In part 1, I confessed to being a serious fan of the Oympus OM-1. Small, light, perfect handling, beautifully built. This to me was the start of the classic era of SLR photography. Bigger, bulkier cameras existed before and some stayed around too, but every manufacturer built cameras tending to the OM-1 format, most clearly the Pentax M series. Now, Nikon, as the market leader are a story unto themselves, but what were the other two heavyweights, Canon and Minolta doing? In this part, I will look at Canon and in part 3 of the series I’ll deal with Minolta.

Canon have always vyed for supremacy with Nikon in the post (second world) war camera world. It took until the autofocus era and notably digital before they finally wrested control from Nikon. So, there are an enormous quantity of different Canon SLR models of many different types. It is necessary to be selective. There are three big points of interest in my classic era. The F series, the A series and the T series.

The Canon F was the top professional model and so is excluded from my survey. They are fabulous and remain very expensive. However, an electronic version, lacking the interchangeable viewfinders and many other professional level features, but including electronic shutter speed timing up to an amazing 8 seconds, but mechanical below a second and with the Fs ultra solid build quality, is available at sensible prices. This is the Canon EF (Electronic F). Also, there was a genuine consumer level version in the FT and FTb, full featured SLRs with great build quality. However, neither was remotely small and light and are comparable to the Pentax Spotmatic/K series. 

The A series are the most popular classic era SLRs. The A-1 is sometimes cited as the best ever SLR, with manual, aperture and shutter priority automatic modes and a super clever dial that shows shutter and aperture settings. It even has a 7 segment LED (yes, like your first calculator) display in the viewfinder. It is the gadget lovers dream, so many knobs and buttons to play with. Also, stunning build quality. Not small and light like an OM-1 but much neater than the F series. Unsurprisingly, nice examples of these can be pricey.

Next up is the AE-1. A shutter priority automatic with manual over-ride. LED lights for viewfinder information. Build quality between OM-1 and OM-10 with a fair amount of plastic, but the advantage is that it is light and handles well. This is a very popular camera (Lance in the detectorists uses one!) and an excellent choice. There was a later model which was a significant cosmetic redesign and included even more electronics and notably a program mode, called unsurprisingly the AE-1 program. Then there was a set of models which have the same look and feel as the AE-1 but different specifications. They are much less well known, so if the difference doesn’t matter to you, then they are normally much cheaper than AE-1s. 

The AV-1 is very common and is the auto only version (think OM-10), then the AT-1 is the manual only version, the AL-1 is the most like the AE-1 being auto manual (although with fewer manual speeds) but it has a focus assist system (like the OM-30/ME-F). These can be great bargains and are lovely cameras, but they take 2 AAA batteries in the grip and the battery hatch has a tendency to break, so look out for this. In fact, all the others have a battery door on the front of the body, taking a 6v battery. This is very neat, but again the doors can break, sometimes just the corner, which doesn’t look nice but also doesn’t matter, but if it is properly broken it is almost impossible to fix.

Then came the T series. Lots of electronics, multiple metering modes, very 1980s styling and now available quite cheaply. They were the T50 (auto only with in built motor drive), the T70 (auto/manual, in-built motor drive, different metering modes), the T80 (like the T70 but with the first genuine SLR autofocus with three real autofocus lenses with massive motors in a box on the side of the lens) and finally the amazing and wonderful professional level T90. Do be careful, T90s which have not been used, develop an EEE error because the magnets stop working and are virtually impossible to fix, so check first. Did you notice the T60 is missing. That is because it is the Canon version of that all purpose Cosina just like the OM-2000. Fine, but not a Canon.