From the T90 to the EOS R3 - a visual tour of Canon&#39;s high-end cameras (photo gallery)

Colani would have had an heart attaque.

11 months agopermalink

Old Cameras

Canon F1 was not innovative. It was solidly traditional and took no chances. But it was an anvil. I’ve got a bunch of old cameras (!) and the original F1 is probably the heaviest and most solid feeling. By contrast Nikon’s F2 feels positively delicate by comparison (and I have examples of both). Nikon’s F5, on the other hand, is the camera to end all cameras.

11 months agopermalink

nzmacro

Had two T90's at the time. Started with the Canon FTB and eventually ended up with the T90's. They followed the Olympus with multi spot metering and I could never get the hang of that, I guess I didn't need it like others did. Great read thanks and the memories.

11 months ago*permalink

papajohnny

One trend I don't like is the increase in size and weight with every new generation. Canon and others should return to their roots when they all used to produce more compact cameras.

11 months agopermalink

thx1138

So the R3 1015g, 1DXIII 1440g and smaller in every dimension, represents an increase in size and weight! R5 smaller and lighter than 5DIV, 5DIV lighter than 5DIII. 1DXIII lighter than 1DXII. 6DII slightly lighter than 6D.

11 months agopermalink

bigshledge

...they're already doing that.

11 months agopermalink

String

My first SLR (like many others) was an AE1 in 1976. Then in '78 the A1 came out... I so lusted after an A1.

11 months agopermalink

lightwriter

I bought an A1 5 years ago and it was love at first sight.

11 months agopermalink

Einride

Nice to see the old Canons! I always preferred the more utilitarian looking Nikon cameras myself but Canons were always cool.

11 months agopermalink

Yes. Many great design choices. But the OEMs don't try out new stuff, either.
We also see that with basic menu designs and colors that last for years.
The modern cameras are so clearly locked into choices-motherboards, sub-assemblies that there is great inertia of rest.
And hwy does every new lens look like it came off the same production line.

11 months ago*permalink

Roland Karlsson

I have never liked the aesthetics of Canon cameras. Interesting to see though, but I still do not like it. Too rounded. The R5/R6 is kind of OK though. On the other hand, the mirrorless Nikons, ouch, the narrow "penta prism" house. That is UGLY. I seriously prefer Pentax. Sony? What? Do they make cameras?

11 months ago*permalink

You must not like anything Colani ever designed....;))

11 months agopermalink

Roland Karlsson

@WJMWJM - did not know who Colani was. Googled. Hefty stuff - and rather ugly :)

11 months agopermalink

Roland Karlsson

Phillip - you are not holding the entire camera, like you are holding an egg. You are holding the grip and lens or left side of the camera.

Actually, the best camera for me to hold is the Pentax K-1. It is so ergonomic. And the K-1 is not round.

11 months agopermalink

Sonylover1

With T90 I fell in love with Canon. Miss that sensual touch of it.

11 months agopermalink

String

And I'm the opposite; while I can appreciate what the T90 brought to the table, I loved the older industrial style... A1, AE1 and of course the OM1

11 months agopermalink

nzmacro

Yes something special about that shape and feel of the T90. Some loved that new shape and some didn't. Coming from the FTB, EF, A1, the T90 was technically the best and 6 FPS on a roll of 36 K25 was never going to happen :-)

11 months agopermalink

Gerardjan

@Sonylover: As a convinced Nikonian I went astray 2 times: Canon F1N+ the T90! Still have it, looks like mint, works like a charm.Still think it's one of the most beautiful cameras ever made! Sometimes I wish my Nikon Z looked a bit like it.....Only wished it had the control wheel of the EOS 1. That would have made her perfect.

11 months ago*permalink

Maoby

Interesting !!
I personally like Canon cameras a lot. And I made several comparisons with the cameras in my collection.
As here with between the Canon EOS D30 (2000) the first Canon DSLR, and the Canon EOS-5D (2005) the first Canon DSLR FF
https://www.flickr.com/photos/maoby/albums/72157718336190221

11 months agopermalink

manos234

Tough to resist to 5dm1 color. It's a beauty!!!
I knew people that sold their Nikon d700 for 5dm1 just for the color..

11 months agopermalink

RubberDials

@Barney

The control wheel that appeared on the T90 was indeed a great invention. It is probably the single most important innovation of the last fifty years in camera design, as evinced by every manufacturer adopting it, but the following statement is not true at all:

"No chunky shutter speed or exposure compensation dials here. The EOS-1 is the epitome of design efficiency."

An exposure compensation dial is known as a 'single function direct control' in product design and is the most efficient design of control. Canon employs modal controls on most of its bodies (press a button, turn a wheel) which are highly inefficient, since they require learning and two hands to implement.

Modal controls offer many control options through permutation and are a good choice where space is limited, but are not efficient in design terms. The industry is actually moving away from these controls and Canon design looks actually quite dated here.

11 months ago*permalink

rrc1967

Canon employs modal controls on most of its bodies (press a button, turn a wheel) which are highly inefficient, since they require learning and two hands to implement.

they do that for a very specific reason and for their target market, it's not ineffecient. most of canon's non pro bodies do not require simultaneous pressing, only the 1 series.

11 months agopermalink

Pavlo Kosenko

This post is amazing! Beautifully executed photos!

11 months agopermalink

silverspoon

The Canon New F-1 is also missing from this list. A very monumental camera from Canon which were used by working professionals and quite frankly the best manual focus SLR at the time. The 80's were also the birth of Canon's iconic "L" designation starting from their FD lenses.

I don't mind a modern mirrorless take on the Canon New F-1 perhaps to compete against the retro-styled Nikon Zfc.

