Force Not, learn you must, young Padawan.

So some more broken stuff, a Canon QL17 GIII (again) … I bought this one because it was described as having a problem where the speed was stuck on bulb no matter what it is set on … hmm.

After I got it in my hands I realized that the description was missing a fact … the speed dial could only be turned half way. Well sounds like something is jamming the dial. Time to open it up.

The only difficult part to get deep here is the front lens cell. If you are lucky you can unscrew it with the help of a rubber tool … if you are not, then you need the special Canon tool,

Well, I found the problem … the speed selection dial post is no longer attached, and was jammed against the other dials.

The service manual shows the speed selection dial and the post that engages the speed cam on the shutter (that is lower in the body).

You can see that the top of it is bent … so someone forced the speed dial beyond its limit and popped the rivets holding the post on.

The speed selection dial is designed so that it cannot be over turned unless somebody did that while taking it apart … and I can easily see that this was disassembled before.

Ok, time to straighten it without deforming the rivets. I pressed it back in, then re-expand countersunk rivets with a punch.

Well, that wasn’t so hard … I was lucky that the problem did not involve fixing the shutter (as you cannot access it from just taking the front of the lens apart).

Canon … Canonet QL17 G-III … shutter, well almost.

Hmm, sticky shutter … seems to be a common theme with older cameras, at least the ones the I get a hold of.

Tools: spanner wrench

 Unlike the Olympus that I worked on previously, the front lens plate is secured by an outter locking ring that is unscrewed.

The inner ring can be removed if you need to get in between the front lens group … this will not get you closer to the shutter blades.

Under neath is a plate that changes the amount of light hitting the exposure meter.

Ok here is where you will need the special tool … welllll I don’t got one, so I am stuck with only going this far.

I tried using a rubber friction tool, but this front group was really secured … probably never taken off before.

Not much access to anything here.

So, how did I free the shutter? As is common with many shutters, the rear lens cell can be unscrewed. This allowed me to access the blades, and get some fluid on it to loosen it up.

I pity the tool !!!

Sometimes yah just can’t win … many cameras utilized specalized manufacturing techniques to get everything together. When servicing these camera’s, you really should have the tools that were designed to work on these things.

One of them is a flexiclamp/ring wrench, the tool to remove the various retaining rings used on cameras without scratching them.

Some are very specific to a camera … which I just found out about the Canonet QL17 G-III. I encountered difficulty getting into the shutter mechanism because the front lens group put up a fight. Most other cameras of this type that I have worked on just required a spanner wrench or a rubber friction thingy … not this camera.

This tool is used to work on the front lens group (as noted in the service manual).

I can see why this is needed … the group is screwed on very tightly so friction doesn’t work. A spanner wrench is too wide to fit in the tight space. Even using my super strong stainless steel tweezers didn’t work, even though I could force it wide enough to connect to the slots, I could not get enough grip to prevent it from slipping.

G is for ggggrrrrreat !!!

Ok, so as you know I am in the habit of introducing the camera’s that I get to take apart … probably just so I can add a new post to keep this blog alive.

The Canon Canonet QL17 G-III. QL = quick load, 17 = f/1.7, the G = “grade up” … heah, that is what Canon states on their Museum site … and Canonet, well that’s just something someone in marketing thought up. So does this mean this is the third grade up version, hmmm (Orig. Canonet, New Canonet, and Canonet G-III … though there has been a number of other Canonets made)?

Anywho, the G-III was in production for 10 years starting in 1972. It appears to be a very popular model for modern photographers looking for a point and shoot film camera. Some make claims that it is the poor man’s Leica? I don’t really believe that, it don’t look like no Leica that I know of … hmm, maybe a CL … ah, that’s stretching it.

The camera has a mechanical shutter, with auto abilities if you want to slap a battery in it. The highly praised 40mm lens, 6 elements in 4 groups, is probably where the comparisions to Leica come from … many on the web say so.

Warning … I may not be immediately posting any of the new cameras any time soon, as they all seem to putting up a lot of resistance to change.