canonet ql-17 sampler









This Canonet is rather memorable for me because on the day that I got it, that was the day that I took the wrong step getting down the BTS station stairs resulting in a sprained foot. When I got a little better I tried out the camera. I used a roll of Ilford FP-4 at a rating of EI-80 and developed it at the usual time I use for films exposed in my Canon 300V. The photo of the truck was taken using a 1/125 sec shutter speed and an aperture of F/8. I think this would serve as a good control. There is some vignetting as well as a slight softness in the focus. The pictures in the MRT were taken using a speed of 1/4 sec to 1/30 sec with very wide opening. It does not have the sharpness of the 300V but then it has a slight softness in focus which may actually work well on some people shots. In bright daylight, the picture quality is actually quite nice. For a camera made in 1967, this is still working well. Based on the test shots I did, it was a stretch to do Zone III correctly. I noted that the shadow details were not coming out well. Perhaps this means that for the canonet, I will need to lengthen my development time a little. All photos © 2005 daddywasabi