On the last post we took a look at the Nikon F – a camera that dominated the professional 35mm SLR market for over a decade. With that camera, Nikon got everything about as right as they could. But, what was Canon up to?
Well, Canon had been doing just fine in the 35mm rangefinder market. You may recall from last week that the company that would eventually become Nikon – Nippon Kogaku – had actually been providing lenses for the Canon rangefinders as early as the mid-1930s. So, as a camera manufacturer, Canon had a few years of seniority over Nikon.
But then we come to the magic year of 1959 – the year both Nikon and Canon would jump into the SLR market. In hindsight, we could’ve voted the Nikon F as “Most Likely to Succeed”. For Canon, though, maybe the best we could proclaim for their first SLR – the Canonflex – would be “Most Unique”.
The Nikon F had a lot of similarities with the Nikon rangefinders of the day. The Canonflex, though, had very little in common with the any of the Canon rangefinders. It was a different animal altogether. And while the Nikon F was a hit, the Canonflex was not. Canon only built about 17000 units of the camera before releasing an updated model – the R2000 – which was the first SLR ever to offer a shutter speed of 1/2000 of a second. Still, even with that feather in their cap, sales would lag far behind the Nikon camera.
But was it because the Canonflex was a bad camera? Personally, I don’t think so. I’ve found this camera to be as solidly built as the Nikon F – with even a few improvements over that Nikon. But I do think it found itself a casualty of questionable design. Good intentions, no doubt. But the execution was lacking. Check out the video for more info and a photoshoot with the Canonflex!
Vintage Camera Digest 