Canon P - my favorite Japanese rangefinder

Canon P

by Karen Nakamura

Overview and Personal Comments

The Canon P is the last in the Canon VI series of Leica screw mount lens compatible rangefinders. It was manufactured between 1958 and 1961. The P stood for "Populaire" - it was intended as their low-end model. The irony is that it was much more solidly made than almost every camera manufactured today. Using the text or images on this website without permission on an ebay auction or any other site is a violation of federal law.

The Canon P was released in March 1958 by Canon and came originally with either a 50 mm f/1.4 or f/2.8 lens as options. The Canon Museum notes that the original retail price of the 50mm f/1.4 kit was ¥52,700 or ¥37,700 for the f/2.8 kit. The yen was fixed at ¥360 to US$1 at the time so the dollar price was approx. $146 for the high-end, $105 for the low-end. According to the AIER, $146 in 1958 is worth approximately $908 in current 2002 dollars; the lower-end f/2.8 kit was worth $653 in current dollars. The camera was made for about 3 years until 1961.

According to the Peter Dechert's (1985) Canon Rangefinder Cameras, 87,875 Canon P's were made. This makes them one of the more common rangefinder models, however there has been a recent renaissance in their popularity with the Leica screw-mount crowd, so their prices has skyrocketed. A mint condition black body can easily reach over $1000, so you can see it hasn't depreciated much! If you have a black top unit, never sell it! (Or sell it to me). They are very rare but there are also many fake ones painted after-market, so buyer beware!

The Canon P and Canon VI (six) series were followed by the Canon 7 (1961-1968), the last of the Canon screwmount rangefinders. I ended up selling my first Canon P to finance my Leica M7, but immediately ended up regretting it, so I ended up buying another one when I was in Japan. :-) The predecessors were the Canon IV and V series.

Soft Release: I bought one of Tom Abrahamsson's "Softrelease" shutter buttons for my P. The shutter release on the P is a bit stiff and I felt you had to really jab the button, which made the camera move just a bit when taking photos. The Softie is perfect, it turns the P's release into a hair trigger which just a slight motion will fire. Although it means you have to be careful when storing the camera not to release it (or store it uncocked), it also means that you can take photos with much longer shutter speeds (1/30, 1/15) because of the added stability.

The Abrahamsson "Classic" Softrelease (15mm diameter) is a perfect fit for the Canon P. You can also get the newer "Minisoftrelease" (9mm diameter) but the larger Classic fits so smoothly it almost looks like it was originally designed by Canon for the P. The "Chrome" version is a very close match to the chrome on the P.

Ads for the Canon P (circa 1960; from the Canon Museum)

Interesting quirks

The Canon shutter is horizontal running and is made of coated stainless steel.* It's rare to find ones that don't have some crinkles in them. My shutter was capping at 1/1000 sec., so I sent it to Mark Hama in Georgia for a CLA. He returned it to me in 12 calendar days (including the 8 days it spent in the UPS trucks going there and back) fully restored. The shutter was apparently off because the 1st and 2nd shutter were travelling at different speeds. He cleaned them up, adjusted, and relubricated (CLA) everything and my P is back to new. He even polished my 50mm f/1.8 lens. I have been thrilled with his services and strongly recommend him. Let him know that I (Karen Nakamura) sent you.

*Leica uses coated cloth shutters which are quiet, but are supsceptible to holes burning in them from the sun. Nikon used cloth, then switched to coated titanium in their rangefinders. Canon's coated steel is tough and burn-resistant, but crinkles. I have heard of a Japanese company that will replace your steel curtains with titanium when overhauling your Canon rangefinder, but they apparently charge over $500 so it's not worth it for most people.

There's a ring surrounding the shutter button, marked "A" and an unmarked dot. The unmarked dot is for the rewind release. When rewinding, be sure to move that to the unmarked position. I kept on thinking it was the shutter lock... When turned to "unmarked," the shutter releases. I've been told on good authority that the shutter self-caps as it releases tension, so there is no fear of double-exposing your last shot. Nonetheless, I'd still put the lens cap on the camera (or my palm over the lens and set it at f/22). Old habits die hard.

I love the little rotating "eyeball" that tells you the camera is winding and rewinding (that the sprockets are engaging). This is handy if you develop your own film as you can tell when the leader releases from the sprokets (the eyeball stops rotating) when rewinding the film. At that point, you can open the back leaving the leader still sticking out of cartridge, which makes it simpler to load into your film reels.

