Canonet G-III 17 Questions

I have recently aquired a Canonet G-III 17 in reasonably good

condition. i have looked over it and the seals seem okay, the

shutter and aperatures seem okay, from a casual look over, and the

viewfinder seems okay as well. The lens looks like some of the

coating has been worn away by over entusiastic cleaning but I'm not

too worried about that at the moment.<br><br>

From what I have been able to gather from this forum and a few

others I should be able to clean the viewfinder (and the rest of the

camera for that matter) and end up with a usable camera.<br><br>

I found a thread on cleaning the viewfinder here: <a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?

msg_id=000lPb">http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?

msg_id=000lPb</a>

<br><br>

The only problem is that the battery in it is dead! I don't want to

spend a fortune on the camera and I was wodering if anyone knows of

somewhere where I can purchase the right 625 1.35v battery here in

the UK.

<br><br>

All I have been able to find are 1.5v replacements and an adaptor

for a smaller battery that costs almost as much as the camera is

probably worth.<br><br>

Any suggestions will be welcome. And any canonet users with tips and

advice please let me know as this is my first range-finder camera!

Try to find a 1.35V Wein Cell (that's the brand). They are zinc-air batteries so they won't last as long as the original Mercury ones but you don't have to worry about expensive adapters (M-9) or batteries that don't provide the correct voltage. You can also find these things just about anywhere including any major camera shop (even Ritz had them here in the states). I just put one of these in my GIII and have been satisfied so far. If you aren't going to be using the battery for a long period of time, tape off the holes to prevent it from draining itself.

 

Not too many tips about this camera, that I can think of. It's a fun little thing. I keep mine in the original (although crappy) never-ready case bottom. I dremelled the rivet off so there's not a top getting in the way all the time. This keep the back from popping open for any reason. If you do need to replace the seal, rubbing alcohol and toothpicks take off the old one nicely and you should be able to purchase cheap "Foamies" that you can cut and glue in place. They are 2mm thick 8x10" sheets of rubber and seem to work well. A lot of other information on these repairs are available online. Just do a google search and you should be all set.

I bought a QL17 last year, changed the light seals and cleaned the viewfinder and the lens. I use it now very often , nice to shoot with, and good photo quality.

 

Cleaning the viewfinder is easy but dont insist on cleaning glasses, they can be scratched easily, clean smoothly.

Cleaning the lens was more difficult cause some special tools are needed, I managed to do these tools myself on a lathe.

 

For the battery, dont bother yourself with adaptors. After the mercury cell was empty I use now silver-oxude cell SR44 or equivalent, it is about 1.55 V , the voltage remain quite constant over the life time of the cell. The alkaline cells have their voltage that decreases when the cell is getting "empty".

You can the SR44 with a small spacer (cause it is a little bit thinner than the 625 mercury cell), or you can stick an aluminum foil between the cell and the camera contact if you dont have a spacer available. Be careful with the cell polarity cause you can put the SR44 + up or + down into the camera. The meter reading may not be accurate, what I did is I compared the QL17 reading with aanother camera reading (Elan 7E with center-weighted metering) and I adjust the ISO setting on the QL17 to match the ELAN reading. It works quite good.

You can adjust the meter but I didnt do it, changing the ASA is more easy. I had 1 stop to adjust.

I have worked on several of mine now. It is easy to clean the

rangfinder, sure does make it nice and bright and easy to focus.

I Use hearing aid batteries you can buy in multipacks cheaply

that are a very constant 1.4 volts.

Packets of 6 hearing aid batteries are available at most drug stores for a couple of dollars and will work a treat. Camera stores and online retailers repackage these individually for an obscene markup, so don't bother with these. Do a search on Mercury Battery Replacement on google for more details.

Thanks everyone for your help. I have ordered some batteries and hopefully I'll have some time to clean it up and take a few shots over the weekend.

I love this camera (I have 2, and one QL 19). Still, I find them to be frustrating in low light. All three of mine lose brightness very quickly in dim lighting. Still, they have much better finders than some other compact rangefinders. Every Yashica I've ever tried has turned me off right after I looked through the finder. Is it actually possible to focus with that small of a rangefinder spot? Maybe I've only ever seen bad examples of these. Any, practice focussing it in dim lighting and it should be a great user.

I bought a SR44 battery and the meter doesn't seem to work. The test light doesn't light up and there is no change to the meter in the viewfinder (yes I took the cap off :)).

 

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I may be doing wrong or of any common faults that I may be able to repair myself. I was planning on trying to dismantle the camera and give it a clean anyway.

 

I don't have an external meter and although I use print film I don't feel comfortable with trying to guess the exposures (although I admit it could be a way of learning about exposure).

 

Does anyone know how much a repair shop should charge to repair the meter should it be faulty, or for that matter of any reputable repair shops in West London?