SLR

The Canon TX was a 35mm single-lens reflex camera manufactured by Canon of Japan from March 1975. It featured a Canon FD lens mount, and was also compatible with Canon's earlier FL-mount lenses in stop-down metering mode. The TX was a cheaper version of the Canon FTb for the export market, as was the slightly earlier TLb. Compared to the TLb, the TX had a hot shoe for flash.

Compared to the FTb, the TX had a top shutter speed of only 1/500. The meter was center-weighted rather than the 12% partial meter of the FTb. It also dispensed with the self-timer and MLU of the FTb, although it did retain the depth of field preview lever and support for stopped-down metering. The TX also did not support the CAT (Canon Auto-Tuning) flash system.

The Canon TX was also sold in the US as the Bell & Howell FD35.

The TLb was marketed overseas in September 1974 as the cheaper version of the Ftb. It was later sold in Japan in April 1976. The basic specifications were the same as the Canon TX except for the hot shoe which was omitted. X-sync was possible only with the PC terminal.

The Canon EF is a manual focus 35mm single-lens reflex camera produced by Canon between 1973 and 1978. It was compatible with Canon's FD-mount lenses. The EF was built as an electronic version of Canon's top-of-the line F-1 camera. Because of this, the EF shares the F-1's rugged construction and tough metal body. Unlike the F-1, the EF does not support any motor drive for film transport. Neither does it provide any interchangeable viewfinder.

The Canon EF contained a silicon photocell light meter with a range of EV 18 to EV -2 which measured light in a "central emphasis metering" pattern (also called center weighted average metering) with less influence from the top of the frame, to minimize underexposure due to a bright skyline. Note that this requires the camera to be held horizontally; taking vertically oriented pictures requires some care by the user. The Canon EF could operate "Variable Aperture AE" mode (commonly called shutter priority) or full manual mode, where the operator would control both the shutter speed and the aperture. When used in automatic mode, it's possible to lock the current aperture value, then recompose the picture, if desired, by pressing the small silver button next to the film rewind knob.

Automatic exposure required the FD-mount lenses. In 1975, the range of FD lenses available spanned from 15 mm fisheye to 300 mm telephoto, including three zoom lenses. Using manual exposure and stopped down metering, the Canon EF could also be used with the older FL-mount and R-mount lenses.

The EF used a unique shutter among Canon's 35mm SLRs: a Copal Square vertical-travel metal blade focal plane shutter. Unusually long exposures (from 1 second to 30 seconds) were electronically controlled, while shorter ones (1/1000 second to 1/2 second) were mechanically controlled. This was very useful in conserving battery power, and allowed one to use the camera even with dead batteries. The light metering system's power switch turned on the meter, removed the lock from the shutter trigger button and let the film advance lever pop out 15 degrees from the camera body, all in one flick of the thumb. In the axis of the main switch, a multiple exposure button is located. Pressing this while cocking the shutter prevents advancing the film. The frame counter is also blocked, thus preserving the correct frame count. At the time, most cameras did not support longer exposure times than about one second, without having to use the bulb setting. Maybe this was why Canon placed a red LED to the left of the pentaprism, and had the LED flashing as long as the electronic shutter timer was running. The LED was also used for battery check.

The focusing screen of the Canon EF cannot be replaced by the user. Early models feature a microprism circle, the later a split image screen with a microprism ring around it. Typical of the era, all viewfinder information is provided by mechanical arrangements, which are projected into the viewfinder by optics inside the camera housing. The range of selectable shutter speeds are always visible at the bottom of the viewfinder, with a fork outlining the currently selected speed. To the right is a scale with the aperture setting, where a needle points at the aperture the camera's exposure meter selects, and also automatically sets, provided the FD lens or FD new lens is set to the green A symbol (or green on older lenses). The largest opening the used lens is capable of is always properly shown, by shifting the whole scale up or down. The range goes from 1.2 to 5.6, in order to suit lenses from the Canon FD 55 mm 1:1.2 ASPHERICAL S.S.C. to the Canon FD 300 mm 1:5.6 S.C. The smallest aperture is not adjusted for. The camera always displays apertures up to f/22, but with a red line down to f/16, to remind the user that some lenses, like the Canon FD 50 mm 1:1.4 S.S.C. has its smallest aperture at f/16, while some, like the Canon FD 135 mm 1:2.5 S.C. can stop down to f/22. Later, when the Canon FD new lenses became available, the camera couldn't properly represent the new smallest aperture, like f/32. You had to estimate along the scale. The exposure scale also has a stopped down metering mark, where the needle should be aligned when using stopped down metering. Due to corrections taken for proper exposure with full aperture metering, stopped down metering with larger apertures than f/2.8 was not reliable.

