The replacement camera.

My Canon Canonet QL17 Giii.

I had my house burgled in 2018, they left a mess and took my guitar, the Olympus OM1, the Yashica Electro 35 GSN, some coins and my wife's engagement ring.

Some months went by and i begin to look into buying a film camera. With all that film stored in the refrigerator i was yearning to get back on track.

I had a few criteria in mind. Some learnings from owning both the Yashica Electro and the Olympus OM1. I love that the Olympus is small and well built. It didnt require a battery to operate the camera, except for the light meter. I also liked the Yashica Electro's rangefinder. I like the fact that i could see the patch align with the subject. I've also grown to love a fix lens setup, i didn't have to bring extra gear (weight). And the Yashica had a fast 45mm f1.7 lens that i adore.

With these in mind i went searching on my local Facebook groups, marketplace and even to the usual weekend flea markets. Eventually i stumbled upon a black Canon Canonet QL17 Giii. It ticked all the boxes of what i wanted. A small well built, fixed 40mm lens (f1.7) rangefinder mechanical camera! The light meter still works. Perfect!

Repairs.

sparrow. It was an easy replacement and it was a good opportunity to clean the viewfinder and calibrate the rangefinder. beam splitter as the rangefinder patch was beginning to fade. I purchased it off ebay from a seller by the name of Nobbysarrow. It was an easy replacement and it was a good opportunity to clean the viewfinder and calibrate the rangefinder.

Ease of use.

The Canon Canonet QL17 Giii is a breeze to use. All the controls are around the lens; the shutter, aperture, ISO setting and timer. There is also a shutter priority feature on it. The viewfinder is bright with the aperture reading on the right. The rangefinder patch is easy to see even in lowlight conditions. The QL in the camera means Quick Load, its a feature found in several of Canon's camera during that era. The film back has a metal latch called the "QL cover" which will hold the film lead in place. This is a wonderful feature that saves you time in loading your camera.

Images from the Canonet QL17 Giii.

Im no expert in lens and lens build, but i can say is that the lens is sharp when stopped down. But even at f1.7 its mighty good for my standards. There are some halation but i think that is to be expected for something made in the 70's.

Here are some images from the Canon Canonet QL17 Giii.