Canonet QL17 GIII

As I think I mentioned in an earlier post, I acquired a Canonet QL17 GIII just before Christmas & had the test roll (Ilford XP2 Plus 400, about a year expired) back from developing this weekend – just in time to confirm that it is in full working order before I leave for a week in Morocco on Tuesday! I won’t bore you with the details of the camera, as there is a whole host of information about it at Camerapedia, CameraQuest & a multitude of groups on Flickr, but briefly it is a 35mm fixed-lens coupled-rangefinder camera sporting a 40mm f1.7 lens, shooting shutter-priority or full manual with a lovely quiet copal leaf shutter.

These first few were taken in Edinburgh whilst I was there visiting a friend for Christmas. I was intrigued by the ‘robotic cleaning system’, something I would’ve more expected in Japan than Scotland, but alas it was nowhere to be seen.

I couldn’t buy a rangefinder & not attempt ‘street’ photography!

The rest of these were taken around St Andrews, desperately trying to find a good variety of lighting conditions to test how the light meter works using a 1.4v zinc-oxide hearing aid battery, as the original 1.35v mercuric-oxide batteries that the camera was originally designed to use are long outlawed for environmental concerns.

No prizes for guessing how many aperture blades the lens has from looking at the glare in this photo!