Why does the Canon F-1 seem to get relatively little love?

[drkhalsa]

I thought you might know. I consider you the resident Canon expert.

 

[benjiboy]

I thought you might know. I consider you the resident Canon expert.

Thanks, I have been using Canon FD 35mm SLR,s for more than 40 years, I have picked up a little knowledge and experience on the way.

 

[CMoore]

Thanks, I have been using Canon FD 35mm SLR,s for more than 40 years, I have picked up a little knowledge and experience on the way.

Was there much difference in price between the A-1 and AE1-P.?
They seem so similar to me (but maybe they were not) i wonder why Canon made both.
I suppose because they sold both in sufficient numbers to keep doing it.?

 

[flavio81]

I can't say which model Canon is in this video, but in the opening sequence this photographer is using a manual focus Canon.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/82421513?h=29c53a1615

That's definitely a Canon A-1. I can see the side part of the switch for turning on-off the LED display.

 

[flavio81]

Was there much difference in price between the A-1 and AE1-P.?
They seem so similar to me (but maybe they were not) i wonder why Canon made both.
I suppose because they sold both in sufficient numbers to keep doing it.?

Canon A-1 has a LED display that shows both speed and aperture, has aperture priority mode, two self-timer delays, a wider ASA range...

 

[George Mann]

Canons are goofy.

 

[drkhalsa]

Thanks, I have been using Canon FD 35mm SLR,s for more than 40 years, I have picked up a little knowledge and experience on the way.

And, as I recall, you've been growing your beard for a longer period of time than I have mine.

 

[benjiboy]

And, as I recall, you've been growing your beard for a longer period of time than I have mine.[/QUOTE
I don't have a beard, or have I ever had one, even although I'm retired I shave every day .

 

[benjiboy]

Canon A-1 has a LED display that shows both speed and aperture, has aperture priority mode, two self-timer delays, a wider ASA range...

I used to sell both the Canon A1 and AE1 when they were current and to be honest, chip I can't remember what the price difference was because it's been about forty years since then only that the A1 because it had shutter, aperture, program AE, and fully manual modes, was about £75 the more expensive, and the black finish on the AE1 and AE1P was an additional £10.

 

[CMoore]

I used to sell both the Canon A1 and AE1 when they were current and to be honest, chip I can't remember what the price difference was because it's been about forty years since then only that the A1 because it had shutter, aperture, program AE, and fully manual modes, was about £75 the more expensive, and the black finish on the AE1 and AE1P was an additional £10.

You cannot remember pricing from a a mere 40 years ago.?

I used the A-1 for almost 2 years. It was a nice camera.
Other things, including a F-1 New, came along, but the A-1 was fine.

 

[drkhalsa]

I stand corrected, apologies for mis-remembering. It was Sirius Glass that commented on how much longer than I he had been growing his beard.

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/happy-world-beard-day-everyone.106649/

 

[benjiboy]

I understand why you made the the mistake , it's o.k. I'm not offended.

 

[benjiboy]

You cannot remember pricing from a a mere 40 years ago.?

I used the A-1 for almost 2 years. It was a nice camera.
Other things, including a F-1 New, came along, but the A-1 was fine.

Considering that the A series cameras were consumer grade and how revolutionary the design and construction was using a laminated plastic body and automated construction of the electronic components it's amazing that after nearly forty years there are so many still around working reliably.
I had an A 1 for about 20 years and sold it a couple of years ago and bought another F1n body.
I sometimes regret selling the A1 because the body weighed half of that of the F1.

 

[swchris]

I can't imagine any situation when I would need to use B with a motor drive, or 1/2000 sec. with the mirror up on any camera I have ever owned in more than sixty years of photography.

Hmm, the 1/2000s and mirror up might not be that restricting after all. I'm coming from a Nikon background where there are lenses which protrude into the camera body where you have to fold the mirror up in order to use them.

And, "B", don't you ever use it? What happens when you need to use B and happen to have a motor attached to the camera? It's no showstopper, you probably can use the camera shutter release with the motor turned off. But, still, IMO a stupid restriction.

 

[swchris]

I know of 6mm f/5.6 and 8mm f/8 (I've got the latter).

 

[swchris]

And 10mm f/5.6 OP. Quite unobtanium...

 

[drkhalsa]

I understand why you made the the mistake , it's o.k. I'm not offended.

Thanks! No worries.

 

[benjiboy]

Hmm, the 1/2000s and mirror up might not be that restricting after all. I'm coming from a Nikon background where there are lenses which protrude into the camera body where you have to fold the mirror up in order to use them.

And, "B", don't you ever use it? What happens when you need to use B and happen to have a motor attached to the camera? It's no showstopper, you probably can use the camera shutter release with the motor turned off. But, still, IMO a stupid restriction.

If you have the power winder or motor drive attached to the Canon F1 or New F1 and want to use " B" you just switch it off,and you can wind the film manually.

 

[benjiboy]

Just to clarify the situation, the original Canon F1 and F1n have a mirror lock up, the New F1 doesn't, because Canon consider that the shutter action was so smooth it was unnecessary.

 

[benjiboy]

I sold Canon cameras back then (late 1970s) in a camera department of a department store - the largest volume Canon dealer by far in Canada.
We could order Canon F-1s, but they weren't regular sales items. AFAIK, we never sold one in the time I was there.
The advanced amateur market back then that would have considered choosing between a Canon F-1 and a Nikon F2 was absolutely tiny. Almost all of those customers were looking to the AE-1, AE-1 Program or A-1 instead (on the Canon side - we didn't sell Nikon).
The people who sold Nikon F2s or Canon F-1s were few in our market and were generally not even courting the amateur market.
Of all the photographers that I knew back then I only knew one who was not a working professional who owned that class of camera - a Canon F-1 in that case.

Both the Nikon F2 and the Canon F 1 were nearly three times of the price of the Canon AE1 and other consumer grade S.L.Rs, and far beyond the reach of the average hobbyist photographer in those days, including myself.

 

[benjiboy]

For those of us out in the bright, harsh southwest, 1/1250 to 1/1600 is the norm.

There are these things called "neutral density filters".

 

[George Mann]

There are these things called "neutral density filters".

Naturally. But to do as nature intends it, you just need a higher shutter speed.

 

[millardmt]

Considering that the A series cameras were consumer grade and how revolutionary the design and construction was using a laminated plastic body and automated construction of the electronic components it's amazing that after nearly forty years there are so many still around working reliably.
I had an A 1 for about 20 years and sold it a couple of years ago and bought another F1n body.
I sometimes regret selling the A1 because the body weighed half of that of the F1.

Perhaps your situation (or perspective) is different in the U.K., but here in the States what you cite as "revolutionary" is the very quality that has led the planet into its current plight. We are knee-deep in disposable shite. I have been fighting a rear-guard action against the proliferation of ephemeral consumer cr*p for as long as I can remember, and my efforts have had not the slighest effect.

Were that not bad enough, I read that as fossil fuel consumption ultimately declines, we can expect an increase in the ancillary production of other cheap, disposable petroleum-based goods (in order to sustain the markets).

In cameras, Canon did indeed lead the way. Thanks Canon.

Marc

 

[George Mann]

In cameras, Canon did indeed lead the way. Thanks Canon.

Them are fighting words!

 

[eli griggs]

Amen.

I have owned Nikon Fs and F2s in the past, but for the last thirty years I have been shooting with four Canon F1s ( 2 Fin's and 2 New F1-AE's ) I have no desire to use anything else because if God ever made a better 35mm S.L.R. he kept it to himself.