After a while looking on Ebay and after an unfortunate purchase of a QL19 that was returned as faulty I dropped on the Canonet 28 in excellent condition with a few visible marks but all operational the case is tatty but did its job of protecting the camera. The camera has 40mm f2.8 lens and the meter Cds sensor is inside the filter ring so will meter correctly when a filter is fitted, the meter runs from the now obsolete 1.35 mercury cell but an easy replacement is a hearing aid zinc air cell the A675 or an alkaline battery such as the EPX625G could be used as it is size for size to the original mercury cell but will give slightly variable reading dependent on the voltage through its life .
As expected the light seals on the back film cover where all but non existent so I replaced them and had no evidence of leaks when I shot the test film.
The camera is fully automatic and the coupled rangefinder works just fine, the meter display is visible inside the viewfinder.
A fun camera to play with the lens gives excellent results although manual settings are restricted, bearing in mind it was built as a point and shoot for the mass market.
User manual available from Butkus Site here
Some images taken on a test roll and images of the camera itself.
| Manufacturer | Canon |
| Model | Canonet 28 (later version) |
| Type | 35mm rangefinder camera |
| Film | 35mm (Type 135) |
| Picture size | 24 x 36 mm |
| Made in | Taiwan |
| Lens | Fixed. Canon lens 1:2.8/40mm (4 elements in 3 groups). Spectra coating |
| Filter size | 48 mm, filter placed in front of the exposure cell so no manual filter factor calculations needed. |
| Focusing | Double image matching system by rotating the form component of the taking lens. Coupled Rangefinder |
| Focus range | 0,8 meter – infinity |
| Viewfinder | Marked Finder with 0.6 magnification. With parallax correction marks |
| Shutter | Stepless leaf shutter. 1/30 – 1/620 second. Automatically set by the exposure meter. |
| Aperture | automatic: stepless f/2.8 – f/14.5. manual: 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16 |
| Self timer | none |
| Exposure | Automatic with manual aperture selection, i.e. shutter speed is set automatically |
| Exposure meter | CdS cell next to the lens |
| Exposure range | EV 8 to 17 at ASA 100. Shutter lock outside of coupling range |
| Battery | 1.35 Volt mercury battery type PX-625 |
| Film speed setting | ASA 25 – 400 |
| Flash | Automatic flash with Canolite D. |
| Flash Contact | only direct connect type CAT signal contact. |
| Flash Sync | X contact bus (at 1/30 sec.) |
| Film Advance | Manual, single stroke . |
| Dimensions | 120 x 75 x 61 mm |
| Weight | 540 grams |