It’s 2 AM and for some effin’ reason I can’t sleep. I’ve tossed and turned for at least 3 hours and nothing. In addition, some idiots have decided to have a party right outside my window. I wish I could throw something at them – a couple pots of boiling water, or maybe a bucket of crap.

I have a feeling I won’t be getting much sleep tonight and tomorrow I gotta go to frickin’ work. Another day at a boring job.

So what has this got to do with the Canonet? Nothing, except for the fact that I feel inspired to write this piece, strange as it may seem. So on to it…

I come from the world of digital cameras. I’ve spent most of my photographic “life” with digital cameras. I won’t count the years before that, when I would take a picture occasionally with a cheap, plastic, film point-and-shoot. Even then I was fascinated by photography but perhaps I didn’t know where to start or was too awestruck by the whole thing to actually pursue it more actively.

Since digital cameras became mainstream, a few years back, I got my first digital, a Canon P&S without manual controls. It was a joy to use, inasmuch as I could pull off dozens of pictures without worrying about running out of film or developing and printing costs. Of course I was totally clueless about technique and such.

I slowly started to learn more about the ART of photography so I became constrained by the automatic camera. I then got another Canon, this time with manual controls, but still a compact. Later still, I had to opportunity to get my first digital SLR – yep, you guessed it, still a Canon.

That was 2 years ago and I’m still using my Canon 300D (Digital Rebel). Though it’s a wonderful camera, it has its limitations and fairly soon it will be replaced by a semi-pro 30D.

Yes, I know – I’m a Canon fan. So sue me. I’m sure Jesus kills a kitten every time someone buys a Canon. I do have respect for other manufacturers such as Nikon and Pentax and especially Leica. But now I’m stuck with Canon since I have a ton of fairly expensive glass and let me say that I find it a good choice.

Somehow I’m beating around the bush and I still haven’t got around to the Canonet.

A few weeks ago I was browsing my favorite photography forum and some buddies had posted some pictures taken with a film camera. Once again I was struck by the beautiful color tones and wonderful contrasts of the black and white images. Such qualities are very hard to reproduce on a digital camera and the nostalgia of film hit me hard. Coupled with the fact that in recent years I’ve been heavily reminiscing about the past (the 80’s in particular), getting a vintage camera was the next logical step.

Since I knew a bit about the legendary Leicas and since I already had an SLR, rangefinders suddenly became very attractive. I longed for the manual controls, prime lens, silent operation and discrete size that no SLR can match. Street photography holds a special place in my heart and rangefinders – due to their main advantages – are perfectly suited for that. I haven’t managed to do a lot of street photography mainly because I’m rather shy and don’t like shoving my big SLR in front of people’s faces or worse still, using the long telephoto to snipe paparazzi shots from a distance. Also, I had become tired of carrying my 25 lbs of gear and changing lenses. I longed for a fixed lens camera.

Once again, the rangefinder wins.

So I had to get a rangefinder. The question was which one?

There were several traits that I was looking for:

it had to be vintage

it had to be cheap: definitely under $100

it had to be solid and well-built

it had to have a good, fast lens

it had to use 35mm film. (For some reason I’ve never been interested in anything other than 35mm film)

Having set my goals, I started combing the Internet for information on vintage rangefinders. Google is everyone’s friend and it didn’t fail me this time either.

I had already heard about the Canonet so I had a starting point. I also considered several others such as:

- Yashica Lynx 14 – awesome camera with a fast, heavy 50mm f/1.4 lens.

- Kodak Retina (any model) – venerable old camera but the folding lens put me off.

- Leica M3 – it’s a Leica, what more can I say? However the price is a big no-no.

- Konica Hexar – an awesome 90’s automatic rangefinder which is rated as perhaps the quietest camera out there, perfect for street photography. Sadly they’re pretty hard to find, even on eBay, and the price is prohibitive for someone on a tight budget.

So I had narrowed them down to 2: the Canonet and the Yashica. I turned to eBay since I didn’t have the time to go hunting for antique shops and/or yard sales. I started watching the auctions on these two for a few days. Luckily there were tons of them on sale, especially the Canonets.

The Yashicas turned out to be scarcer than the Canonets and thus sold for more. The ones in better condition fetched over $100, without shipping. So there I was, being pushed towards Canon all over again. No complaints here. Canonet it was!

(Here I gotta open a parenthesis. Canonets come in 2 colors: silver and black. The black ones are very rare and I suspect fetch a much higher price. I wish I had one of those.)

