The Canon 7 was a
rangefinder system camera with an integrated
selenium
Selenium is a chemical element with the symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal (more rarely considered a metalloid) with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and tellurium, ...
light meter
A light meter is a device used to measure the amount of light. In photography, a light meter (more correctly an exposure meter) is used to determine the proper exposure for a photograph. The meter will include either a digital or analog calcul ...
introduced by
Canon Inc.
is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optical, imaging, and industrial products, such as lenses, cameras, medical equipment, scanners, printers, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. in September 1961, the last model compatible with the
Leica M39 lens mount
The M39 lens mount is a screw thread mounting system for attaching lenses to 35 mm cameras, primarily rangefinder (RF) Leicas. It is also the most common mount for Photographic enlarger lenses.
True Leica Thread-Mount (LTM) is 39 mm in d ...
. Later versions, branded Canon 7s and Canon 7s Type II (or Canon 7sZ), had a
cadmium sulfide
Cadmium sulfide is the inorganic compound with the formula CdS. Cadmium sulfide is a yellow solid.Egon Wiberg, Arnold Frederick Holleman (2001''Inorganic Chemistry'' Elsevier It occurs in nature with two different crystal structures as the rare m ...
light meter.
The Canon 7 came when the first Canon
single-lens reflex camera
A single-lens reflex camera (SLR) is a camera that typically uses a mirror and prism system (hence "reflex" from the mirror's reflection) that permits the photographer to view through the lens and see exactly what will be captured. With twin le ...
s were already on the market, but it was felt that there was a need for a fast-shooting rangefinder camera for reportage. In this niche, the Canon 7 came into direct competition with the
Leica M3
The Leica M3 is a 35 mm rangefinder camera by Ernst Leitz GmbH (now Leica Camera AG), introduced in 1954. It was a new starting point for Leitz, which until then had only produced screw-mount Leica cameras that were incremental improvements to i ...
.
Some Canon 7s were sold in the US branded
Bell & Howell
Bell and Howell LLC is a U.S.-based services organization and former manufacturer of cameras, lenses, and motion picture machinery, founded in 1907 by two projectionists, and originally headquartered in Wheeling, Illinois. The company is now he ...
, in a partnership that lasted until 1975.
External links
*
Canon RF Camera Price & Info Guideon cameraquest.com
by Karen Nakamura
on Canon Camera Museum
{{Canon
Canon rangefinder cameras