When a "Ex+ Canonet" Goes Bad

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Roger S.

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After dealing with several failed repairs of a Canonet QL-17 GIII from supposedly trained technicians, I decided to just try to get a new one in good condition from Ebay and was willing to pay well above market value (I paid $135) to get a reliable camera as I wanted to use it for work.
I ended up settling on one from a seller with good feedback (hink2u or Ken Hinkle) who even provided a short warranty so I'd know the camera works.

Here's the camera description:
...Enjoy a Vintage Classic camera....this is a quality Canon QL17 GIII with f/1.7 super fast lens...in excellent working condition.....It has been tech checked & cleaned... new light seals installed.... and the viewfinder and lens is CLEAN and fungus free....There are No Dents or Dings.......It looks really good.....Everything works.... and It is ready for your roll of film....So, if you are looking for a nice clean QL17 GIII that works, this is it.....
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http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSAA:US:11&Item=7580791624

The camera arrived and looked quite new. The only niggles I had were that the lens had a lot of play in it (seller assured me it was normal). I noticed that the rewinding was rough, but didn't think much of it until recently, when the winding became very rough. After winding one frame (30 out of a 36 roll) the camera wouldn't shoot any more pictures until I rewound and replaced the roll. I ignored that too until it started happening regularly, and I could feel that the winding mechanism wasn't consistently engaging the film.

I decided to get it repaired, as my fear was it would partially wind a frame and I'd get unwanted double exposure throughout my roll.

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the repair, but I was told that the camera was dirty inside, missing screws (!), with the lens plate falling off, and more. I guess I should be grateful the camera worked at all (and took some decent pictures when it was willing to wind the film- see the attachment, shot on Natura 1600 inside an oil-fired power plant), but I'd encourage others to keep this in mind if you're looking for a "mint" Ebay Canonet in "excellent working condition." The good news is I'll be getting back a truly functional Canonet after the repair, which was the goal all along.

The Ebay ad said
Most of these QL17 cameras will require service before they will operate properly
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so I guess there is some truth in advertising!

I'd be curious to see if others have had similar experiences, or if there are any gem Ebay Canonet sellers. Also, if anyone needs a lens hood for the original Canonet (not GIII), I will send you one for the cost of shipping.
 

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Roger,

Where did you get it serviced? I am in a similar situation. I bought mine on Fred Miranda's site and I consider that I paid a premium for a working model. Most of the ones I have watched on eBay end up going for about $40 or less. Problem is, as good as mine looks, something is wrong with it. Leaf shutter not opening and film not advancing. Out of the my first roll (24), only 6 frames were exposed. The others are totally blank. I am still discussing with the seller about what to do, so hopefully this will have a happy ending.

Michel
 
The seller probably bought it at a garage sale for $5. I never buy off ebay--just reputable online dealers w/ a return policy. Live and learn.
 
Sorry to hear what happened with your camera. I guess I must have lucked out. I Got one off evilbay a couple of weeks ago for about $68 and it's working fine so far. The only problem with it is that the battery check light doesn't work, other than that it's good. The ad had stated that it had a CLA in the last 10 years or so. (still has a camera shop sticker on the film door)
I probably looked at the same camera that you ended up getting. (the sellers page seems familiar) One thing I did was to spend time looking at the feedback of the seller, and look at their "feeback recieved from sellers" and look at any of the items that they recently bought. Some of the Canonet sellers there buy up bargin Canonets off evilbay and clean them up and turn around and re-sell them for a huge profit. Some probably do a good job, and I guess that guy doesn't. ( I see that he has bought 4 Canonets in the past couple of weeks, sold the black one for $100 profit)

I did get burned the first time I tried to get a Canonet off evilbay though. The seller said it was in great shape. When I got the camera the lens and viewfinder were full of fungus. Fortunately they had a return policy, so I sent it back, and ate the cost of shipping.

