Played Russian Roulette and lost!

[schow]

Yeah, stupid of me, I know. It was a Canon QL 17 GIII in iffy condition, and I got it for 26.00 from Evilbay. So, needless to say I was a little scared. So finally it came in this week. I examined it, replace the battery, and found the meter to be on the fritz. A bad purchase, I thought. But then, I started to play around with the aperture ring, moving it back and forth, and then I saw the meter come to life! Everything seems fine. It seems to be firing properly. I still got to test it out, but I'm feeling good about it.

I let the seller know that the camera was not broken, and with a little tinkering it came to life. I kind of hope he's kicking himself now for letting it go!


We'll see how it works, but, man, I got another one on the way too! Oy!

 

[bmattock]

Well, congrats. I have learned to tinker a bit on cameras by buying 'mint' cameras that did not work at all when I got them. Some I managed to bring back to life, others...well, they won't trouble anyone again. But congrats, sounds like you may have a winner. Now go shoot with it!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[schow]

when I found that the solution was turning the aperture ring back and forth, I seemed to remember it was a common solution for a stuck light meter. Is that just me or has anyone else run across that?

 

[bmattock]

when I found that the solution was turning the aperture ring back and forth, I seemed to remember it was a common solution for a stuck light meter. Is that just me or has anyone else run across that?

I think g-man will tell you that there is a plastic ring in there coated with carbon or something like that - it is designed to change resistance depending on how much distance it has to travel. It gets oxidized, etc, and moving it back and forth can scrape it clean. However, g-man warns against cleaning it, it will remove the carbon altogether. Or perhaps I'm wrong - I'm just trying to recall what g-man says.

In any case - don't trust the meter - they are too often wrong. Or do, but then don't complain when the exposure is way off. Your choice.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks