Fixed f:1.7 40mm lens. This much I know. I think it probably would run on one of those 625 mercury batteries. It must have a metered manual mode or nobody would be excited about it. What else does it have, and for that matter, what does it lack? Thanks Jeff

-- Jeff Robb (robbjeff@hotmail.com), December 20, 2000

Answers

I have a Canonet QL17, in good condition when I bought it. Basically here are its pros and cons:

Pros 1. 40/1.7mm lens (sharp in my opinion if the lens is still clean) 2. mechanical shutter (works without batteries) 3. shutter priority (needs batteries to work) 4. metered (batteries needed) 5. viewfinder has parallax compensation and 40mm frameline 6. high speed flash sync (1/500th) 7. small and portable 8. quiet and almost vibration less shutter 9. self-timer 10. guide-number flash with dedicated flash 11. cheap

Cons 1. some may need to have camera back seals replaced 2. hard to find 625 mercury battery (alkaline substitute can be used) 3. some lenses and viewfinders may have fogged up or contaminated by fungus 4. max shutter speed of 1/500th 5. hard to find good conditioned ones

That's all I can think of right now. Email me if you have any specific questions.

-- Ron Gregorio (gregorio@ksc.th.com), December 21, 2000.

Alkaline batteries may be used with print film and be marginally acceptable. Mercury cells are still available via mail/internet ordering.

I have several GIIIs.

Pros - Small, unobtrusive, great lens, quiet, quick loading, coupled dedicated flash.

Cons - fairly heavy, needs mercury cells, fixed lens.

Some people carry a P&S for backup/different film, I carry a GIII. I normally shoot slide film when traveling, and carry a GIII with print film. In the evening, when I don't want to carry a lot of junk, I carry the GIII.

It doesn't have a metered manual. When you take the lens out of A for aperture, you turn the meter off. You can use the meter with the lens in A, and then set it manually.

-- Terry Carraway (TCarraway@compuserve.com), December 21, 2000.

BTW replacing the foam seals is a 1/2 - 1 hour home job. Get the foam material from Fargo (www.micro-tools.com).

Pro - cheap, if you shop carefully. I have paid less than $45 each for every one of mine.

-- Terry Carraway (TCarraway@compuserve.com), December 21, 2000.

Jeff,

I had a Canonette GIII. I used it mostly when I was afraid to risk my more expensive cameras, or I did not want to carry around a lot of equipment. I bought it for very little in pretty good condition and used it for a couple of years till it broke. The film advance lever jammed, and when I forced it something inside snapped.

I really liked that little camera! However, it was bigger and heavier than I would have liked for a pocket camera. When I was unable to find another one in good shape, I replaced it with an Olympus RC. I found it gathering dust in a camera shop when I was looking for a GIII and bought it for $20. It worked perfectly, and the viewfinder was crystal clear.

The little Olympus RC rangefinder is REALLY tiny. It's about as close to a true pocket camera as you can get, unless you buy one of those little Rolleis or a Minox.

It's not as fast as the GIII. It has a slower 42mm f/2.8 lens that's extremely small, much smaller than the GIII. It does not have metered manual mode, but I seldom used that with the GIII. It has an excellent viewfinder with all exposure information displayed, and a very ingenious flash GN system that allows you to use a small manual flash automatically. And the negatives are really great, about as good as the GIII.

Check out Gandy's CameraQuest site for a full description of the RC and the GIII. If you can find an Olympus RC, buy it. Good luck, Sergio.

-- Sergio Ortega (s.ortega@worldnet.att.net), December 21, 2000.

There are not many point and shoot cameras of that era and price that deserve the accolade of classic, but the GIII QL 17 is one. For its price it is very capable. It produces surprizingly good quality photos. It is a little bigger, less automatic than today's point and shoots. Focus is manual rangefinder. Wind and rewind are manual. And you need to stock extra 625 batteries (I was fortunate enough to get a few extra on a trip to Europe). I used mine as a back-up camera on a trip to Europe and ended up taking about 1/3 of the photos with it.

-- Cary Tamura (visionkeeper1@netzero.net), December 22, 2000.