Cabin Fever Canonet QL17

[steve_10170]

<p>As Steve L. referenced in his recent wintertime thread, I too was struck with a particularly paralyzing case of cabin fever. The temperature as I recall was at about 0 degrees at the time, but the sun was out and I just had to get out. I took the dog for a walk at local park and took my Canonet QL17 in tow. It is smaller than my Minolta 7s making it challenging to operate in gloves, but the lens is tack sharp and I enjoy the wider 40mm frame. I just fitted it with a yellow 55mm filter using a step up ring since I could not find a bargain 48mm filter. The hood I used caused a bit of vignetting, so I cropped the images a bit on the scans. The film is Tri-X 400 souped in Tmax developer for 6min. Really enjoy this camera though as I recall, it does not meter in manual mode, but I can live with that. </p><div></div>

[steve_10170]

<p>tables</p><div></div>

[steve_10170]

<p>boulder</p><div></div>

[steve_10170]

<p>pavillion</p><div></div>

[riffeym]

<p>Great shots Steve! I had 2 of the QL17s, wish I had never sold them.</p>

<p>Mike :D</p>

[Mike Gammill]

Great shots. I bought one new in 1980 (my family had a camera shop) from stock at cost. Still works after all these years.

[subbarayan_prasanna]

<p>The Pavillion is beautiful; brings out the feel of snow on the ground and the wintry environment. Thanks for sharing. sp.</p>

[silverscape]

All those pictures are great, but I especially like the "boulder" photo. I feel like I can just scoop the snow into my hands right off the picture! The exposure is perfect and the texture is awesome in that photo.

[photo5]

<p>My father bought my mother a GIII QL17 new in the mid-1970s. She had been using a Yashica 126 rangefinder camera before that, which she loved, but my father wanted her to shoot 35mm film. She didn't use it much and it just sat in the camera case until 1984 when I got my hands on it. I used it until 1987 when I got a Nikon FE2 for graduation. It took brilliant photos, very high quality, and was a great travel camera, I took it to Japan with me for the summer in 1986. Later in the 1990s I used it for infrared film, with a #87A filter. The problem was the little electric eye that the camera used for metering had a fresnel lens that reflected light and created a darker circle at the top of the image. Otherwise it was fine. Sold it years ago. Still have the manual for it so I might buy another one if I can find it cheap enough. I found one for $12 at a flea market that I turned around and sold for $75 a few weeks later. Wish I still had both of them.</p>

[gnashings]

<p>I'm a big QL17 fan, and I love the results of your walk - the winter is a very gratifying time for those of us who love b&w, isn't it? I particularly love the boulder image - great work!</p>

[starvy]

<p>I had tried to pick one of these unsuccessfully several times from the auction site! Lovely pictures.</p>

[chuck_foreman1]

Great Work and excellent images! Glad to see such rewarding images. This is a beautiful camera that works well for a lot of people. I think something similar is still a good idea

[Mike Gammill]

<p>Starvy- I think the great results that people are getting with this camera are driving the prices of the ones that are in good condition. Unfortunately, any of the more popular brands (in addition to Canon) like Minolta, Konica, and Olympus, have also shot up in price in the fast lens, compact category. Well, the Konica Auto S3 was already high. House brand (like Sears) as well as Vivitar and Ricoh versions that are similar often go for peanuts, but as more photographers discover the fun in using this type of camera, those may go up in value as well.</p>

[rick_drawbridge]

<p>Nice, as usual, <strong>Steve</strong>. Tri-X in T-Max is one of my favourite combinations, and it's worked well for you here. They're all great images; "Rails "is really three-dimensional. I have a QL17 but I'm ashamed to say I've never put a film through it. Add it to the list...</p>

[bonsignore_ezio]

<p>Steve, the QL17 was not "advertised" as being able to meter in the manual mode, because Canon though the average user wouldn't want being bothered with that. But, the camera is perfectly capable of working in a manual metered move.<br>

The standard way of using the camera, as per the instruction manual, is to set the selected shutter speed, put the aperture ring on "A", and let the camera do the rest. The selected (by the camera, that is) aperture will appear in the viewfinder, in a shutter priority AE mode.<br>

But you can as well leave the camera on "A", select MENTALLY the aperture you want to use, and then turn the speeds ring until the needle in the viewfinder shows that aperture. Here you have your manual metering mode!</p>