This gorgeous Canon SLR camera turned out to be a complete disaster. Here's why it was discontinued after just five months

Timing is everything. When you get it right, things are perfect. When you get it wrong, you get the Canonflex.

Back in 1959, the father of a friend bought a Canonflex and I thought it was the most beautiful camera I’d ever seen. I still think it’s a gorgeous piece of kit. But, back then, I was still three years away from getting my first camera and blithely unaware of its limitations and failures.

Canon’s first SLR, the Canonflex, was introduced in May 1959, just one month before the introduction of the legendary Nikon F at a price of ¥59,500 (roughly US$165 at the time or $1,700 today).

It was a well-made, nicely finished, innovative camera, with a split-image rangefinder with a microprism collar, and an accessory exposure meter that coupled to the shutter speed dial in a similar fashion to the Leica M series of rangefinders, or the later Pentax and Nikon models. 

The Canonflex also featured a removable pentaprism, so a waist-level or other finder could be used. However, it remains unclear if any alternative viewfinders were ever actually offered.

The Canonflex had a rather unusual bottom lever film advance, which was its big selling point. Operated with the photographer’s left thumb, it was said that the 130° bottom lever advance was faster than a top-mounted lever. Up to three frames per second were claimed to be possible. But the public didn’t buy it – figuratively or literally.

Unfortunately for Canon, most photographers did not find the bottom lever advance convenient – especially when the camera was on a tripod. (It is said that the Canonflex was very popular with Edsel owners.)

No wide-angle lenses were offered and there were only five telephotos, of which only two had automatic diaphragms – an essential feature in any top-line camera of the day. The Canonflex was discontinued after just 5 months, with around 17,000 made.

It was quickly replaced in 1960 by the Canonflex R2000 – a nearly identical model but with a more conventional top-mounted rapid film-wind lever and an improved shutter, with speeds to 1/2000sec.  

Thanks to the limited number of lenses, the R2000 sold poorly and was discontinued the same year with just a little over 8,000 made – the shortest run of any Canon SLR. 

Overall, not a great start for what would become one of the greatest camera brands in history.

Find out more about photography's past in David Young's book, A Brief History of Photography.

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Take a look at the best film cameras you can buy today – or read other articles in David Young's Classic Cameras series