Ken Ko was kind enough to share this photo of a classy black duo of Canon compacts.



Pictured on the left, a Canonet GIII QL17 in the highly sought after black finish. On the right, the Canon Powershot G7 with Canon conversion lens adapter and filter.

The QL17 GIII, introduced in 1972, is a compact 35mm film rangefinder camera with a fixed 40mm f/1.7 lens. According to Steven Gandy of CameraQuest, over 1.2 million of these were sold between 1972 and 1982. The CameraQuest article has excellent information about the Canonet GIII QL17. A number of other excellent references can be found in the Camerapedia wiki. I have owned two of these in the more common chrome finish and found them to be excellent little (though heavy!) cameras. The specific strengths and weaknesses are covered nicely in the above references. The Canonet GIII QL17 is built to last, often requiring only new batteries and fresh light seals to work well after decades of non use. I recommend hink2u on Ebay as a reseller of restored Canonets for a reasonable price.

Looking at the photo, there can be no doubting the lineage. Unfortunately, Ken's beloved G7 has died after 14 months of gentle use without drops or other abuse. Meanwhile his friend's Canonet, after greater than 25 years, is probably working as well as ever. I doubt that any of today's digital serious compacts will endure like the classics of the past.

For more of Ken's photos of this pair, check out the full set on Flickr.