[Canon] Canonet | Film Cameras | January 1961
Canonet
This is Canon’s first intermediate-class, lens-shutter 35mm camera. The first prototype looked very orthodox.
The camera had the EE (Electric Eye) feature, which was also developed. With shutter speed-priority auto-exposure, the camera could take nice pictures. You just had to press the shutter button.
The camera industry went into an uproar upon learning that Canon, maker of high-end cameras, was to introduce a mid-class 35mm camera with a fast f/1.9 lens for less than 20,000 yen. However, the Canonet safely went to market in January 1961. A week’s worth of stock was sold out in only two hours. It was the start of the Canonet boom. Two and a half years later, a million Canonets were sold.
- Type: 35mm lens-shutter rangefinder camera with shutter speed-priority EE
- Picture Size: 24 x 36mm
- Normal Lens: SE45mm f/1.9 (5 elements in 4 groups)
- Shutter: Copal SLV; B, 1 to 1/500 sec. Built-in self-timer. Time exposures with T ring set to B. M-X switchable sync contacts with German socket.
- Viewfinder: Coincidence rangefinder integrated with reversed Galilean viewfinder. Automatic parallax correction with projected frames. 0.67x magnification. Viewfinder bottom features aperture scale (f/1.9 – f/16) with inside-pointing arrows on both ends. Red circle, coupled to match needle and EE, is displayed in viewfinder as an exposure warning.
- Exposure Meter and EE: Selenium photocell for comb-controlled shutter speed-priority EE. Metering range of EV 5 – 7 and f/2, 1/8 sec. to f/16, 1/500 sec. (at ISO 100). Film speed range of ISO 10 – 200. Manual exposure enabled by disabling AUTO (EE).
- Film Loading & Advance: After opening the camera back, insertion onto spool. Advances with camera-bottom trigger. (100° single stroke).
- Frame Counter: Counts up. Resets automatically when camera back is opened.
- Film Rewind: Camera-bottom collapsible crank.
- Dimensions & Weight: 140 x 78 x 64mm, 700g
