contacts with a wet finger would fire the flash bulb and zap the bejeezus out of the unwary photographer. I noticed when replacing the capacitor in my Konica flash cube flash that there was an extra resistor to reduce the signalling voltage through the hot shoe contact, and I bet it was just to reduce this hazard.

I also have a Canolite D electronic flash. I haven't gotten it working yet, but I'd like to. It was one of the first intelligent flashes, in that it used the focus distance to control the flash intensity. Does anyone have a schematic for this thing? Its capacitors and resistors aren't marked in the usual (modern US) way. I've had it open, but its design puzzled me so I closed it back up without making any changes.

Scott

It doesn't vary the flash output but varies the aperture used based on focused distance.

Ronnie

 

[splitimageview]

I heard it differently from my dad, who pointed out that hot shoes weren't a shock hazard

I remember attaching a Vivitar to the hot shoe of a camera while sitting on a couch when I was a teenager in the 70s...next thing I knew, I was on the floor with a burn on my hand. Definitely a shock hazard!

 

[Dwig]

The old BC style (Battery-Capacitor) flash guns could produce a voltage spike adequate to give the errant finger a tingle, but it is the old xenon flash tube electronic flash units that were the one that could produce a significant electrical shock. Until the advent of the low voltage trigger circuits (~ late 1970s to mid 1980s), electronic flashes exposed a 300-500v potential across the trigger contacts. Cameras with both a hot shoe and a PC terminal were shock hazards unless there was some isolation switch (in the shoe or in a cover over the PC terminal) or one of the two was kept covered.

At first, covers were introduced and a little later camera models adapted and added an isolation switch, usually in the hot shoe. These were implemented by putting a small switch under top cover actuated by a pin that was presses by the leaf spring in the shoe when a flash foot was inserted.

The usual approach was to have this switch turn on the hot shoe contact and leave the PC live. This did pose a slight shock hazard at the PC terminal, but allowed a shoe mounted flash without a hot foot to connect via the PC terminal. The cameras often, but not always, shipped with some sort of cover or plug on the PC terminal which many users never removed. These hot shoe switches were a source of problems. I took in a number of cameras with faulty switches needing service back in the years that I ran camera shops.