Canon’s long history has many firsts dotted across the company’s innovations, but one of the most striking is arguably the Canon AE-1. Introduced in 1976, the Canon AE-1 had a plastic rather than metal build, but it was a risky move that paid off. The Canon AE-1, which was also one of the first SLR cameras to feature a shutter priority mode, became one of the company’s top-selling cameras and is still popular with film enthusiasts today. But, I think the Canon AE-1 and the risks that it took feels perfectly poised to inspire a modern equivalent.
Retro-styled cameras are resurging in popularity so much that the old-school cameras with modern digital innards are hard to find in stock. Canon has been rumored to be working on its own take on the trend. When Digital Camera World interviewed a Canon executive, the prospect wasn’t discredited – and Manabu Kato, group executive of Canon's Imaging Business Operations, even said that his personal favorite would be the Canon AE-1. So why a retro Canon is still fodder for rumor mills, I hope it's because there's some fire to the smoke.
So why does the Canon AE-1 feel so perfectly posed to meet current trends, out of all of Canon’s long and colorful history? The Canon AE-1 was a bit of an innovative camera for two reasons. The first is that it used a plastic made to look like metal, rather than metal, a move that allowed the camera to list at a lower price point. This lower price point was also further helped by a built-in computer chip, one of the first film cameras to do so.
The second stand-out feature that was innovative for 1976 is that the AE-1 had a shutter priority mode. Before the AE-1, such features were the luxury of high-end pricey cameras. Digital cameras today still use the shutter priority mode feature as a way to set the shutter speed without going to fully manual mode.
Those two key features – the price and a lower learning curve – are what I think is missing from the current retro camera trend. The popularity of the retro look is driving up camera prices in a big way. I want to see a digital version of the Canon AE-1 not just because the camera looks gorgeous, but because the camera was also affordable. The price of modern mirrorless cameras feels like its spiraling out of control.
The AE-1 brought the price down through mass production – something sorely missing in today’s high demand for retro cameras – and an injection-molded thermoplastic polymer rather than real metal. Despite not being made with metal, it’s a durable camera that still has a number of working models around. Those materials didn’t just make the camera cheaper but lighter as well.
A retro camera with an affordable price and a light but durable build is just what today's camera market needs – which is why I sincerely hope that the rumors swirling around a Canon retro camera have some substance to them.
Any such camera, naturally, would have to compete with the likes of the Nikon Zf and Z fc. Both are solid cameras, but feel more entry-level. And while I love (and own) Fujifilm’s retro-styled mirrorless, the autofocus just isn’t as good as Canon’s. The Canon AE-1, at the time, brought the shutter priority mode of more advanced cameras to a more affordable model. If Canon made a retro camera that delivered a better mix of price and features than the Nikon Zf and better autofocus than the Fujifilm X series, it could really upend the camera market.
An even smarter move would be to pair the camera with a retro-styled pancake kit lens. Such a move would allow the camera to not only compete with the Nikon Z fc, but the likes of compacts like the Fujifilm X100VI.
For now, a Canon retro-styled digital camera is just the stuff of dreams and rumors. But if Canon brings a retro camera to market, I sincerely hope it takes some inspiration from the AE-1.
You may also like
Browse the best film cameras, or dive into the best Canon cameras.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
