Back then, almost every time when I go to the flea market I saw this camera. I’d say it’s the most common camera there is. And it seems that everyone own this camera. I got a few of this same camera in my room. Every time I got this camera there’s always something broken. Could be the light meter’s not working, the shutter’s jammed, the focusing ring jammed, the back door cannot be closed, and many other problems. But still I take a few of them home. I manage to get them in almost the same price back then, from 2,5-5 USD, even though I bought them in different markets and in different time. I remember I had 3 of them. Each of them with a different problems but still possible to take them for a walk. I gave one to a friend of mine and sold the other one. So it left me only one, the one with the most problem.
A few years later I accidentally spotted this camera again around Cihapit road. I take a closer look at her and I’m quite surprised to see that she’s like new! No dent’s on the body, no fogging and no scratch on the lens, the original lens cap is still attached, the leather strap is in great condition, the view finder only needs a little cleaning from dust, the shutter worked fine, the curtain is working smoothly, the battery checker is working and most of all, the light meter is still working perfectly. I just know that I had to take her home. You won’t find the same thing in the same condition twice. And I can say that she’s the most expensive camera that I bought So far. It cost me 28 USD to bring her home.
All I need now is to find the leather casing and the dedicated flash for her. I remember I saw it somewhere. A few days later I found another QL 17 in a bad condition, but the leather case is there. Even though the canonet badge is missing on the casing, and there’s a crack on the edge, in the end I still bought it or only 30,000 IDR (3 USD). I don’t want my QL 17 to get unnecessary scratches I spoke to myself.
A few days after, a good friend of mine told me that he saw the flash for my camera in a good condition in ABC road. I have my regular place for buying vintage cameras there. So I go there, asked him about the flash and there it is. I bought her for 30,000 IDR (3 USD). Then I attached the flash to the camera. It looked soooooooo nice! It took me a long time just to look at her from different angles. Then I took a picture of her with my Polaroid SLR 680. She looked even better in the picture! I can’t say how much I love her. How I like using her or just looking at her. She’s truly an eye catcher I’d say. even though she’s a common camera here.
The only thing left to find for her is the original leather case in a excellent condition with it’s Canonet badge on it. It’s really hard to find it here. But I know someday I’ll find it. It seems that I just have to keep being optimist.
