Canon Canonet QL 17 GIII

Description

The Canonet QL 17 GIII is the final, high-end version of the famous Canonet compact rangefinders of the 60s and 70s. It provides shutter-priority auto-exposure, parallax compensation with a 40/1.7 lens.

The QL 17 GIII is about 2/3 the weight of a Leica M6 with a similar lens, is much quieter (!) than the Leica, and can sometimes sell for as little as $30 from sites like Ebay. Over a million of the cameras were sold, so they are common at flea markets and garage sales as well.

Links

• Offical Canon Museum Entry for GIII
• Karen Nakamura's overview at Photoethnography
• Steven Gandy's overview at Cameraquest
• Canonet QL17 versus the Leica M6 by Kyle Cassidy
• Matt Denton's overview (including repair tips)
• Henry Taber's guide to Canonet blade cleaning
• Favorite Classics on the GIII
• The Canonet QL17 FAQ
• Instruction Manuals
• kataan.org review
• The Other Martin Taylor's opinion on the GIII

Photos

• Random photos from pbase
• sample photos from Dragan @ dnik.ch
• sample photos from Craig @ therangefinder.org