Post by PeterW on Feb 26, 2011 18:15:44 GMT -5
My earliest Canon SLR is a Canonflex RP introduced in 1960. It’s very similar to Canon’s first SLR, the Canonflex which appeared a year earlier, but the RP was a slightly cheaper version.
So far as I know, the only differences between the Canonflex and the Canonflex RP is that the Canonflex has a detachable pentaprism which can be changed for a waist-level reflex finder, whereas the Canonflex RP has a fixed pentaprism, and a different type of delayed action setting.
The lens is a 50mm f/1.8 Super-Canomatic R series which has a breech lock fixing but it isn’t interchangeable with the later FL or FD series lenses because the stop-down mechanism is completely different.
Unlike later Canon SLRs which have the wind-on lever in the usual place on the top plate, this has the lever on the baseplate with a little folding ‘foot’ by which you push it round. The shutter has the usual run of speeds from 1 to 1/1000 sec plus B, and an X setting for flash which, I’ve found by trial and error, is the same as 1/60 sec. As usual, the flash also synchronises at any speed slower than 1/60 sec. There isn’t a locking collar on the shutter release button. The frame counter is under a tiny round window on the top plate with a magnifying lens to help you read it.
With the camera came a quite chunky selenium meter which clips on to a bracket on the front of the camera and is geared to the shutter speed dial. When you clip it on you have to be careful to set the speed on the meter to the same speed as on the shutter dial.
The meter seems reasonably accurate, but for me it gets in the way of my natural right-hand hold. You can, if you want, unclip it and use it as a hand-held meter, which I did after the first few pictures, after which I left the meter at home and used a much more convenient Weston.
The camera isn’t in mint condition, it’s got the usual signs of fairly hard use (the original owner travelled all over the world with it), but everything works just as Canon said it would 51 years ago.
PeterW
So far as I know, the only differences between the Canonflex and the Canonflex RP is that the Canonflex has a detachable pentaprism which can be changed for a waist-level reflex finder, whereas the Canonflex RP has a fixed pentaprism, and a different type of delayed action setting.
The lens is a 50mm f/1.8 Super-Canomatic R series which has a breech lock fixing but it isn’t interchangeable with the later FL or FD series lenses because the stop-down mechanism is completely different.
Unlike later Canon SLRs which have the wind-on lever in the usual place on the top plate, this has the lever on the baseplate with a little folding ‘foot’ by which you push it round. The shutter has the usual run of speeds from 1 to 1/1000 sec plus B, and an X setting for flash which, I’ve found by trial and error, is the same as 1/60 sec. As usual, the flash also synchronises at any speed slower than 1/60 sec. There isn’t a locking collar on the shutter release button. The frame counter is under a tiny round window on the top plate with a magnifying lens to help you read it.
With the camera came a quite chunky selenium meter which clips on to a bracket on the front of the camera and is geared to the shutter speed dial. When you clip it on you have to be careful to set the speed on the meter to the same speed as on the shutter dial.
The meter seems reasonably accurate, but for me it gets in the way of my natural right-hand hold. You can, if you want, unclip it and use it as a hand-held meter, which I did after the first few pictures, after which I left the meter at home and used a much more convenient Weston.
The camera isn’t in mint condition, it’s got the usual signs of fairly hard use (the original owner travelled all over the world with it), but everything works just as Canon said it would 51 years ago.
PeterW
