QL GIII or No GIII - What's the difference

[Windscale]

I am new to this site. As I am getting on a bit, my strength and eyesight are beginning to betray me. The Leica M3 system is too heavy. So I began to venture into the RF market hoping to find something good and light. I got a Minolta 7SII. This is light and sharp but the yellow spot focusing is really testing my eyesight. I also got a Werra. The Tessar lens is very sharp but it is a bit on the heavy side.

Another camera in my shortlist is the QL17 or 19. Please help me by letting me know what's the difference between those with GIII and those without.

I am looking for something that is light, sharp, fully manual with 40-50 mm lens and needs no batteries to fire the shutter. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[kuzano]

I am new to this site. As I am getting on a bit, my strength and eyesight are beginning to betray me. The Leica M3 system is too heavy. So I began to venture into the RF market hoping to find something good and light. I got a Minolta 7SII. This is light and sharp but the yellow spot focusing is really testing my eyesight. I also got a Werra. The Tessar lens is very sharp but it is a bit on the heavy side.

Another camera in my shortlist is the QL17 or 19. Please help me by letting me know what's the difference between those with GIII and those without.

I am looking for something that is light, sharp, fully manual with 40-50 mm lens and needs no batteries to fire the shutter. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

I seem to recall it has something to do with the battery check button... fairly superficial. Go to the review on Steve Gandy's CameraQuest.

The Canon GIII is not all that light by small rangefinder comparison, but is very well built. However, I don't know what you mean by Werra Heavy.

http://www.cameraquest.com/canql17.htm

 

[Windscale]

Thanks.

I am looking for something about the weight of the Minolta 7SII. The Werra is a little bit heavier by comparison though just bearable. On initial comparison, the Werra beats the Minolta by a whisker. But I have to do more shots on slides to be convinced. As the Canon 17 has a famous lens, I would like to have one to compare alongside.

I also have a Rollei 35 with Tessar. But I am not too good at guessing focusing distances. I would like easy and precise focusing.

Any suggestions?

 

[robbo]

How about an Olympus 35RC? It uses a small battery, but then so does the Canon you mention.

 

[zuikologist]

Windscale. welcome to the forum. The Canonet GIII and Vivitar 35ES (a close clone of the Minolta) are almost exactly the same weight at around 620g.

Links to weights etc can be found here:

http://www.mattdentonphoto.com/cameras/rangefinders.html


Would a Leica CL be suitable (not sure of its battery dependency)?

 

[zuikologist]

How about an Olympus 35RC? It uses a small battery, but then so does the Canon you mention.

According to Matt Denton, the RC is 410g - much lighter. The viewfinder is good too.

 

[f/stopblues]

You mentioned both an M3 and a Canonet so I'm not quite sure where your budget is. However, if it allows you should check out any of the Bessa R cameras. The viewfinders are worlds away from the compact RF's. You could probably find an R or R2 for a reasonable price and add a 40 or 50mm of your choice.

If you do go the compact RF route, the condition of the viewfinder is hit and miss. I recent VF cleaning or full CLA is best, but some of them aren't so hard to clean. I have a Canonet QL17 (non G-III) and after some web research it was easy to swab the viewfinder and it made a big difference.

By the way, the QL19 doesn't have full-manual capability. That was a deal breaker for me. The QL17 and QL17 G-III, plus the Oly 35RC can all be used full manual. Stephen Gandy's page will give you the skinny.

 

[dmr]

Didn't the non-GIII QL17 have a slightly longer (47mm?) lens?

I know both of my GIIIs have 40mm.

 

[Kim Coxon]

There are 3 versions of the QL17 (and a Canonet 17). The first ones were about the size of the Konica S2 and had a 45mm lens. The "new" Canonet QL17 is identical to the GIII model in size and spec. The only real difference was the addition of batt check light (in the new moderl, you used the meter neddle to check the battery). There was also a QL19 bersion of all 3. The fdifference being they had a 1.9 lens which remained 45mm throughout which some prefer. They also lacked the batt check function. Manuals for all of them here http://pentax-manuals.com/manuals/range/range.htm

 

[Windscale]

Thank you for all your expert advice. I will start looking at Canon QL17, with and without GIII. The battery chaeck function is useless to me as, having used my Leica M3 system for so long, I always use a handheld lightmeter (Sekonic 308S). What I need is something light, good lens fully manual with no batts needed. I will also look at the Olympus RC.

Any more suggestions will be appreciated.