Pictured is an early version of the famous Canon EF.The EF is a close cousin of the Canon F-1.The EF has many more features than the F-1 right out of the box.Also known as the ‘Black Beauty’.
Comments are always welcome; I’ve learned a great deal from reader feedback. As always, thanks for stopping by. While there, visit my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com (CC Design Studios, hosted on Etsy). – Chris Whelan
An early Canon wide-angle lens with its desirable chrome nose.
I enjoy collecting these lenses. They are from the very earliest days of the Canon F-1, and they have a heft to them that’s very reassuring. Lots of brass and glass. The lens weighs 290 grams.
Considering its age, the markings are super sharp and crazy clean.The JCII inspection sticker (the gold thingy) was likely placed before the lens was fully assembled.Canon stamped a date code on most everything it produced. Here, M1010 indicates the lens was completed and passed an internal inspection in October 1972. N = 1972 and 10 = October. The last two numbers are an internal code only known to Canon.Here is the lens mounted to my earliest Canon F-1 from late 1970 or early 1971.
The early chrome-nose Canon lenses are a fun way to collect classic camera gear. If you can find a nice, clean example, you won’t be disappointed.
Comments are always welcome; I’ve learned a great deal from reader feedback. As always, thanks for stopping by. While there, visit my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com (CC Design Studios, hosted on Etsy). – Chris Whelan
I’m moving on from it. Enjoyed every minute of using and collecting all of the bits that make it special.
Everything works. Excellent condition.My set includes the super-sharp Nikkor 50mm f/2 Ai lens with hood, cap, and filter.With Nikon MD-2 motor drive.A joy to use.
Comments are always welcome; I’ve learned a great deal from reader feedback. As always, thanks for stopping by. While there, visit my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com (CC Design Studios, hosted on Etsy). – Chris Whelan
This is the last Canon EF 35mm film camera in my collection. I’ve owned quite a few over the years, but I kept this one because it’s in mint condition and works perfectly. This EF was made in early 1976. It’s affectionally know as the Black Beauty.
It’s a very close cousin to the Canon F-1. The original F-1 was released in March 1971. The EF made its appearance in November 1973.It’s one of the most underrated cameras of the 1970s, and in some ways was better than the F-1 straight out of the box.
If you’re looking to add a classic film camera from the seventies, the Canon EF is worth the chase!
Comments are always welcome; I’ve learned a great deal from reader feedback. As always, thanks for stopping by. While there, visit my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com (CC Design Studios, hosted on Etsy). – Chris Whelan
Collecting classic camera sales brochures is fun, but it’s also educational. If the marketing departments did their jobs correctly, then the information should be entertaining and a great way to enhance your collecting experience.
Here are five recent acquisitions.
Likely the first and most complete brochure for the new Canon F-1, which was released in March 1971. This brochure is dated November 1970.An often overlooked early Canon camera. Dated November 1970.Part of Canon’s building blocks of sophisticated 35mm SLRs on their way to developing the F-1. Dated September 1969.I had the next model up from this classic. Dated March 1971.Check out these guys with their Canon Super 8 movie camera. Dated March 1971.Available Canon lenses as of late 1970.
I have more brochures in my collection, with the earliest being from the mid-1950s.
Comments are always welcome; I’ve learned a great deal from reader feedback. As always, thanks for stopping by. While there, visit my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com (CC Design Studios, hosted on Etsy). – Chris Whelan
My early F-1, July 1971, with a matching July 1971 50mm f1.4 lens and a November 1971 instruction book (PUB. NO. 5366G). These very early books are almost harder to find than the cameras.
What’s interesting about this camera is that the serial number is less than 3,000, but the date stamp inside reads L712C, indicating July 1971. I have an August 1971 camera, and its SN is just shy of 20,000. My guess is that, for whatever reason, this body sat around long after its serial number was issued. The ‘C’ after the date stamp may tell the story that we’ll never know.
An early gem of a camera.Almost as new as the day it rolled off the line.The first F-1s began at 100001. This one should have been assembled in December 1970 or January 1971, based on the low serial number. The F-1 was released in March 1971.The baseplate is in excellent condition for such an old F-1.Canon stamps what is believed to be a factory date code inside the film chamber of every camera made. This code indicates that it was assembled in 1971 (L), July (7). The following two numbers are an internal code, as is the ‘C’ – lost in time as to their meaning.
Comments are always welcome; I’ve learned a great deal from reader feedback. As always, thanks for stopping by. While there, visit my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com (CC Design Studios, hosted on Etsy). – Chris Whelan
My well-used but super-clean Canon New F-1 (F-1N) limited-edition Los Angeles 1984 camera set.
The LA Olympics F-1 is a favorite with collectors. Most ended up either being gently used or put on display. Fewer than 9,500 were made. My F-1 was obviously a busy camera throughout its life. It was assembled in November 1983, and the lens in October. Most of these were made with the AE finder, which makes mine a bit more unusual because it has an eye-level finder. Everything works as designed.
Canon New FD 135mm f3.5 short telephoto lens set. The 135 is a popular lens for portraits, sporting events, and wildlife photography.It’s no secret that I love super-wide-angle lenses, the wider the better. I’ve used the 17mm and the 24mm; the 20mm is a nice compromise between those two.Who doesn’t love a still-mint-condition instruction booklet?My last unused Canon 50mm.Pristine.Remembering a sharp camera from the late 1970s. My last cine camera before I got my first video camera.