There's a double lock on the back release, you have to engage the bottom release and the side release. What a pain! This is for the Canon-proprietary film cartridges which were an option instead of the standard 35mm cartridges. Like the Leica, Zeiss, and Nikon proprietary cartridges (all of which are incompatible with each other), the Canon cartridges feature a light-trap that is keyed with the camera latch, allowing film to travel unfettered by emulsion-scratching felt.

There are some non-Canon wide angle screw mount lenses that you should not use with the Canon P because the internal light baffles are in the way. Most the web sites in the links below will tell you which ones. I general, most collapsible lenses are also bad. The only disappointment is that I can't use the Russian Jupiter 35mm Biogon-clone, which is one of the few Soviet lenses that gets rave reviews (although truth be told, I like my Jupiter-8 52mm lens).

The Light Meter

The Canon P came with an optional external light meter:

Aperture-reading selenium photocell coupled to the shutter speed dial. Metering range (at ISO 100) switchable between EV 10 - 19 (high) and EV 4 - 13 (low). With the low-light booster attached, metering to EV 2 is possible (source: Canon Museum).

I bought this meter off of a collector on the Internet. The ever-ready case for the Canon P even has a "hump" in it to accomodate it. It slides onto the hot shoe and then you push down a pronged attachment that "grasps" onto the shutter speed dial. The meter's upper shutter speed dial then controls the camera. You set your shutter speed then read your aperture off the display. My unit must have been stored in the dark because it still reads accurately.

I personally think the Canon meter ruins the P's nice lines, so I'm not sure if I'll continue to use this meter as it looks a bit ungainly. My standard lightmeter, the Gossen Digisix, kept poking me in the eye with the standard flash mount, so I machined the mount that you see in the picture above and below. It pushes the Gossen forward about 2cm so that it doesn't poke me in the forehead anymore. The mount was made of scrap aluminium, is sure ugly but it works.

Rangefinder Calibration

It's very easy to knock rangefinder cameras like the Canon P out of horizontal or vertical RF calibration with small knocks or jars. This is fairly common on older (and even newer) rangefinders. Thankfully, Canon provided for a way to adjust both horizontal and vertical RF calibration without opening the camera up. I asked the question on the RF list and Harland Harris and Jim Williams were kind enough to provide the answers:

The external adjustment is behind the large screw in the lower corner of the front viewfinder window. The outer screw is just a decorative cover; the actual adjustment is inside. It takes a VERY tiny screwdriver. The adjusting screw moves in and out as you focus the lens, so you may find it's easier to reach at either the infinity position or the close focus position, depending on your particular screwdriver.
Before you adjust it, check the vertical adjustment -- on a P (as with other V/VI - series Canons, and old Leicas) changing the vertical adjustment affects the horizontal adjustment, so if the vertical adjustment is off, it will affect the horizontal adjustment too. I find the vertical adjustment seems somewhat more likely to get knocked out of whack.
This is adjusted in the traditional Leica fashion by removing the knurled decor ring around the round rangefinder window, and turning the round glass front. This is actually a shallow prism and moves the RF image in a circle as you turn it. After you've adjusted it, you have to check the horizontal adjustment and reset it if necessary.
-- Jim Williams

Note: This operation while simple, has the possibility of fouling your camera if you have the wrong size screwdrivers or slip while the driver is inside the camera. Please use reasonable and appropriate caution when thinking about doing this.

 

