Some independent movie was even made (fictional) about a young man who receives a Canonet GIII as a gift and becomes a celebrated street photographer. (I can't remember the movie's title; I think it had only one word................
The movie was "Pecker". (Freud had a theory why you might have forgotten the title...) The thrift-shop camera was actually a Canonet 28 (later model, described in the Canon Museum Site). It was an AE camera with a pretty good 2.8 lens and a real optical rangefinder. I have two of them for sale for $60 if you are interested The GIII (G for "good" according to the Canon museum) had a 1.7 or 1.9 lens and optional manual shutter and aperature setting. There were a whole string of Canonet model from the sixties to the eighties. They are metal cameras that just keep on working. Cameraquest.com covers a lot of this type in some detail. I have a drawer full of them but most have marginal exposure control, except the Canonets) Bill Lawlor