Powering the electro-mechanical shutter and light meter were two PX 625 1.35 volt mercury batteries, but the camera has a voltage regulator which allows the use of 1.5 volt batteries. The EF is the only camera in the manual focus Canon line of the 1960s and 1970s (which includes the FTb, the F-1, and the FT) that can be used with common 1.5 volt batteries without modification to the internal electronics.

Like all pre-1987 Canon SLR's, the EF accepted Canon FD mount lenses. The shutter speed range was 1/1000 of a second to 30 seconds (the 15 & 30 second settings actually give 16 and 32 seconds, thus preserving the doubling sequence), plus bulb. The X-sync was 1/125th of a second. The camera included setting for film speeds of 12 ASA to 3200 ASA.

The EF also featured a self-timer and a stop-down metering mode which could also be used for depth-of-field preview. Stopped down metering must be used with older Canon FL lenses. The mirror can also be locked up for long exposures, to minimise camera shake.

The Canon FTb is a 35 mm single-lens reflex camera manufactured by Canon of Japan from March 1971 replacing the Canon FT QL. It features a Canon FD lens mount, and is also compatible with Canon's earlier FL-mount lenses in stop-down metering mode. Launched alongside the top-of-the-line F-1, the FTb was the mass-market camera in the range.

The FTb was primarily intended to be a camera for the advanced amateur photographer, offering many of the same features and same build quality as the F-1, but without the option of interchangeable prisms, focusing screens, or motor drives. The Canon FTb was released at a retail price of 35,000 yen for the camera body ($99, or $580 USD in 2014 USD).

The FTb has an all-mechanical horizontally traveling focal plane shutter with timed speeds from 1/1000 to 1 second and bulb. The FTb has rubberized silk shutter curtains rather than the more durable but more expensive titanium curtains found on the F-1.

It offers a 10-second self-timer, as well as mirror lock-up.

The meter is of the 12% (1/9) partial type with the metering area indicated by a slightly darkened box in the center of the finder area. It is fully coupled to shutter speed dial and aperture ring on FD lenses in the match needle style. The meter was designed to be powered by a single 1.35 volt 625-type mercury cell, specifically the Mallory PX-625 and the Eveready EPX-625. While these batteries are obsolete, modern replacements include the Wein zinc-air cell PX625, available at large online retailers. Alternative options for replacement are to use a 1.5 volt silver battery either through a voltage dropping adapter or recalibrating the meter. Using modern zinc air batteries provide the original voltage, but have a relatively short life.

In 1973, the FTb design was revised slightly. The camera was given a plastic tipped film advance lever. The stop down lever was changed to the same style as that found on the F-1. The PC sync socket was given a spring-loaded plastic cover. The ring around the outer edge of the shutter speed dial was changed from a scalloped design to a diamond textured design. Finally, a shutter speed display was added in the lower left hand corner of the viewfinder. This model was unofficially known as FTb-N or FTbn.

The F-1 was Canon's first successful professional-grade SLR system, supporting a huge variety of accessories and interchangeable parts so it could be adapted for different uses and preferences. Their earlier profession Canonflex of 1959 had failed due a premature introduction -- before professional accessories were ready.

After five years and a large investment in money and labor, the top-of-the-line 35mm Canon F-1 system was born.

The FD lens mount was newly developed for the new line of FD lenses. The new lens mount enabled fully-coupled automatic exposure metering. The camera system also included the first accessory ever for remote picture-taking with the camera. The many accessories enabled seamless and instant compatibility.

The camera was built to endure 100,000 picture-taking cycles, temperatures ranging from -30 C to 60 C, and 90% humidity. Being a highly durable and reliable camera, the F-1 gained many followers including pros. Except for a one-time revision, the camera was manufactured and sold for ten years.

The name Canon F-1 describes two very different cameras: a fully manual model, and a later electronically controlled model. The latter is often termed the New F-1 or F-1N. Finders designed for the F-1 do not fit the New F-1, or vice-versa. The New F-1 is most commonly seen with a pentaprism finder with an accessory shoe. Thus the simple way to tell the two models apart is by whether or not there is an accessory shoe atop the finder. To enumerate it correctly. There are three cameras named F-1. It is important to pay attention to the correct spelling. The first F-1 was also the only "F-1" (year of introduction 1971). The second F-1 was correctly called "F-1 Later Model" (in Japan) or "F-1n" in the rest of the world (introduction in 1976). The last is the "New F-1" (release year 1981).

The Canon F-1 system has 10,000 parts to begin with in manufacturing. To use the enormous amount of different parts to produce its basic bodies and those added-on accessories to suit different photographic purposes was one thing, method of joining them to make it precise, functional, reliable to work with and most of all, lowering the time cost was another. For example, between the camera and a standard lens has 24 joining parts - there are five mounting parts, eight attachment and eleven coupling parts, all of them must maintain perfect interchangeability.