Apart from the color, Canonets also come in several versions. A good list can be found here:

http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/canonet.html

As you can see, lens speeds range from f/1.7 to a not-so-fast f/2.8, the most common being the f/1.7 and f/1.9 models. The QL17 has a 40mm f/1.7 lens while the QL19 has a f/1.9 lens. Since I was aiming high, I definitely wanted the QL17.

QL stands for Quick Load, the excellent Canon film loading mechanism. I also wanted a camera in good condition and the G-III was produced from 1972 to around 1982 so it was the obvious choice. (G stands for “Grade Up”, while “III” signifies the third generation).

Finally I had it nailed: I wanted a Canonet QL17 G-III.

Now the fun part began: bidding on eBay. One of the basic rules on eBay is to make sure the seller is legit and the item is in good condition. The first part is easy – checking out their score and reviews is a dead giveaway. The second part can be a gamble. Many sellers don’t describe their items in great detail and sometimes omit important information (intentionally or not). It’s up to you to read everything in the listing carefully, scrutinize the pictures attentively, compare with similar products and check out the seller’s return policy.

There are many idiots out there on eBay and they are the ones that start bidding as soon as they set eyes on an item they like. BIG MISTAKE. By doing this, especially on an item with a very low starting bid, you end up accomplishing 2 brilliant things: firstly you drive the price up unnecessarily and secondly other idiots will notice the attention received by that auction and will start bidding themselves, thus driving the price even further. I cannot stress this enough: DON’T BID ON ITEMS UNTIL A FEW MINUTES BEFORE THE AUCTION ENDS!!!

It’s important to set yourself a limit; otherwise you will end up paying more than you gambled for. By having watched similar auctions, you will be able to set yourself a realistic maximum amount that you are willing to pay. EBay has a wonderful feature called “Watch this auction”. Learn to use it and learn to love it. It will save you a lotta cash in the future. Basically what it does is it memorizes a specific auction and let’s you “watch” it along with others, until the auction ends. It even sends out emails informing you that the auction is about to end. This is a very valuable tool for two main things:

getting an idea of what items sell for

allowing you to hold off on bidding until the end, when you can decide whether to make your move or forfeit that particular auction

After watching these auctions for several days, I concluded that the Canonet sold for around $50 on average, with some going below this price and others fetching over $100. The expensive ones are usually the ones that appear in excellent condition and may also come with additional accessories.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, this particular Canonet that I had set my eyes on, had a starting bid of around $10, a buyout of around $85 (at which point the owner also threw in a flash) and a reserve price. Now the problem with reserve prices is that you have no idea what the reserve price is. Is it over or under the amount you’re willing to spend? I was about to find out.

I started bidding in the final 2 minutes of the auction. A small bid war started between me and another bidder (probably bidding automatically) and in the end I managed to overbid him with about 1 minute to spare. However I was still under the reserve price. I continued bidding and decided to stop at $60. So I bid $61 and voila! The reserve price turned out to be $60. I won the auction. I was overjoyed.

Now some people might say that I paid too much. That might be true and sure as hell, I’ve seen Canonets sell for as little as $20. However, I’m usually impulsive and when a new passion hits me, I gotta satisfy it no matter what the cost. Apart from that, the camera seemed to be in very good condition.

When I finally received the package, I made a very pleasant discovery. The seller (may the Force be with him – always!) had included the Canolite flash and also an original Canonet case, though the case was in rather bad condition from wear and tear. So in the end I consider I got a pretty sweet deal. The good thing about these vintage cameras is that their value can only go up with time, provided they’re well taken care of.

And they (me and my Canonet) lived happily ever after…

A big thank you to all of who had the patience to read through all this. I’m just realizing that I filled several pages with crap. Well, I can only hope that one person’s crap is another’s treasure.

Following is a series of useful links for vintage camera lovers, in particular the Canonet. I will also follow up on this article with a hands-on review of the Canonet.

Canonet links:

Karen Nakamura’s Photoethnography page

Canonet on Cameraquest

The Canonet manual in English on primco.com

Kyle Cassidy’s article on the Canonet

Canonet QL17 G-III on Canon’s official website

Canonet page on Favorite Classics

A more general vintage camera repair page on Favorite Classics

The G-III on the Camera Wikipedia page

Matt Denton’s review page

Matt Denton’s Canonet repair page

Canonet FAQ

Gene Wilburn’s musings on the G-III

Scott’s Young personal page

Awesome set of Canonet images on Flickr, thanks to Krasnyi

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 23rd, 2006 at 11:52 pm and is filed under Article, Canonet QL17 G-III. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.