Day September 6, 2025

A true first for Canon Camera Company – 1959

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

Canon Canonflex

Canon’s first 35mm SLR. This one is likely from late 1959 as the serial number is just below 6,000. If you have a chance to get your hands on one, you’ll see straight away that the build quality is top-notch. This one is in mint condition and, except for the slowest speeds, operates like new. The Canon Super-Canomatic R 50mm f/1.8 lens is crystal clear. It’s also an <E.P> marked body. It shares lots of DNA with my early F-1 from August 1971, which is also <E.P> marked.

Canon’s first 35mm SLR. Released in May 1959.
Although modern and advanced for 1959, it didn’t catch on. Sales were reported as being disappointing. It’s reported that just shy of 18,000 were sold.
My camera’s serial number indicates it was number 5,998 in the first production run. The prism is removable, just like the 1971 Canon F-1.
The film advance lever was mounted on the bottom. Unusual but not unheard of for the period. The <E.P> mark was somewhat common in the 1950s, especially on Canon’s rangefinder cameras.
It looks just like any modern Canon film camera through the 1980s.
A snip from the instruction book from January 1960.
It’s claimed that you could shoot and advance up to 3 frames per second!
Shared DNA. The Canonflex on the left and my Canon F-1 (1971) on the right.

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