QL17 GIII questions

[dmr]

and the light meter only works in the A position..
my question is to whether this is problem than can be fixed? or is it part of the initial design?

I thought of this too when I got mine, and I investigated it and sought help of an electronics geek friend.

The big thing is that the metering circuit is only coupled to the shutter speed ring, compensated by the ASA/ISO slider thing. It's not coupled at all to the aperture ring except for an on/off switch thing and it would be a major engineering and machine shop project to do this. It would involve the fitting of a variable resistance and slider into the all-metal aperture ring assembly. Not practical.

From my perspective the two main shortcomings of this camera are the ASA/ISO 800 limit (which I was able to fix) and the lack of a match-needle exposure metering mode, which I lack the talent, equipment, time and money to fix. 🙂

Overall it's a very nice little camera with a great lens.

The lens does show an amount of astigmatism when wide open, something that bit me again this past weekend on a scene I was sure would be the "money shot" of the session! 🙁

 

[jespin00]

Great, thanks for the response guys.
I find that the more I play around with my first rangefinder, the more i have questions...
It is quite different from my Canon AE-1 Program and it still is taking time to get used to it.
I was wondering what people with this particular camera did to solve the 800 ISO limit? I do want to shoot with neopan 1600... but the meter may mess things up.
especially because of the discontinued battery voltage.
so really. i think i'll take it to my local camera store and see if they can help me out.
but yeah....
any suggestions?

 

[dmr]

I was wondering what people with this particular camera did to solve the 800 ISO limit? I do want to shoot with neopan 1600... but the meter may mess things up.

Let me find the original item on this. I'll edit this post with the link.

Edit: Here's the thread:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25305

especially because of the discontinued battery voltage.
so really. i think i'll take it to my local camera store and see if they can help me out.

There are so many opinions and work-arounds for the battery issue that you could write a book on the subject. The re-cal for 1600 addresses this as well.

 

[januaryman]

Yeah these are great cameras - what a lens! Just remember if you leave it on "A" the meter is active, so cap it, deselect "A" or store it in your bag when not in use - otherwise the battery will drain quickly.

That's odd. I leave mine on "A" all the time, lens cap on and batteries have lasted more than a year.

If the camera's only pulling juice from the battery when you A) press the test button or B) partially depress the shutter release, why would you be draining it just by keeping the setting on A? Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[Spyderman]

It's pulling juice when the needle is moving, not just when you depress shutter button. But if you leave the cap on, the CdS sensor has high resistance and only a very small current flows through...

 

[myoptic3]

Sounds like a neat camera, although I usually prefer a longer lens. I'm glad to see some of these great affordable RF cameras being discussed. I was noticing recently that many of the posts and most of the stuff for sale is really expensive gear....Leicas, Zeizz Ikons, RD-1's, etc. It's good to remember that the lesser priced cameras perform quite well as long as you can get used to using a fixed lens. One of my favorite cameras was a Konica C35, and I would use bigdog's method of focusing on my victim (subject), then quickly point the camera at something less bright if they were back lit, depress the shutter button halfway, recompose and shoot. It sounds like it takes much longer than it actually takes. You can do it very quickly, w/ the added benefit that your subject won't be paying any attention to you when you have the camera pointed somewhere else, then you can point the camera at them in a flash and get the shot.

 

[fbf]

Just got my first roll of slide back. So far, I really enjoy shooting with the GIII QL17. It's a handy, solid piece. The meter functions well and it agree with my handheld within 1/3 stop variance. I am really glad I find such a nice pocket size MF camera.

 

[dmr]

It's pulling juice when the needle is moving, not just when you depress shutter button. But if you leave the cap on, the CdS sensor has high resistance and only a very small current flows through...

I try to be good and turn it off of A when I'm not using it, but often I forget, and I've had the batteries last well over a year.

However, I found out the hard way that when the battery dies, it can die very quickly without warning! Normal operation, then very dead!

Last fall I was shooting Kodachrome in the afternoon, good exposures consistently with normal meter movement. Then in the early evening it died! No battery check light, no meter movement pointing into a light, no "taste test", no nothing, dead, mort, bought the farm, totally, no warning at all!

 

[Spyderman]

One word of warning about leavint the camera on A when you're not shooting:

On "A" there is this feature preventing you to take picture when you're in the red zone of exposure meter. If you leave the camera on "A" and just toss it in your bag (a dark place), and if something (in the bag) is pressing on the shutter release against the shutter blockage then some linkages inside can be bent! Seriously.

The advice is obvious: don't leave it on "A" when you throw it in the bag...

 

[Sonnar Brian]

> That's odd. I leave mine on "A" all the time, lens cap on and batteries have lasted more than a year.

A year or so is about right if leaving it on "A" all the time. I turn mine to manual when not in use. I have several Mercury Cell batteries that are 20 years old that still work.

 

[januaryman]

Well, I would turn it off "A" if I could trust my feeble brain to remember to switch it back when I use it. With "old timer's" disease it's all I can do to remember to wind my FSUs after every shot before switching shutter speed. Thanks for the advise, nonetheless. As Johnny Carson used to say, "I did not know that."

 

[tritiated]

I am ashamed (think Jaques the langoustine - Finding Nemo)
I did not know that my camera had an exposure lock with half depressed shutter release. I have been doing far too much unnecessary thinking!
Would it (exposure lock) still work with a softrelease attatched?
The aperture ring is relatively stiff on my camera.

 

[dmr]

Would it (exposure lock) still work with a softrelease attatched?
The aperture ring is relatively stiff on my camera.

Yes, exposure lock works fine with the soft release.