Choosing a Canon Rangefinder by Jim Williams All the Canon III- and IV-series models look and work like an old-style screwmount Leica, except that they have combined range/viewfinders (with switchable magnification.) They're beautifully made and fun to use, but the viewfinders don't have framelines and are very squinty by today's standards. The III and IV models have conventional fabric shutter curtains that are no less durable (but no MORE durable) than the same type of curtain used on Leicas. The V-series (the V is a roman numeral) and L-series (the L is just a letter) are similar to prior models under the skin, but have larger, more modern-styled bodies (with a conventional back door for easier loading) and a viewfinder with a larger eyepiece. This makes viewing more pleasant, but you still don't get framelines or parallax compensation. Late models in these series switched from fabric shutter curtains to ones made of epoxy-coated stainless steel foil. These are the ones you've heard about getting 'damaged' -- the foil can be dented by finger pokes during loading, or if the camera is left to sit for years and years with the shutter cocked. BUT -- minor denting (the most common type) doesn't affect the accuracy of the shutter, and unlike fabric curtains, these won't rot or burn through, meaning they're actually MORE durable than fabric ones. So, as long as the shutter runs smoothly, don't be put off from buying a camera with the steel curtains. The V came in two flavors: the V-T series, which advances the film via a horizontal trigger on the bottom, and the V-L series, which is identical except for having a conventional advance lever. The L-series was an 'economy' range with equal quality but somewhat simplified features; all these had a lever-type advance lever. (Either flavor rewinds by a knob, which is a bit slow but par for the course in that era.) All the Vs can be good, reliable user cameras if you find an clean example, and are very usable if you don't need framelines and don't mind the slightly antique shutter-speed-dial arrangements. The next generation after the V-series was the VI series (also a roman numeral, so say "six" rather than "vee-eye.") This series was much more modern in terms of features: it had a squared-off body and back-door loading like the V, but the shutter is a more modern type with all speeds on a single dial that doesn't rotate as you fire. (All the previous models had an old-Leica-style speed dial that spins when the shutter fires, with slow speeds -- if any -- controlled by a separate dial on the front.) The VI also had a viewfinder with switchable magnifications, but with the added feature of framelines for 50mm and 100mm lenses (there was a separate position for 35mm lenses with no framelines.) The frames are reflected off a glass inside the eyepiece, rather than being projected through a frosted window as on a Leica M3 or Cosina/Voigtlander. The Canon's reflected system isn't as sharp and clear, but at least the lines do move as you focus to compensate for parallax. The great thing about this viewfinder was that the 50/100 position showed you the finder image at full life-size magnification, so you could keep both eyes open while looking through the camera. The downside was that the complex optics in this finder system haven't aged well, so it's not uncommon to find a VI with a hazy viewfinder and dim framelines. Cleaning may help the haze, but there doesn't seem to be anything that can be done about the framelines -- they're silvered onto a glass plate and the silvering simply deteriorates with age. Also, the finder system has an unusually strong minus diopter built into it, and if you've reached the age where you need reading glasses you may find it difficult to accommodate your eyesight to a VI finder. Aside from those potential drawbacks, if you can find a VI with a finder that's clean and has good framelines, it's very effective and pleasant to use. Like the V, the VI came in -T and -L series flavors with trigger or lever film advance, now with a folding rewind crank for faster rewinding. They were made in about equal numbers, but the -T is more common in the US and the -L is more common in Japan. Either is a bit of a collectible nowadays so may be a bit disproportionately expensive as a 'user' camera, but a good one IS really nice to use. Like the V series, the VI had an economy-model companion, called the P. In this case the strategy may have backfired a bit, because the P was so nice that many people liked it BETTER than the higher-end models; it wound up outselling the VI cameras by a margin of about 5 to 1. Although it was considered the economy camera, it was as well-made as the VI and had the same shutter design and basic features as the VI-L, including thumb lever film advance and folding rewind crank. The only major cost-cutting change was a simpler viewfinder: no switchable magnifications, and with 35mm, 50mm and 100mm framelines all together in the same view. But many people preferred this, because it gave parallax compensation with the 35mm framelines as well as 50 and 100 (although the 35mm lines are 'way out at the edges and hard to see.) The finder was still full life size, so you could view it with both eyes open, and its built-in diopter isn't as strong as the VI, making it an easier adaptation for users' eyesight. The P's framelines can deteriorate the same way as on the VI, but because the finder optics are simpler, P viewfinders seem to have aged better. If you're primarily a 50mm lens user with occasional forays to 35mm or 100mm, the P is maybe your best choice; unfortunately, a lot of other people have figured this out, so you'll pay the price of its popularity! The next model in line was the 7, and Canon dropped more than the roman numerals here -- the new camera was much larger and a very different design (although the shutter system was similar to the VI.) This is a BIG camera by RF standards, and not quite as nicely finished as the earlier ones -- although its internal design is very tough and well-engineered. The biggest change for this model was to the range/viewfinder: the 7 has true projected framelines like a Leica or Cosina/Voigtlander (although not as bright as either, but still very visible.) You select frames via a flat dial on the top, with choices of 35, 50, 85, 100 or 135mm, and you can't forget which you chose, because they're clearly labeled in the viewfinder! The 7's lensmount accepts standard Leica-type screwmount lenses, but there's also an external bayonet flange around it that's not present on older models; this flange is the only way to mount the 50mm f/0.95 lens, if you should take a fancy to doing so. (The performance of the 50/0.95 isn't nearly as crummy as is often claimed by people who have never used one; still, its images have a distinctive "look" that's an acquired taste, so don't worry about hunting one down unless you really LIKE that look.) The 7 also had a coupled selenium meter, which was hot stuff by 1961 standards but not very useful today; you probably will prefer to use a hand-held meter instead, so you can save a few bucks by finding a 7 that's otherwise in good shape but has a defunct meter. One odd little quirk to keep in mind: the 7 has NO accessory shoe, which means you're stuck if you want to use any lenses other than those covered by the built-in frames as there's no place to put an accessory viewfinder! (Okay, Canon offered an add-on shoe, but this is an 'unobtanium' accessory today!) Despite its mild peculiarities, the 7 was a strong competitor to the Leica Ms and was the best-selling interchangeable-lens RF Canon by a wide margin, even outselling the P. Thanks to this, it's among the easiest to find today and the most likely to be reasonably priced. (The later model 7s was even better, with improvements including a useful CdS meter and an accessory shoe; but by then SLRs were taking over and it didn't sell well, so you'll pay a premium for its niceties and rarity.) Overall, assuming equal condition (a big 'if' anytime you're buying a 40-to-50-year-old camera!) I'd say the 7 is the best buy for a user who likes to use a range of lenses, while the P is the best buy for someone who's happy with just a couple of lenses and appreciates a smaller, more classically elegant camera body. I also agree with the person who said you get more picture-taking bang for your buck by buying a nice, new Cosina/Voigtlander Bessa, with its brighter, sharper viewfinder, built-in TTL meter, and new-camera reliability. But the Canons have a solidity, finish and 'presence' that you just don't get from a Bessa -- so if that sort of thing appeals to you, go for it!   Used with kind permission of Jim Williams who wants to add the caveat that he wrote this while waiting for his dinner and this should not be considered to cover every minor variation between the models.