As I continue to downsize my collection, these special Canons are now available in my Etsy camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com.
Comments are always welcome; I’ve learned a great deal from reader feedback. As always, thanks for stopping by. While there, visit my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com (CC Design Studios, hosted on Etsy). – Chris Whelan
Canon made these limited-edition cameras for the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles.
My strange Canon New F-1 Los Angeles 1984 camera. I say “strange” because the gold paint on the logos is weak and missing. The camera is definitely well-used, with plenty of dents, but shows no brassing. It’s a genuine Olympics body with a date code X1123 (Nov 83) and a proper LA6312 serial number. It works perfectly (not film-tested yet). It could make a fun user camera, as most people wouldn’t use a limited-edition camera and risk beating the heck out of it. Please let me know your thoughts. Should I attempt to fill in the gold or leave it be? It would be difficult to match the gold without mucking it up, so I have that going for me.
A few dents and missing gold paint, but otherwise a good-looking camera.Back view. The LA cameras got a special serial number.
It’s estimated that about 9,000 to 9,900 were made. My camera is an LA6312, made in November 1983. My guess is that Canon must have made at least another 3,000 units, but I don’t know that for sure. I have seen an LA9584, and it was made in April 1984.
The bottom plate looks amazingly good given its age and use.Top view.
The Canon limited edition Olympic cameras are a fun twist for collectors. There are the 1976 Montreal, 1980 Lake Placid, and 1984 Los Angeles models.
Comments are always welcome; I’ve learned a great deal from reader feedback. As always, thanks for stopping by. While there, visit my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com (CC Design Studios, hosted on Etsy). – Chris Whelan
I have a Nikon Nikkor-H Auto f/3.5 28mm lens set with unique <E.P> markings. The lens was manufactured between 1971 and June 1973. The <E.P> markings indicate that it was sold in a US military exchange store or could it have been sold in a duty-free shop. What I don’t know is where it was sold. Most likely in Japan, but it could be at any exchange store in Asia since there were many military installations in the Philippines, Guam, South Vietnam, or Thailand. The other possibility is that it was sold at a duty-free shop in Japan or Hong Kong, since by the early 1970s, such shops were common and available to foreign tourists.
The lens is clearly marked with the <E.P> symbol, as is the box. The serial numbers match. The kanji on the box translates to ‘Duty-Free for Export Goods Sales Outlets’, which I have never seen before. During my time in Japan (1977-1980), I never remember seeing a sticker like this on anything I purchased while shopping at the Navy Exchange shops in Yokohama or Yokosuka. Everything sold in an exchange was always ‘duty and tax-free’, so why put a sticker on the product?The translation. Please Nippon Kogaku Kogyo Co., Ltd. Our trademarks, Nikon and Nikkor, are registered with U.S. Customs. Under U.S. law, Nikon products cannot be cleared through customs by anyone other than our sole distributor, even if they are sent by mail or as separate cargo to the U.S. Therefore, if you are bringing a Nikon product to the U.S., please be sure to carry it with you. The Nikon products that can be carried are one still camera, two interchangeable lenses, one binoculars, and one other optical device.
My first thought was that this was a lens sold at a civilian duty-free shop frequented by tourists, not necessarily by military personnel or their family members. But the <E.P> mark was mainly used on items sold exclusively at military shops, not duty-free shops. The pink card was included in the lens set and may hold the answer, since it mentions only the US.
I enjoy using and collecting early wide-angle lenses. This one is in like-new condition.Complete as it may have looked when sold in the early 1970s.
So, have I confused you or myself? The sticker on the box still troubles me a bit, but the pink card clearly indicates it was meant for export to the United States, suggesting it was sold at an exchange.
I can’t wait to use it on my Fujifilm X-T2. The results soon.
<E.P> marked camera gear isn’t necessarily worth more in the marketplace. As a collector, I enjoy collecting gear with the marks whenever I can. In some cases, they are extremely rare, so that’s an added bonus.
My Canon F-1 from August 1971. <E.P> marks on these early F-1s are hyper rare. This is the only one I’ve seen in decades of collecting.
Comments are always welcome; I’ve learned a great deal from reader feedback. As always, thanks for stopping by. While there, visit my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com (CC Design Studios, hosted on Etsy). – Chris Whelan
From well-known Australian photographer and camera collector Bruce Thomas, used by permission. Both cameras are marked with a ‘T’ on their rewind knobs, indicating Nikon’s approach to identifying tax-exempt or duty-free cameras sold in Japan in the early 1960s. Not to be confused with the more common ‘EP’ mark, which appeared across all camera brands in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and even a few from Canon in the early 1980s.
Nikon S4 top and Nikon F below. The ‘T’ mark appeared in 1960 on some Nikon cameras sold in Japan and possibly in Hong Kong, though there hasn’t been hard evidence yet.
The Nikon F was developed from the Nikon SP rangefinder camera from 1957. It’s easy to spot the similarities between the S4 and F. Finding a mint condition SP today is quite expensive, but there are “plenty” on online auction sites.
Comments are always welcome; I’ve learned a great deal from reader feedback. As always, thanks for stopping by. While there, visit my camera shop at http://www.ccstudio2380.com (CC Design Studios, hosted on Etsy). – Chris Whelan
Chasing Classic Cameras with Chris 