Canon goes retro! Analog concept camera with optical finder and manual focus is unveiled in Japan

Canon has debuted its box-style Analog Concept Camera, featuring an optical waist-level finder and manual focus, at the CP+2026 show in Japan.

While the company has been widely anticipated to launch a mirrorless retro camera based on the classic Canon AE-1 for the SLR's 50th birthday in April, Canon gave us quite a different retro-inspired body at the camera supershow in Yokohama.

The Analog Concept Camera is styled after classic box cameras of the past, but in a form factor small enough to fit in your palm. I was able to try out the camera, which sits in your left palm while your right hand manipulates the focus ring – which is entirely manual.

The protoype I used features a focus ring around the lens barrel, but the pre-production designs feature a focus wheel on the side of the camera:

The focus throw on the prototype felt a bit limited, and it was tricky to judge focusing distance in the confined test area, but it this is an incredibly early build and is far more proof of concept than finished product.

The viewfinder is a top-down affair, using a mirror to reflect what is seen by the camera lens. It felt both surreal and cool to be focusing with a top-down finder on a Canon camera!

When you engage the shutter – which on the prototype is a rocker switch on the right-hand side of the camera, but on the pre-production designs is a traditional circular button on the front of the body – a second mirror flips out to reflect the image again to the sensor.

So this is an analog process, but capturing onto a digital image sensor – which I suppose is similar in a way to Instax's Evo cameras.

The prototype I was using seems to have been built with a Canon PowerShot V10 on the back, likely to accommodate the live view which was being displayed on a monitor for convenience on the Canon stand (all the controls and rear LCD on the apparently V10 body were inoperable, and I do not believe form part of the Analog Concept Camera).

"The combination of a clean, simple form and a sophisticated lens creates an appealing design that makes you want to keep it close by," reads Canon's description on the official exhibit (machine translated). "A new type of camera that everyone will want to carry around with them.

"The lever and release protruding from the side, and the stepped lens ring that allows for a firm grip create a comfortable and pleasant operation feel, and the design evokes the image of a film camera, catering to those who want to enjoy taking their time with photography."

Canon is inviting those who use the camera at CP+ for feedback on everything from its handling to the vintage-looking quality of the images it takes, along with which design is preferred and whether they would be interested in purchasing it if it comes to market.

I'm amazed at how increasingly experimental Canon has become in recent years. This is far from the conservative, risk-free company of a decade ago; away from its dependable EOS ecosystem, it is definitely coloring outside the lines and looking for new ways to experience and share photography.

I hope that the reception to the Analog Concept Camera is as warm as it felt on the show floor, because this is a product I would love to see come to market!

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