Canon

Canon digital and film cameras
Canon still produces a half-dozen film SLR cameras. That’s an interesting reality in light of the fact that Nikon only produces one. Canon realizes that there are still film aficionados out there. This is not a new phenomenon; Canon has been producing cameras that users prefer for years.

Looking back, Canon traces its roots to a small two-person business called Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory. The two brother-in-laws who started the company in 1933 wanted to build quality cameras like the ones produced in Germany. What is now a famous nightclub and weekend destination in Tokyo, the Roppongi area was much quieter when the little second-floor optical company started there.

At inception, the small optical company set out to duplicate the workings of Leica and Contax cameras with some original mechanics thrown in. The first prototype camera was completed in 1934. It was a simple 35mm focal plane shutter rangefinder camera. They named it Kwanon after the Buddhist goddess of mercy. They later decided to call the new company Canon, a name with a similar sound that means ‘scriptures’. In June 1936, the company moved into a new manufacturing building to house its growing staff.

Canon film cameras began as knock-offs of the more popular German cameras and by 1957 had broken that mold with unique designs that won a Good Design Award from the Ministry of International Trade in Japan.

Canon introduced its first SLR camera, the Canonflex, in 1959. It came with a fast f/1.8 normal lens. Shutter speeds were 1 second to 1/1000 plus bulb. It used an external aperture-reading selenium photocell. The R2000 version that came out the following year bumped the maximum shutter speed up to 1/2000 of a second. At the time the Canonflex came out, there were several SLR’s on the market.

A long line of cameras were introduced by Canon in the ensuing years, both rangefinders and SLR’s. In the meantime, Canon was putting a lot of research and preparation into the introduction of the F-1, introduced in 1971. The F-1 could be purchased with a super-fast 55mm f/1.2 lens. Shutter speeds from 1 second to 1/2000 plus bulb. The F-1 was developed to use the new FD lens mount. The new mount allowed for fully-coupled automatic exposure metering. The F-1 was also built with durability in mind which appealed to a lot of pros. The camera was popular enough that Canon produced it for several years.

In the late seventies and early eighties, Canon sold its popular AE-1 SLR. The camera was not entirely remarkable in its features or innovation, but it sold like hotcakes. As a camera for the novice, the AE-1 offered several features. The first CPU equipped SLR; the AE-1 had shutter speeds between 2 and 1/1000 of a second, shutter-priority auto exposure, horizontal cloth focal-plane shutter and center-weighted light meter.

The first Canon auto-focus 35-mm SLR came to market in 1985. The T80 featured an external LCD screen and TTL metering and continued using the FD mount system. During the remainder of the eighties, Canon cameras came with more innovations that brought more pros into the fold. The EOS-1 was a good example of a feature-filled camera. Very fast predictive auto-focus, multiple metering modes and shutter speeds up to 1/8000 sec. Pro Canon film cameras like the EOS-1N RS could shoot at 10 fps.

Film cameras could not dominate the market forever and in 1995, Canon introduced the EOS DCS3 digital SLR camera. Over the next ten years, Canon would produce a series of very small digital cameras for the point and shoot crowd. The ELPH and Powershot cameras were particularly successful.

The digital SLR’s made enormous progress. Consider that the EOS D30 that came out in 2000 was a 3.25 megapixel camera. By 2005, the Canon EOS 5D had 12.8 million effective pixels. The 5D uses a CMOS sensor. The pro-quality Canon DSLR’s now have outstanding features. The EOS 1-v features a magnesium alloy body, continuous shooting at 10 fps, 20 custom functions, 45-point area AF and a viewfinder with 100% coverage area.

Canon cameras have gained wide acceptance among amateurs and professionals alike. Their line-up of point and shoot cameras and DSLR’s is vast and covers a number of price points and features. The little pre-war two-man company could have never foreseen the evolution of their camera company, but the name is a household word today.