Canonet GIII QL17 - Stiff Aperture Ring

[leungalb]

I inherited a Canonet GIII QL17 and it has a very stiff aperture ring.  I can see that a lot of dirt and dried up grease has accumulated between the aperture ring and the "marking ring with the rectangular hole and ASA label" in front of it, as well as "dust cover" behind it (marking ring and dust cover are the part names in the service manual).  Does anyone have experience removing the "marking ring"?  I am worried about small parts coming loose and I can't put it back together.  

I have tried squirting lighter fluid into the cracks and it didn't work.  

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[John Farrell]

The shutter and its associated parts needs to be stripped, cleaned, and relubricated. There is a repair article here: https://learncamerarepair.com/product.php?product=24&category=2&secondary=1

And a repair manual here: https://learncamerarepair.com/product.php?product=23&category=2&secondary=1

That website also has other Canonet repair materials.

 

Edited May 19 by John Farrell

[bruce_z._li2]

The Canonet QL17 is a difficult camera to take apart and repair, because it is difficult to reach the aperture and shutter from the front. I had different problem: slow speeds are sluggish. I stripped to what I can, but the service manual shows some part can only be reached by working from the back and disassemble quite a lot of parts. So in the end, I decided to live with the slow speed problem. A 90% working camera is better than a 100% dead camera. ;-)

On the other hand: you might still be able to strip one or two more layers down by looking at your photo. Hopefully you can reach some parts that you can clean.

Edited May 19 by bruce_z._li2

[Sandy Vongries]

I don't have experience with this particular camera, but some folks who don't want to risk dollars have let older cameras sit and warm in the sun, manipulating them after they have warmed and have been able to get some use out of them.  

[bonsignore_ezio]

In terms of side thinking, given the nature and working concepts for this camera I would suggest for the stiff aperture ring to be simply ignored - as long as it is but the ring to be stiff, and the aperture blades themselves work as intended. Put the ring on "A", load a fresh battery, select the speed, and check as to whether different light conditions resulr in different apertures. If this is the case, you don't need to worry anymore. The camera was designed to work this way, and the possibility of manually selecting the aperture was sort of an "add-on" feature which only came of use when using flashes other than the dedicated Canonlite.