 

Technical Details

Camera Name	Canon P
Manufacturer	Canon, Inc.
Place of Manufacture	Japan
Date of Manufacture	1958.12-1961.5
Focusing System	Coupled rangefinder (41mm base length) 1.00x magnification factor Parallax compensation Framelines for 35/50/100mm. (non-selectable)
Lens Mount	Leica M39 screw mount compatible Standard lenses: 50mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.8, 50mm f/2.8
Shutter	Horizontal focal plane shutter (stainless steel) 1 sec - 1/1000 sec + B & X (1/55sec)
Metering System	None built-in External selenium cell shutter-speed coupled meter available
Flash	External cold shoe PC cable connector on left side 1/55 sec X flash sync
Film type	Type 135 film (35mm standard)
Battery type	none
Dimensions and weight	Body: 144 x 76 x mm, 650g Body+lens: 144 x 76 x 71 mm, 790 g w/ 50mm f/2.8
Retail price	¥52,700 yen (w/50mm f/1.4) in 1958 (~US$146) ¥37,700 yen (w/50mm f/2.8) in 1958 (~US$105)
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Comparison between the Canon P and other Rangefinders of the 1950s and 1960s

My Leica Mount Lens Collection (15mm , 25mm, 28mm, 35mm, 40mm, 45 mm, 50mm, 52mm, 85mm, 90mm, 100mm, 135mm)

About Canon

Canon started out its life as Seiki Kohgaku Kenkyuujo (Precision Optical Research Company). Its first goal was to produce domestic inexpensive Leica clones, and it released the Kwanon, its first camera in 1934. Interestingly, they used Nikon lenses since Nikon was already established as an optical lens manufacturer and was not making any of its own camera bodies at that time. Canon soon gained the ability to make their own lenses and never looked back. Nikon also went on to produce some reasonably popular cameras of its own as well.

The name 'Canon' comes from the Buddhist deity Kwanon and early Canon cameras were actually spelled 'Kwanon' and the lenses were named 'Kyasapa' after another deity.

Side note: Canon is my favorite Japanese company along with Honda. I actually interned for Canon Japan (ok, Canon Sales Japan, a part of the Canon keiretsu) during a summer in college and loved my coworkers to death. They keep coming out with innovations that take your breath away.

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