Canon Retro Film Camera Designs I Absolutely Love

These are the Canon film cameras of yesteryear that I find the most beautiful as far as their designs are concerned. I can’t tell you exactly why they appeal to me: It could be the simplicity of their design, the clean lines, the texture, colors, proportion… or it could be the knob, the self-timer, the shape of the prism… they seem to just have some “J’ne sais quoi…” quality that sets them apart from other cameras.

Canon VT

I just love that big lens with the fast F1.2 aperture on the Canon VT. Camera manufacturers used to attach those big F1.2 lenses onto their cameras to differentiate them from the competition, but we don’t see this now. A F1.2 lens nowadays costs an arm and a leg.

I also love that little circular knob on the front. I guess it reminds me of another of my favorite retro film camera, the Olympus PEN F.

Canon Demi EE 17

The Canon Demi EE 17, as its name suggests, is a half-frame 35 mm film camera with a 30mm F1.7 lens. It used a regular 35 mm (24x36mm) film, but recorded a picture on only half of the area (24x18mm) in the portrait format, thus giving the user twice the amount of pictures from one roll of film.

I like the simplicity of the design: everything seems to be just right: a short unadorned film advance lever, a shutter release button tall enough for half-press, even the arrow on the self-timer lever to tell you to lift it up to operate (opposite to how most self-timer levers work). The optical viewfinder design with the alternate shadings also looks really good (notice the portrait orientation).

Canonet QL 28

There are other Canonet QL models, some with a faster F1.7 aperture, but I like the Canonet QL 28 with a 40mm F2.8 lens the best. The other models look almost identical, but the addition of the “QL” label distracts a bit from an otherwise beautifully clean design.

New Canonet QL 17 (1969) with a 40mm F1.7 lens

For some strange reason, I really like the slightly rounded top shutter release button as well as the two-ring layered film advance lever. The diagonal line of the rangefinder window is a master stroke and lends quiet power to the design.

Canon F-1

It must have been the oversized self-timer on the front of the camera and the daringly pointy prism which spoke louder than words could tell that this was a professional-level SLR camera. Subsequent models removed the iconic self-timer, introduced a hand grip — and the F-1 lost its distinctive personality.

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. — Canon Camera Museum

Canon ELPH

The Canon ELPH (also called IXY in Japan) starts the fashion accessory trend for cameras small enough to carry in a woman’s purse and beautiful enough to take to events where you need to dress up your best.

I like the small compact form, almost looking like a square, the flash that daintily pops out just a tad above the top without revealing embarassing structs, and the dimples (kudos to the designer who had the brillant idea to put dimples on the camera).

That’s it! What are your favourite Canon retro film camera designs?

P.S. If Canon should ever decide to bring out a retro style mirrorless camera, oh please, let it please please please not be based on the ugliest SLR it has ever designed, the Canon AE-1 Program.