The Canon FT QL is a 35mm single-lens reflex camera introduced by Canon Inc. in March 1966. It has a Canon FL lens mount compatible with the large range of FL series lenses. The FT can also operate the later Canon FD series lenses in stop-down mode, but the earlier R series has a different lens aperture mechanism and cannot be used, although the bayonet fitting is similar. The standard kit lenses were Canon's 50mm f/1.8 ; 50mm f/1.4 and 58mm f/1.2, the body-only option was offered later.

FT QL was introduced in March 1966, a year after the pellicle mirrored Canon Pellix. However it differs from the Pellix models, having a normal quick-return reflex mirror and offering stop-down TTL metering. The TTL metering is semi-spot in nature and works through a prism incorporated in the viewfinder condenser/screen assembly. The later Canon F-1 has a similar prism for metering in its removable screen. The Canon FT viewfinder screen is not user changeable. The pentaprism finder is fixed like the similar FX and FP models but unlike some earlier Canon R reflexes.

The cloth focal plane shutter has speeds from 1 sec to 1/1000 and B. The electronic flash sync. speed is 1/60. A delayed action timer gives 8 – 10 seconds delay, using the same front of body lever that actuates the stop-down metering. The mirror can be locked up for vibration reduction or for use with special FL lenses like the original 19mm f3.5 wide angle which projects deeply into the body and would foul the mirror.

The QL designation was a reference to Canon's ingenious and successful "quick load" system. A stainless steel sprung hinged device inside the rear door makes film loading simpler than competing cameras of the era.

An accessory device, the Canon Booster, worked only with the FT QL and Pellix QL. It is a plug-in device that sits on the accessory shoe and increases the metering sensitivity by a factor of 16 for measuring exposure in poor light. Its operation is somewhat clumsy and is best kept for tripod use.

The Canon FT is one of a series of three basically identical cameras released around this time. The first was the Canon FX which had a built-in meter, but no through-the-lens (TTL) metering, instead using a window on the camera body front. The later entry level FP has no built-in meter. The final model was the top of this sector, the Canon FT QL, which was developed to combat the growing popularity of the Pentax Spotmatic variants as well as the Topcon RE SLRs.

The FT QL and its sisters were an important step for Canon, leading to a number of improved versions such as the FTb and the full professional camera system the F-1. FT QL production ended in 1972 after the FTb was introduced.

By the 1950s, the Japanese camera industry had turned their interest towards the 35 mm SLR camera, which to that point had been exclusively manufactured in Europe, and in particular in Dresden, Germany. The first Japanese 35 mm SLR camera was Asahiflex. It was soon followed by several manufacturers. The Miranda T was launched in 1955. In 1958 Minolta and Topcon followed, while Nikon presented their Nikon F in 1959, by that time a supplier of rangefinder cameras based on the Contax concept. Canon had established itself as a 35 mm rangefinder camera manufacturer, featuring a wide variety of camera models and lenses using the Leica 39mm standard lens mount.

The Canonflex was introduced in May, 1959 by Canon of Tokyo, Japan. It is Canon's first 35 mm single-lens reflex camera. Its standard lens is the Super-Canomatic R 50mm f/1.8, using the first version of Canon's breech-lock manual-focus lens mount, the R lens mount, which would evolve into the Canon FL and Canon FD lens mounts over the next three decades. The Super-Canomatic lens features fully automatic aperture operation, using two internal connections.

Canomatic and R-series lenses use semi-automatic or manual diaphragms. Though the breech-lock mount itself remained unchanged until the introduction of the EF lenses for EOS autofocus cameras in the late 1980s, the actuating levers of the Canomatic or R-series lenses operate differently from their FL and FD descendants.

The Canonflex RP was inspired to an extent by the company's rangefinder camera models. It has a wind-on lever on the camera's base operated by the left middle finger. This aided rapid shutter release but hindered tripod mounting and rendered the leather case unwieldy. At the right-hand camera front is a wide accessory shoe taking a selenium exposure meter, which couples to the shutter speed dial.

The camera stayed in production for one year before it was replaced by the Canonflex R2000, adding the 1/2000 sec. shutter speed and the thumb operated wind on operation

The A-1 was the top-of-the-line A-series camera. (The AE-1 was the first in this series.) It was a sophisticated electronic camera with all-digital control.

Besides the shutter speed-priority AE and aperture-priority AE modes, it featured the first fully automatic program AE mode, preset aperture-priority AE, and Speedlite AE mode.

The viewfinder information was also easy to read with a 7-segment red LED readout. The control settings were displayed at the same time which made it very useful.

Besides Power Winder A, developed at the same time as the AE-1, accessories for the A-1 included the compact Motor Drive MA which attained a maximum shooting speed of 5 fps. This Motor Drive had a convenient vertical-grip shutter button. Also, there was the Speedlite 199A which had bounce flash capability.The A-1’s body had a fine black finish.