Canon-Nikon First "PRO" AE slr's

[belgiumreporter]

In the late sixties and early seventies some camera manufacturers had auto exposure SLR's in their range, think of Konica auto reflex, Pentax ES, Nikkormat EL, Canon EF...

In those days of early electronics "PRO's" didn't want or trusted electronics in their cameras even going as far as not wanting a meter in the camera. But both Nikon and Canon were looking for solutions to have their pro models automated for un-manned survielance in changing lighting conditions.

So both the big ones came up with a somewhat similar solution. In 1971 Nikon introduced the DS-1 EE aperture control unit wich in combination with the F2S automatic set the diafragm to a chosen shutterspeed (shutter priority). Canon made something similar in the form of the Servo EE finder wich does the same as Nikon's DS 1 EE but while this is an add on to the finder accessorie, the Servo EE finder is a complete finder prism wich couples to the body and internally sets the diafragm.

Here's the Canon F1 with EE servo finder next to a Nikon F2 AS with the (later) DS-12 EE aperture control unit.




More to follow...

[belgiumreporter]

I can't seem to find when the Canon servo EE finder was introduced, there is very little to be found on it and in the best case it is only briefly mentionned in different publications. The manual wich came with it bears no printing date so that's a dead end to. About the manual, it is elaborate enough to get you started with the EE finder, though it doesn't mention how to hook up the finder with the F1 motor drive, only describing the posibility of using an external battery pack....



Behind this small latch on the F1 wich you probably won't notice if you weren't looking for it is the coupling to command the diafragm.




On the F2 a ring goes around the lens mount wich couples the lens to the DS-12.



The DS-12 needs a dedicated rechargeable battery (and DH-1 quick charger) to power the diafragm motor, in this set up no additional cables are needed. Because of the hefty power consumption of the DS-12 a seperate battery pack can be used but this is linked with a cable wich makes handheld shooting more complicated.


more to follow....

[belgiumreporter]

Now while the DS units on the Nikon F2 can be operated with just their internal battery,keeping things compact, the Canon servo EE's need to draw their power from the FM motor drive or if the F1 is used without motor drive it'll need a seperate tethered battery pack wich in either case never made the F1- servo EE a small package.


Still these contraptions paved the way for what was to follow and both Nikon's (F3) and Canon's (F1 new) follow up PRO camera's became auto exposure by default without the need for further add ons. By that time PRO photographers had come to realise that a reliable PRO camera with either aperture or shutter auto exposure can come in very handy.