Canonet QL19 - A Sturdy Sword from Japan

Do you remember your very first film camera that opened the door of analogue photography world for you? For me, it was Diana F+, a plastic camera made by Lomography. At the age that I was poisoned by the photos in lomo style, vignette, high contrast and saturation, heavy grains, I have laid my hand on Diana F+, after that was Smena 8m from Russia.

However, the one which truly led me into the paradise (or abyss) of film, was Canonet QL 19 which manufactured by Canon. At the moment I grabbed it in my hands, I realized that how foolish I’m to spend my bucks on plastic camera and its accessories. I can buy a dozen of this sturdy camera with that price, come along with quality and functionality far better than those toy cameras.  Since then, my path to be a vintage camera collector has been shown. My purse has been opened a wound that couldn’t be cured too.

Before I start to talk about the Canonet camera, I have to mention the “Seven Swords of Japan Rangefinder Camera”, which is a title given by some Chinese vintage camera lover for seven models of rangefinder camera made by Japan (“Seven Swords” is a kungfu fiction, also been made into a movie, in case you are curious with the title.). This title became a great slogan for merchants to sell their cameras and made the price of these RF cameras rise into a whole new level.

Among these seven swords, the flagship camera of 3^rd generation Canonet cameras – Canonet QL 17 GIII is one of them. Regardless of the fame of Canonet QL 17 GIII, the 2^nd generation Canonet: Canonet QL 17 and Canonet QL 19 were hardly aware by collector and gave me an opportunity to take Canonet QL 19 in with a low price.

The first was introduced in 1961 and produced in Japan, Canonet QL 19 is a non-interchangeable lens rangefinder, come with a 45mm f/1.9 Canon SE lens which has 5 glass elements in 4 groups. Shutter speeds range from ¼ of a second to 1/500  of a second plus B for extended time exposures with a cable release. F stops run from f1.9 to f16. A small Cds light cell was build above the lens.

This tough camera has shutter priority auto exposure. You need to turn aperture ring to the position of red letter A, which stands for Auto, to activate the light meter and work in auto. Minimum focus distance is 0.8m.

Though Canonet QL 19 was produced as a mid-level camera of Canonet series 2^nd generation, the most significant difference between Canonet QL 19 and flagship camera Canonet QL 17 is their maximum aperture number. Canonet QL 17 has a f/1.7 maximum f number, which is slightly bigger than the f/1.9 of Canonet QL 19.

Even compare with generation three GIII series (also provided a Canonet QL 19 GIII as a mid-level camera), GIII only optimized the size and weight of camera body, replaced it with a 45mm f1.9 lens, also provided a button to check battery. If you are a photographer, like myself, who are not really care about the size and weight of camera, also already adapted to a fully manual shooting style, from metering to setup combination of aperture and shutter speed, Canonet QL 19 with lower price should be a better option.

Overall shooting experience is higly relied on the condition of camera itself. Mine one has a less perfect viewfinder that makes me facing some difficults when shooting in-door or in a poor lighting environment. Else are all perfect for me. In the other case, the weight of it is definitely not suitable for long time hand holding, especially for girls. If you are planning to have a photo walk or street shooting, you better add on a neck strap for it. 

It took well exposed and contrast photos. That is really amazing for a lens manufactured half century ago. The light meter surprisingly works accurate for a camera older than me. The only problem is the recommended 1.35v mercury battery for light meter already can’t be found in nowadays. However, it seems to work fine with a 1.5v LR44W alkaline cell and shoots in negative film. So, I think the slight difference doesn’t seem to matter. Of course, if you are gonna shooting in slide film, I suggest to bring another light meter for accurate exposure value.

When the first time I took photo with this amazing camera, my friend smiled and told me that I should better get a SLR/DSLR to have a better learning of photography. I think that the only difference between RF and SLR is the structure of light path to form an image. Device does matter in photography, but the most important factor to take a great shoot is the eye and mind behind the viewfinder, isn’t it?