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all images © Martyn Gabel, 2002
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Lomo LC-A - Canon QL17 - Yashica Lynx 5000e - Olympus XA4
The Canon Canonet QL17 (to give it its full name) is a compact rangefinder camera from the 1970s. Okay, compared to many of today's point-and-shoot marvels, it's hardly that tiny, but still, it can just about fit into a pocket, and offers a lot of camera for a reasonable price.
For a start there's that lens. It's a 40mm 1.7 lens, and frankly you can't get a lens this good or fast on a small, modern, fixed-lens camera these days unless you pay a lot of money. Being a rangefinder means you focus through a viewfinder, not through the lens like an SLR camera. To compensate the difference in what the lens sees and what you see, the viewfinder features 'parallax correction' to ensure good results.
The shutter speeds range from 1/500 to 1/4 of a second plus 'B', and it also features quick drop-in film loading which isn't automatic, but works a treat, and was way ahead of its time. It's also quiet and silky smooth to operate, and has been dubbed "the poor man's Leica".
Available used on eBay for quite cheap, many models have foggy viewfinders and rotten foam inside, but they can be overhauled. The camera works manually, but if you choose to use the built-in light-meter, you have to use outlawed mercury batteries which aren't available in the USA.
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