A Tale of Two Canonet QL17s

A couple of days ago I decided to go inside my old Canonet QL17, the one
with an f/1.7 45mm lens and a CdS cell meter, to clean the viewfinder,
which had become hazy over the nearly fifty years it's been knocking
around. I found the camera in a pawn shop 10 or 15 years ago, back
when you still found old cameras in pawn shops. It cleaned up nicely
and I also adjusted the rangefinder, which was slightly off vertically.
There is an adjustment screw accessible through a small port in the rear
of the camera to do this. The Canonet QL17 is about the same size
and shape as the expensive, interchangeable lens Canon rangefinders.
I think it is a better made camera than the GIII version, which I also
have. The old Canonet still meters OK, compared to a handheld
meter. using for power either a Wein cell or a silver oxide battery in
a voltage reducing adapter. For some reason the GIII is almost exactly
one stop off. I have to set the film speed on the GIII to 800 to get a
correct reading for 400 speed film, for example. I don't know whether
this was done on purpose for color print film or whether the meter is
just off. There appears to be a trim pot inside the GIII. hidden behind
the film-advance-OK flag, for adjusting the meter. However, I decided
to leave well enough alone. I couldn't see how to get behind that
flag without bending it. One drawback to both cameras is that the
instructions say you can break the camera by setting the shutter to
bulb while the aperture is set to automatic. The old QL17 book has an
elaborate procedure on how to get out of trouble in case you accidentally
did this. There is a lever you have to hold in before you can set
the shutter to bulb, to remind you to check the aperture. This isn't
as bad as those Russian cameras where changing the shutter speed with
the shutter uncocked will break the camera. Turning the aperture to
one of the manual f/stops turns off the meter, which saves batteries,
but precludes metered manual operation. These are really good cameras
for candid pictures, being nearly silent.

Bud