I hate getting stuff from that place, but sometimes it's hard to find anything anywhere else.
 
I had a similar experience. Paid $72 for a Canonet on eBay that was advertised as "in excellent condition," from someone with zero feedback. When I got it I found the viewfinder was cloudy and the ISO lever was very hard to turn (though the camera otherwise worked fine). I know these things can be fixed, but I wasn't about to try (all thumbs), and I didn't want to shell out even more money for the repairs. So I have just now sold it on eBay -- with an accurate description of its faults -- for almost the same price I paid. Meanwhile, I managed to buy another Canonet on eBay, for $97.60, that was truly excellent, from Jan Dvorak in Vancouver ("doubice"), a vey helpful and knowledgeable seller. I am now a happy camper -- love the camera!
 
The seller probably bought it at a garage sale for $5. I never buy off ebay--just reputable online dealers w/ a return policy. Live and learn.
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Sadly, for Canonets, such sellers are few and far between. I get other equipment from places like Keh.com. I wouldn't mind if a skilled repair person bought junk Canonets, fixed them and resold them in good condition, as it's the misrepresenting of the condition that gets to me.
 
I went through a Canonet "Frenzy" just over a year ago. I came to the conclusion that the only way to get a good one was to get one from a known person or get "don't know if it works= no it doesn't" one in good cosmetic condition and CLA it. Most of the later versions have gone know either through eBay r here and all worked when they went. Just on GIII left and a collection of the larger ones. The one good thing was that it taught me alot about servicing them. I am surprised about Ken Hinkle though, he does normally supply god ones.

Kim
 
Kim Coxon said:
I went through a Canonet "Frenzy" just over a year ago. I came to the conclusion that the only way to get a good one was to get one from a known person or get "don't know if it works= no it doesn't" one in good cosmetic condition and CLA it.
Kim
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Did you service them yourselves or did you find a good source? If you have recommended repair places, can you post them to help others?

Here's where I don't recommend taking one to get fixed:

I first went to KievUSA, in CT, where you'd think they would know how to work on manual cameras as they deal with FSU equipment. After two attempts to fix the Canonet scratching film, I gave up. The second time they bizarrely drilled a hole and inserted a screw that I guess was supposed to push the pressure plate back, but actually just shredded the film as it wound past the protruding screw.

I next went to Steve Serota who used to run a Philly-area large format camera store and sold repaired Canonets on Ebay. I shipped him the camera insured, he claimed to have received and repaired the camera, but I never received the camera and he had no tracking or insurance info and wouldn't refund me my money. Impressive.
 
As I said in the post, it taught me a lot about servicing. I did have some help and friendly advice from my usual camera repairer. The are several guides and how to do it's on this forum if you search for them. If you have any specific questions ask away and I will do my best to answer if the G'man doesn't beat me to it. 🙄

Kim
 
I bought a Yashica GSN on ebay that was described as working. It works but with many faults.


Where do you guys suggest I get a fixed lens rangefinder in good condition?
 
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I'd be interested to get some recommendations on where I can get my GIII CLA'd...

For the most part, it works great. Focus is off ever so slightly, and the viewfinder / patch are just a little foggy. Result is that I've never gotten photos as sharp as many of the examples I've seen here on the site.

GMan - are you still out of the CLA business?
 
[LEFT said:
sockdaddy[/left]]I'd be interested to get some recommendations on where I can get my GIII
CLA'd​
...

For the most part, it works great. Focus is off ever so slightly, and the viewfinder / patch are just a little foggy. Result is that I've never gotten photos as sharp as many of the examples I've seen here on the site.

GMan​
- are you still out of the CLA business?
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Contact Mark Hama.
 
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Try one of the members here. You could try a wanted ad. What sort of thing are you after?

Kim

reub2000 said:
I bought a Yashica GSN on ebay that was described as working. It works but with many faults.


Where do you guys suggest I get a fixed lens rangefinder in good condition?
Click to expand...
 
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