gordon_yee

Brian, your Vivitar 200 will work with your Canonet QL17 and any other film camera with a cold shoe. All you need is the proper PC cord as shown in the manual: vivitar_200.pdf (cameramanuals.org) The pointed end plugs into the socket at the bottom of the left side of the flash, just to the right of the serial number. The other end plugs into the socket on the front face of the camera under the viewfinder/rangefinder window (i.e., rewind side). I should have an extra PC cord. Send me a private message with your mailing address and I'll send one to you. The Vivitar 200 is an old model that pre-dates cameras with electronic components and probably has a high trigger voltage. When a camera's shutter triggers the flash, a current is sent through the camera's circuitry. A high voltage could potentially damage a camera's computer chips and electronics. Early generations of electronic cameras, such as the Canon A series and your EOS 650 may not experience problems. I would not use your Vivitar 200 on a newer electronic film camera and definitely not on any digital camera.

The center of the accessory shoe on your Canonet 28 has a round contact surrounded by a black insulator. This mates with the contact on your Vivitar flash, inserting it into the camera's circuitry, making it a "hot shoe". When you press the shutter, the camera closes the circuit and triggers the flash. The accessory shoe of your QL17 does not have this insulated contact, which means that your flash makes no connection to the camera's circuitry when it's mounted to this "cold shoe". The only way to insert a flash into your QL17's circuitry is to use a PC cord. If you look at page 21 of the Canonet QL17 manual, you'll see how a flash unit must be attached in order to work with your QL17. A hot shoe on a camera merely eliminates the need for the cord, essentially putting the cord inside the camera. Brian, what's the model number of your Vivitar flash? If it has a socket for a PC sync cord, it'll work on your QL17. Here's a link to a site with scans of Vivitar flash manuals: Vivitar 2800, Vivitar 3300, Vivitar 252, 728, 225, 365 flash unit instruction manual, user manual, PDF manual (butkus.org) What other flash units do you have?

Here's another adapter with an integral PC cord: Impact SCS-MPC PC Male to Hot Shoe Sync Cord (12") SCS-MPC B&H (bhphotovideo.com)

Brian, what flash units do you have currently? If any of them can accept a PC sync cord, they'll work with your Canonet. I have a bunch of spare cords and I can send a couple to you. Here's a link to a scan of the manual for your camera: canon_canonet_ql17.pdf (cameramanuals.org) This is the earliest version that uses the larger mercury battery.

Your Canonet QL17 is the first generation, full-sized model introduced in 1965: Canonet QL17 - Canon Camera Museum (global.canon) Yours should have a 45mm lens. Flash sync requires a PC cord. There were sub-versions of the first generation QL17 with different markings. Early ones used a larger 1.3V mercury battery (PX-1?) while later ones used a PX-13/PX-625 button. A hot shoe and the contacts for the Canolite D flash were added on the second generation QL17 ("New Canonet") in 1969. It was a total redesign, more compact in size and with a 40mm lens: New Canonet QL17/QL17-L - Canon Camera Museum (global.canon) The GIII, or third generation model, was a New Canonet with some improvements: Canonet G-III 17 - Canon Camera Museum (global.canon) Introduced in 1972, early GIIIs were made in Japan. Most later ones were made in Taiwan. A Canonet 28 with a hot shoe would be contemporary with the downsized gen2 or GIII models.

Jim, I noticed that your F-1 is a very early one. You're probably aware that upgraded parts were recommended in order to use the MF with F-1s with serial numbers under 200000. Attached is a scan from The Camera Craftsman that details the changes.

Took a second, closer look. Minolta SR looks more likely.

The three lugs of the Minolta SR bayonet mount are roughly the same length. On the Konica F (as well as the later, incompatible Konica AR) mount, one lug is significantly longer than the other two. SLR Lens Mount Identification Guide by Richard Oleson - Vintagelens Konica Collector - Lense Bayonet Classification (konica-collector.org)

Perhaps the Konica F mount of 1960?

<CPO> and <EP> markings generally indicate items purchased by military personnel from post exchanges: Post Exchange - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia

Also, look for a Speedlite 200E if you want a small dedicated flash when the 300EZ is too much.

Are you sure the flash was off on one shot? If the capacitors were charged, the flash would still discharge when tripped by the camera. The programmed exposure selected by the camera's meter would have resulted in underexposure of your dog's white coat, as indicated in the dark bands. The extra light from the flash essentially resulted in "overexposure" of your subject (think "fill flash"). Had your dog been black, the shot would have been truly overexposed.

Had I known you were just a seller trolling for the value of your camera I wouldn't have wasted my time.

@Collector-20 - This wouldn't happen to be you, would it? Rare Film Camera Giorgio Moretti F.A.F. Acies the Only One on Ebay. | eBay

Reply deleted. Sorry, I just realized the link I posted was to the OP's own article on this camera.