The Canon T50, introduced in March 1983 and discontinued in December 1989, was the first in
Canon's new
T series of
35mm 35 mm may refer to:
Film
* 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film
* 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock
* 35MM, a "musical exhibition" by Ryan Scott Oliver that features music ...
single-lens reflex camera
In photography, a single-lens reflex camera (SLR) is a type of camera that uses a mirror and prism system to allow photographers to view through the lens and see exactly what will be captured. SLRs became the dominant design for professional a ...
s compatible with Canon's
FD lens mount
A lens mount is an interface – mechanical and often also electrical – between a photographic camera body and a lens. It is a feature of camera systems where the System camera, body allows interchangeable lenses, most usually the rangefinder ...
. SLR sales were falling in 1983 from the market's 1981 peak, and Canon chose to try greater automation to revive sales and remain competitive. This approach had found favor in compact cameras such as the
AF35M "Autoboy" (Japan) or "Sure Shot" (US). The T50 had a power winder built in giving a continuous shooting rate of 1.4 frames per second, as well as an advanced auto-exposure mode, although it was still a manual focus camera. Unlike those compact cameras and the higher-end models in the T series, the T50 did not have power rewind, relying on a manual crank. The camera's electric systems were powered by two
AA batteries
The AA battery (or double-A battery) is a standard size single cell cylindrical dry battery. ANSI and IEC battery nomenclature gives several designations for cells in this size, depending on cell features and chemistry. The IEC 60086 system c ...
in the grip, which gave enough power to shoot 75 24-exposure rolls, or 50 36-exposure rolls.
The T50 used a new shutter design. Canon's previous
A series cameras used a horizontally travelling cloth shutter, while the T50 (and subsequent T series models) used a vertically travelling metal blade shutter which allowed for faster shutter speeds and higher flash
X-sync
In photography, flash synchronization or flash sync is the synchronizing the firing of a Flash (photography), photographic flash with the opening of the Shutter (photography), shutter admitting light to photographic film or electronic image se ...
speeds. Only a modest increase was seen in the T50; more would be available in subsequent cameras.
Only Program AE (Auto Exposure) mode was available on the T50, in line with its role as a simple beginner's camera. A couple of years earlier, Konica had tried a similar approach with their
FP-1.
Canon released a new
flash
Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional aliases
* The Flash, several DC Comics superheroes with super speed:
** Flash (Jay Garrick)
** Barry Allen
** Wally West, the first Kid Flash and third adult Flash ...
unit for the T50, the
Speedlite 244T. This simple-to-use flash used an infrared preflash to judge the distance to the subject, and only had two buttons; a power switch and a film speed setting which toggled between 100 and 400 ISO
film speed
Film speed is the measure of a photographic film's sensitivity to light, determined by sensitometry and measured on various numerical scales, the most recent being the ISO system introduced in 1974. A closely related system, also known as IS ...
.
References
External links
The T50a
*
{{Table of Canon SLR
T50