Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-03-07)

F I L M S TA RS

Testbench C A N O N T- S E R I E S

T total

Canon’srevolutionaryT-serieswasabiginfluence

on future camera design, asJohn Wade reveals

B

etween 1983 and

1986 Canonlaunched

ashortseriesof

35mmsinglelens

reflexes(SLRs),thestyleof which

hadnotbeenseenbefore,or

wouldbeagain.Today,theT-series

is startingto lookcollectable,while

stillveryusable.Andbecausethe

camerasacceptCanon’shuge

rangeof FDmanualfocuslenses,

covering7.5mmfisheyeto

1,200mmsuper-telephoto,

T-seriesSLRsarestillcapableof

superbimagequality.

Sowhatwasthethinking

behindCanon(alreadyat the

topof itsgamewith

camerasliketheA1and

F1)introducinga new

seriesof strangely

designedSLRs?

Actually,it wastofill a

gapin themarket.

Duringtheprevious

decade,technological

developmenthad

surged.Photographers,

clamouringforthelatest

technology,keptbuyingand

upgradingtheircamerasuntil

themarketreachedsaturation

point.Asa result,bytheearly

1980s,35mmSLRsaleshad

beguntodecline.

Thenaturalplacetolookfor

newSLRbuyerswasamong

35mm-compactusers.

Unfortunately,thecamera

manufacturingindustryhadshot

itselfin thefoot.Bythencompact

camerasweresosophisticated

thatuserssawlittleneedforan

SLR.Also,manylookedat the

latestSLRmodelsanddecided

that,comparedtothesimple

operationof theircompacts,using

anSLRwastoointimidating.So

theydidn’tmakethecompact-to-

SLRmovein theway previous

generations had.

Right:TheCanonT90,flagshipof

theT-series,fittedwitha Canon

28-85mm f/4 zoom lens

Left:TheT90fromtheback,

showingtherearcontrolsand

the auto film loading mechanism

ALL PICTURES © JOHN WADE