P
pshinkaw
Guest
Although it's not complete yet, the lens section seems to be up. It has answered some questions for me about my 50mm/1.8 and how old it is. I have been unable to find this information elsewhere. Pretty neat!
-Paul
-Paul
taffer
void
Thanks for the link Rover !!!
Looks like it will be a very nice site when completed.
Looks like it will be a very nice site when completed.
back alley
IMAGES
embryonic but nice.
i have been hoping for a strictly canon site to come along.
for awhile i though it was gonna be oscar & i doing it!! lol
joe
i have been hoping for a strictly canon site to come along.
for awhile i though it was gonna be oscar & i doing it!! lol
joe
taffer
void
backalley photo said:
And we'll still do it !
jlw
Rangefinder camera pedant
Hard to beat the one Canon itself has done (click)
Interesting, though, that Mr. Kitchingman is finally generating some output. I'd been hearing that he was working on a new Canon book for about a decade! There's even been some question as to whether he's really a serious researcher, or simply trolling for camera buy/sell opportunities. So it's good to see something. I had sent him the serial numbers of my Canon lenses, and now I can see how he's using them.
back alley
IMAGES
i've been to the canon museum many times. i'm glad it's there.
but it is not always right. it has few photos of the lenses or cameras. it has gaps in information. i'm talking screwmount here.
i am amazed considering it's a site from canon, the maker of the equipment.
but it is not always right. it has few photos of the lenses or cameras. it has gaps in information. i'm talking screwmount here.
i am amazed considering it's a site from canon, the maker of the equipment.
S
Sonnar
Guest
Nice site, full of information. I think he has some good sources. Helps a lot to rank the lenses by year - i.e. I didn't know exactly when my 1.5/50 was produced before... or that the 1.5/35 and some other were produced well into the 1970's..!
Otherwise, some more technical informations like these form the Stella brothers would be appreciated. Even Canon Museum hasn't diagrams for every lens.
cheers, Frank
Otherwise, some more technical informations like these form the Stella brothers would be appreciated. Even Canon Museum hasn't diagrams for every lens.
cheers, Frank
jlw
Rangefinder camera pedant
backalley photo said:
I think it says somewhere in Dechert's book that sometime during the '60s Canon got rid of a lot of their early production data and records.
Amazing now in view of how much many companies make of their "heritage," but I'm sure that back then these were simply considered to be obsolete old cameras.
Even now, Canon seems a lot less heritage-oriented than other companies (at least in its US marketing message.) They seem to have decided to stress a modern high-tech image rather than a tradition-grounded craftsmanship image. Hard to argue with their commercial success -- but it seems odd that a company that did so much pioneering doesn't want to talk about it today!
jlw
Rangefinder camera pedant
Note that he doesn't say "produced," he says "distributed"! I'm sure these lenses mostly went out of production by the end of Canon's rangefinder era in the late 1960s... but sat around on shelves in some Bell & Howell warehouse for who knows how much longer!
I distinctly remember seeing many of them listed in Modern Photography's annual Interchangeable Lens Directory* well into the '70s, and the info in this directory came from the manufacturers' or distributors' listings.
I kick myself now to think that in my high school or early college days, I might have been able to buy a brand-new-in-box 35/1.5 or 100/2 if I had pestered some big dealer enough to order one!
*This list was always interesting reading -- it included not only current lenses for major-brand SLRs, but more obscure offerings as well. I wonder if anyone ever actually ordered an Astro-Tachar lens from Ercona! If you're ever in a library with back copies of Modern on microforms, have a look for the directory to get a real blast from the past...
S
Sonnar
Guest
Canon RF history
Canon RF history
jlw, thats right. I wonder why Canon isn't more interested in their craftmanship and design history as additional marketing argument.
Thats why I make my webpage for all the people in Germany which doesn't even have a clue that another company as LEICA did make quality RF cameras...
Maybe in 1970's Americas this was kind of closing down sale of odd equipment - btw how cheap were the lenses then? - but here we don't know other stuff than Leica exists, or believed the tattle from the German industy about "poorly made Japanese copies".
Thats why I got excited when I saw my first Canon-P at America ebay. At first view you see it's nobodys "copy" but a true Canon design, like they continued till recent years...
http://www.taunusreiter.de/Cameras/Canon_RF.html
cheers, Frank
Canon RF history
jlw, thats right. I wonder why Canon isn't more interested in their craftmanship and design history as additional marketing argument.
Thats why I make my webpage for all the people in Germany which doesn't even have a clue that another company as LEICA did make quality RF cameras...
Maybe in 1970's Americas this was kind of closing down sale of odd equipment - btw how cheap were the lenses then? - but here we don't know other stuff than Leica exists, or believed the tattle from the German industy about "poorly made Japanese copies".
Thats why I got excited when I saw my first Canon-P at America ebay. At first view you see it's nobodys "copy" but a true Canon design, like they continued till recent years...
http://www.taunusreiter.de/Cameras/Canon_RF.html
cheers, Frank