Canon Canonet QL 17

 This is a camera I was looking out for quite a while. I have always loved rangefinders, in fact one of my first cameras was a rangefinder, an Agfa Super Sillette automatic back in the late seventies. 

These cameras are quite legendary, they are smart, high quality and still affordable for now. They are slightly unusual in that they are shutter priority, this would not be my first choice really but it is certainly something I can work around.

So, first of all, the viewfinder is quite big and nice and clear, they can get a little dull over time but they are very easy to take apart and clean. Like with any delicate piece of equipment you must be careful, tutorials exist on you tube to show you how. The rangefinder patch is not the brightest I have but it is pretty good, the focus snaps nicely, my Fuji g690 may be a little better and I have no Leica to compare to, but it is very good. 

I tend not to shoot automatic so much, I tend to do it manual, and the workflow is nice and smooth. Manual focusing is quite easy on this, it makes for a good walk around/street camera. 

The lens on this is nice. It is fast at 1.7 and it is sharp, the 40mm puts it clearly as a standard lens and it is not possible to change the lens. 

The QL stands for quick load and it really does it's job, it is so easy to load this camera. A roll of 400 ISO film and a bust city and you will have no problem shooting off the rolls quickly.

These photos are shot on HP5+ on manual using an external meter, the following are a few more from the same day.

These shots are at the factory Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It is an interesting area which has many different views and contrasts. 

I love the form factor of this camera, it is a beautiful little camera which does it's job very well. It makes for a great street camera as long as you are ok to focus manually, there is always hyperfocal distance right?

Of the rangefinders from this era with fixed lenses, this is one of the standout cameras. Leica produced some amazing machines around this time as well of course, but the fact that they cost so much more than the Canonet is a factor.

So what is this camera suited for? Street photography is an obvious answer, although I would prefer aperture priority, shutter priority works just fine. The lens is fast, so you could work in low light, especially shooting manual with a fast film like Ilford Delta 3200. This is never going to be a sports camera, even though it is shutter priority, but I love using this for environmental portraiture and it is also superbly suited to documentary work with the right film.

Like most of the cameras I write about here, this is a great camera, and it is gorgeous!

Lucien Grey