Evening all. The lens/shutter unit on my Canon Canonet seems to be a little loose. Just a slight rocking movement. Anyone had one of these apart, know how to tighten it up. Please tell me it’s not like the Oly SP!

Happy Easter.

B.

Mine does the same thing... just enough to notice... just enough to be annoying... just enough to worry about... but not enough to interfere with use of the camera. I understand, from discussions of this on the RangeFinder Forum and Classic Repair Forum, that this is fairly common and nobody seems to notice any bad resulting from it. I haven't checked this out myself, but I understand that there are 4 screws surrounding the shutter assembly under the front leatherette -- tightening one or more of them will remove this wobble.

It's not a tremendously difficult camera to work on. But I won't trust my memory on where the loose screws might be. There is a whole list of repair sources here http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Canon_Canonet_QL_17_GIII. You may want to email Rick Oleson, he's very helpful.

Mine has the wobble too, but doesn't seem to affect it's use or results. I'm glad to hear it's not just mine that does it.

This is just a hypothesis that came to me as I read this: most people find the QL17 to have a very sharp, capable lens. Yet, there are some (rare but present) who say they never got sharp images from theirs. Does anyone think that this wobble could be a culprit? It is absent from mine, and I find it to be razor sharp (as most reports suggest) - but perhaps this wobble is the culprit in an issue that many attribute to the mass production and variations among various production runs of this camera, now that they're older and many have seen a lot of use.
I think I am going to go to bed now - this is my second post tonight, and a second one that wondered off topic... Sorry about that -best of luck with gettting rid of your wobble

Peter.

Thanks guys; at least I know I'm not alone! Took the top plate off last night to give the viewfinder a clean, much neater in there than my Oly SP. Nightmare!

Thanks for all the help.

B.

...
Yet, there are some (rare but present) who say they never got sharp images from theirs. Does anyone think that this wobble could be a culprit?
...

Oh... you must be talking about me. I haven't been satisfied with my Canonet and abandon it for a Retina IIIc. But I do like the Canonet's bright viewfinder and ease of loading. One of these days when I get a chance, I'll do the experiement and go looking for those screws under the front leather(ette) and let you know if I like the quality any better.

Mine has the wobble too, but doesn't seem to affect it's use or results. I'm glad to hear it's not just mine that does it.

Mine (QL17 GIII) has what I would call a VERY slight looseness or wobble. I've had it for a year and used it quite a bit and it's not getting worse. It's still a very sharp and very reliable camera. I've had the front of it apart down to the shutter, and I didn't see anything obviously loose from that angle. I really didn't feel like tearing it apart any more than that.