Le mercredi 26 Avril 2006 16:16, oly-zooko@xxxxxxxxxxxxx a écrit :
> Someone gave me a Canonent QL17 G-III about a week ago. Lovely little
> camera. Mine seems to work OK. I looked into CLA, however I am not sure if
> the camera is worth that much. If you replace the seals successfully - let
> me know how and
> what you did to accomplish that.
Well, I've thoroughly cleaned the old gummy seals, and replaced them with an
adhesive pvc insulator tape I had ; The tape was hard to cut to dimensions,
and I'm not happy with my work, but it should be light tight at least long
enough for me to test a film roll. If this is conclusive, I'll scrap my
attempt and buy a kit somewhere. I'm planning a little trip with it this
week-end, so I may post a couple of pictures next week if there are any good
ones.
>From what I read here and there, the canonet QL17 has a very fine lens,
especialy good wide open. Some persons even compared it to the famous leica
summicron 2, which is flattering even if exagerated (I'm not qualified to
give an opinion there). As to know wether a professional CLA is worth it,
opinions differ. There have been more than 1 million units produced, making
it the most common RF, so some people say that it's cheaper to buy another
one second hand when there's a failure ; but imho, shelving a good lens is a
shame.
Alas, the camera itself is subpar with the lens. It was never intended to be
of professional grade. The shutter tends to become sticky, and there are lots
of other issues (failling interlocks, etc.) ; failures aside, the battery is
also a problem, because the camera used the ill-famed px625 rated at 1.35 V.
This battery being prohibited, there is no easy solution : alkaline is 1.5 V
(and has a steep discharge curve where the old mercury 625 had a flat one),
zinc-air cells are of a different form factor (and last only 2 month),
Wein-cells (they are really Z-A, but made to replace the 625) are expensive,
have short lives, and are not sold everywhere. For my test purpose, I bought
an alkaline 625 and played with the ISO dial ; my QL17 being a 'L'(uxury)
one, it has a check button moving the exposure needle in the viewfinder, so
It gives me a near-real time proportion between the actual charge and
compensation required of the ISO scale (the test originaly was to check if
the needle was in a zone near the middle of the scale ; but with a higher
voltage, the needle goes farther, and you can guess the initial underexposure
by computing the difference beween the aperture reached and the "normal"
center position - this test needs to be carried on regularly to ensure
consistency).
Last but not least, the inner parts of the camera are really hard to reach and
work on, thanks to the compactness of the body. But all in all, it's lovely,
better build than any modern compact, has real photographic power and can be
used as a concealed weapon just in case (the weight seems *insane* by today
standards). Oh, and I can't wait to try the automatic flash system. The idea
of linking the diaphragm and the distance is so simple it *must* work.
--
Manuel Viet
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