It was 1966 and Canon had a problem. During the 1960s, Canon had become successful with enthusiast SLR cameras such as the Pellix and FT series, but professional photographers overwhelmingly favored Nikon.
Canon realized that professionals wanted more than just a camera – they wanted an entire photographic ecosystem that could withstand heavy daily use.
Canon had learned a bitter lesson in 1959 with its Canonflex, which while beautiful was somewhat odd in it’s features and to say it was a commercial failure would be putting it mildly.. The months between introduction and being discontinued could be counted on the fingers of one hand, with digits to spare!
It had been developed by engineers, not photographers. In addition to its odd, bottom wind, it lacked the lenses professionals needed, and those it did have lacked the features professionals wanted. So, in 1966 they began, in earnest, to create their answer to the Nikon F. The Canon F-1.
The objective was ambitious: to build a camera to challenge the Nikon F and achieve reliability under the harshest conditions. . They wanted to develop an extensive array of accessories to fill almost any imaginable need. It was no small undertaking and, according to Canon, it consumed resources comparable with the development of ten conventional cameras!
During 1967, the project expanded to give the new body interchangeable eyelevel and waist-level finders, focusing screens, motor drives (note the plural, here), bulk film backs and remote control systems.
Unlike other makers, Canon intended to have them all available for purchase on the day of the launch, rather than add them over several years, as Nikon had done.
By 1969, working prototypes were undergoing extensive testing. They evaluated shutter durability, film transport reliability, viewfinder alignment, light-meter accuracy, resistance to dust and humidity and most of all, the camera’s ability to operate in extreme temperatures. The camera had to work, without modifications for approximately 100,000 shutter cycles in temperatures from –30°C to +60°C, no matter what the humidity. While these specifications may sound a bit hum-drum, today, they were remarkable at the time.
A small number of trusted professional photographers were invited to test prototype equipment and provide feedback. Many ergonomic details—including the placement of controls and finder designs were refined.
By March 1971, it was ready. But still, Canon did things differently. They had designed the more capable FD lens mount but kept compatibility with the older FL mount lenses photographers may already own. And the camera launched with 14 FD mount lenses available, covering focal lengths from 17mm to 300mm. The full array of 180 accessories was also available on day one.
The Canon F-1 was unusual among professional cameras because Canon deliberately promised that the basic camera would remain in production for ten years, allowing professionals to invest in the system with confidence. It was a promise Canon kept.
In fact, despite a minor tweak in 1976 (still called the F-1 by Canon) it did not launch a new pro-level camera until the “New F-1” in 1981. And they didn’t change the lens mount until the EOS autofocus system introduced in 1989!
The camera itself was truly professional-grade, with a fully mechanical shutter (battery required only for the light meter), a titanium-foil horizontal-travel focal-plane shutter with speeds from 1 second to 1/2000 second plus Bulb, mirror lock-up, depth-of-field preview, Interchangeable viewfinders and screens and extremely rugged all-metal construction. Remarkable, for the era.
The F1 immediately established Canon as a serious competitor in professional photography. Even so, Canon did not surpass Nikon in the professional market, until somewhere around 1992–1993, after the introduction of their EOS-1 with autofocus.
Canon never published production numbers for the F1 and variants, but the commonly cited estimate is about 750,000 bodies over the 10 year run. While this is still slightly lower than the Nikon F’s eventual numbers, it reflects the smaller market and much higher price for pro-level gear.
One interesting footnote: the 1992 Barcelona Olympics are often cited as the moment when the balance of power shifted. Television coverage of the sidelines showed a striking increase in the number of white Canon super-telephoto lenses—a visible sign that many elite sports photographers had migrated from Nikon to Canon. By the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Canon's lead in professional sports photography was widely recognized.
In 2003 Canon became the world's largest seller of interchangeable-lens digital cameras and have never looked back, though Nikon is now nipping at their heels.
Read more of David Young's ongoing series on classic cameras, as well as his book A Brief History of Photography.
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