If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em: Why Canon’s retro Analog Concept Camera is the most interesting thing it’s done in years

Never having visited Japan’s annual CP+ camera show – despite writing about photography for 25 years – I’m insanely jealous that DCW’s James Artaius recently managed to attend two years in a row. But what really caught my attention was his hands-on with Canon’s retro styled concept camera.

While Fujifilm, Nikon and Olympus/OM System have long taken advantage of their distinguished heritage to present cameras with classic looks and classic handling for a new audience, Canon has largely pursued a contemporary approach.

If I’m honest, I would have more confidently expected to see a retro-styled entry into its mirrorless EOS R system. A mirrorless re-imagining of Canon’s 1970s AE-1 film SLR has been long rumored, after all.

However, in the meantime, it seems to have gone one louder in the nostalgic stakes. Its CP+ displayed Analog Concept Camera, in both A and B iterations, screams: “Want retro? How’s this for f***** retro!?”

In being bolder than usual, I reckon the company has showcased its most potentially interesting camera in years. Sure, a ‘concept’ model frees developers up to engage in blue-sky thinking without the pressure of whether it’s a commercially viable (or event wanted) option. And it’s not there as a replacement for anything, so existing Canon mirrorless and DSLR owners need not get their knickers in a twist.

Its waist-level, top-down manual viewfinder set-up, complete with mirror system directing light from lens to finder, looks great fun. Fuji has done a similar digital sensor incorporating camera with an analogue-like image capture thing via its Instax range. I like that Canon has likewise here given attention to tactile manual focusing and hands-on operation via switches and dials.

If any eventual wider release incorporates a one-inch sensor, then the device can stay compact without potentially costing the earth. Hence broadening its appealbeyond the possible influencer/TikTok market.

I also like the fact that, despite the boxiness of itscompact design, the Canon Analog Concept Camera will fit in my palm. As Canon Japan suggests, here is a camera that everyone – or at least everyone who is a hipster – will want to carry around with them.

It also appeals to me because I liked Canon’s PowerShot V10 upright video-first camera, which James suggests the prototype he handled is partially based around. That existing model also notably incorporated a one-inch chip.

In combining a vintage film-era Rolleiflex type design with Canon know-how, bewitching us photographers starved for something different, this concept device alsotaps into the slow photography movement.

Manual focus only, it will appeal to photographers who want to block out distraction and invest themselves fully in the image capture process, rather than just machine gunning away.

And anything that encourages me to stop, frame and think, has got to be a good thing.