mstevenson
Member
Howdy,
I've been lurking here for what seems like ages, and just decided to join after purchasing and getting my first roll of film from my new to me QL17 GIII!
I have been ineterested in RF's for a while now, but purchasing from ebay turned me off. I "played" with different cameras every chance that I got at various camera stores, thrift stores, and pawn shops. I found an Olympus SP that I just fell in love with, but the shop was asking $200 (!), I found a Leica III, but considering the condition the shop was asking wayyyy too much at $325, I "played" with a QL17 about a month ago at a pawn shop and almost bought it, except for the bad seals and a rangefinder that seemed to be off by quite a bit.. and at $100 I'm glad I let that "deal" go..
I was sure I was going to order a nice FSU camera (had my eye on Zorki 1, Kiev 4, and Zorki 6) from Fedka. Come to think of it I'm sure I will still order a Zorki 1 and/or Kiev 4 from Fedka, but in the mean time I found a really nice Ricoh 500G at a local camera shop. The salesperson was even kind enough to throw in a lense cap and a 1.4v zinc air battery.. that was until I spotted the Canonet in the SLR display case.
This particular QL17 GIII had just come back from an outsourced CLA (according to the salesman) and had the price tag with CLA written on it to prove it! The camera felt really good in my hands, and I asked him to give me a 1.55v 625 replacement to test it. It worked, so I rolled the dice and took it home for $69 including the new battery, strap, and an ill fitting 49mm lens cap.
I played with the camera w/o film quite a bit last night. It is beautiful with very few bright marks, and some extremely light superficial scratches. It feels great in my hands, and even my wife remarked that it felt "solid" (she is NOT a camera buff). It seemed that the RF was out of alignment since the RF spot did not move between 2.6 and 5', but the parralax lines did. I went about my business for a while, and when I came back to the camera it was fine.. maybe I'm just nuts.
I tested the meter (using the 1.55v battery) against my SLR today, and in medium to dark conditions it was right on. In bright light it seemed to be over by about 1 stop. I tested it with a roll of XP2 Super anyway. The results are fantastic!! Sharp, nice bokeh, and I can get nicely exposed shots indoors that I could never have gotten before. Of course, XP2 is very tolerant film, so....
Anyway, I can definetely say that I am ecstatic with the camera, and thoroughly addicted to RF's. I love the quality of the images that I got from this test roll. Please take a look!!!
Keep in mind that the pics are scanned with a cheap all in one scanner/print/fax of suspect quality. I am in the process of selling internal organs so I can get a nice film scanner.
Michael
I've been lurking here for what seems like ages, and just decided to join after purchasing and getting my first roll of film from my new to me QL17 GIII!
I have been ineterested in RF's for a while now, but purchasing from ebay turned me off. I "played" with different cameras every chance that I got at various camera stores, thrift stores, and pawn shops. I found an Olympus SP that I just fell in love with, but the shop was asking $200 (!), I found a Leica III, but considering the condition the shop was asking wayyyy too much at $325, I "played" with a QL17 about a month ago at a pawn shop and almost bought it, except for the bad seals and a rangefinder that seemed to be off by quite a bit.. and at $100 I'm glad I let that "deal" go..
I was sure I was going to order a nice FSU camera (had my eye on Zorki 1, Kiev 4, and Zorki 6) from Fedka. Come to think of it I'm sure I will still order a Zorki 1 and/or Kiev 4 from Fedka, but in the mean time I found a really nice Ricoh 500G at a local camera shop. The salesperson was even kind enough to throw in a lense cap and a 1.4v zinc air battery.. that was until I spotted the Canonet in the SLR display case.
This particular QL17 GIII had just come back from an outsourced CLA (according to the salesman) and had the price tag with CLA written on it to prove it! The camera felt really good in my hands, and I asked him to give me a 1.55v 625 replacement to test it. It worked, so I rolled the dice and took it home for $69 including the new battery, strap, and an ill fitting 49mm lens cap.
I played with the camera w/o film quite a bit last night. It is beautiful with very few bright marks, and some extremely light superficial scratches. It feels great in my hands, and even my wife remarked that it felt "solid" (she is NOT a camera buff). It seemed that the RF was out of alignment since the RF spot did not move between 2.6 and 5', but the parralax lines did. I went about my business for a while, and when I came back to the camera it was fine.. maybe I'm just nuts.
I tested the meter (using the 1.55v battery) against my SLR today, and in medium to dark conditions it was right on. In bright light it seemed to be over by about 1 stop. I tested it with a roll of XP2 Super anyway. The results are fantastic!! Sharp, nice bokeh, and I can get nicely exposed shots indoors that I could never have gotten before. Of course, XP2 is very tolerant film, so....
Anyway, I can definetely say that I am ecstatic with the camera, and thoroughly addicted to RF's. I love the quality of the images that I got from this test roll. Please take a look!!!
Keep in mind that the pics are scanned with a cheap all in one scanner/print/fax of suspect quality. I am in the process of selling internal organs so I can get a nice film scanner.
Michael