11 months agopermalink

but i don't think anything was carried over from the F1 to modern cameras unlike the T90 which was what the article was about

11 months agopermalink

Yes. The T90 is really a threshold camera. And, personally, as much as I like Nikon, I think Canon's late era film cameras were much more innovative and coherent.

11 months agopermalink

silverspoon

@davev8

Canon's technological advancements from the New F-1 helped to mark the beginning of Canon's reputation of their professional cameras and still continuing with the "1" designation in succeeding EOS pro cameras. Its not a direct carry over in terms of appearance or design but the expertise in developing the F-1's body cemented Canon's reputation for building the best camera they could. It was their first implementation of early weather sealing, protection of internal electronics via coating, and operability in harsh climates. The later T90 is rather fragile in this regard, with many in questionable or non working condition today but it was never a replacement for the New F-1.

11 months agopermalink

AdamT

Can`t believe they included the D30 but missed out the 1DS - the first Proper commercially available mass produced full frame camera .... not a Frankencam or bodged up film camera like the prior Kodaks ,. even beat the 14N (which was also a frankencam) to the market .

This Bud is for the 1DS and its Mk2 and Mk3 sucessors which put plenty of food on my table through their duration ......

11 months ago*permalink

Probably not in their attic collection, but as I remember using it, it wasn't functionally that much different from the 1D they show, apart from the "s" at the end. Sure, the full frame was revolutionary back then and great, I still remember using it for FF portraiture even when 1Ds II came out, since we were mostly stuck with 1D II (budgets), but the software and ergonomics were nearly the same as 1D, quite first gen. Bit slow & not enough display zoom to check critical focus, even worse with its more megapixels. But the FF was great at the time, for sure! Still got me a lot of great portraits...

Apart from the batteries. The NiMH all sucked in all these cameras back then. The later move to Li-Ion was a complete game-changer :)

11 months ago*permalink

AdamT

I hated those heavyweight NiMh packs , I had to carry a number of them on winter weddings as they lost stamina in the cold being NiMh (the 1DS was a spectacular wedding camera after the D60 and Fuji S2) ,. the Mk1 and Mk2 1DS with the 28-70L and 550EX weighed a ton .backed up with a 1D with an late 80s 80-200 F2.8L on for reach - you had to be some pack horse . No I don`t want 2003 back thanks ;)

11 months agopermalink

Jim Hully

"There’s a good case to be made that the T90 remains the best manual focus film SLR ever released." I've used Canon for many years but my vote would be for the Contax RTSIII

11 months agopermalink

Guess, just not that many volumes sold for the Contax SLRs to be in our consciousness, at least in the US, like Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Minolta.

I had a Contax 139 for a time and it was one of the most coherent later film era SLRs, being attractive, ergonomic, compact and relatively light weight. without feeling cheap and tinny like a Nikon FG/FG20.

Pentax was the other OEM that got this era best.

11 months agopermalink

justinwonnacott

This would be an advertisement?

11 months agopermalink

yes i am just going to put a pre order in for a T90

11 months agopermalink

pawelmod

It looks like that. Every other day there is an article regarding Canon R3 or somehow related to it. There is even an article summarizing all other Canon R3 articles which looks to me that there simply too many of these.
It is obvious that one of the goal of dpreview is to have advertisements (and sales) but last days are quite boring ...

I have nothing against Canon R3, I believe that is a good product (but pricey) and it is good that Canon/Sony/Nikon are competing.

11 months ago*permalink

This is not an advert. The small amount of sponsored content that we do publish is clearly labeled as per FCC guidelines. Coverage of new cameras is what we do - the EOS 3 is a new camera. So....

11 months agopermalink

The Silver Nemesis

@Barney: the EOS 3 is an eternally new camera for me. For the RoW, that must be the R3. 😀

11 months agopermalink

3Percent

What did I just read? Wildly all over the place, and why didn't you even show the 1DX Mark III later, or include the 1DX?

"A visual tour of Canon's High End Cameras" and you show the D30? And other plastic body cameras?

Sorry the content didn't really match the title here. The title implies a timeline of Canon's pro level cameras.

11 months agopermalink

Yeah, I miss the 1D II and 1D III (was it that one where the Set button made a comeback in 1 series DSLRs?) - although the latter not so much, with its frustrating AF issues at launch, still brings me pained memories of so many OoF sport or even portrait shots...

I guess it's just the bodies they had available in the big old crate in the attic :)

11 months ago*permalink

The idea was to show some of the models which introduced the biggest changes ergonomically - but thanks for the feedback!

11 months agopermalink

@Barney - I guess it's just nostalgia from me, having used everything from Nikon's F4, D1 series to Canon's 1D series daily back in the time, I still have somewhat fond* memories of reviewing photos on the small screen during a game break holding down the Play (?) button while rapidly scrolling with my thumb and pressing the Protect to tag selects for Photo Mechanic ingest on the old laptop ;)

*: I guess that's rose-tinted glasses for you & still have that weird 1DII chimping grip deeply ingrained in my muscle memory, but the UI for that with the later cameras was so much better - the Set button was a god-send even just for checking focus :)

BTW, I deeply miss the legendary US Canon rep Chuck Westfall. Although I never met him personally, we corresponded on some UI issues with the 1D III, which eventually made it into a later firmware update (taking no credit here, many other photographers have complained about it to him). He was just great at helping working pros in the corp env...

11 months agopermalink

You just illuminated Nikon and Canon strength-the pro support.

11 months agopermalink

All the "amorphous blobs" haters probably never used any camera professionally in a demanding 24/7 environment. All the curved lines and no big dials sticking out were there for one more reason, not just the ergonomics or looks. Two words:

*Snag-free*

Be it hanging from your shoulder while running for the best photo position, removing it from a Domke bag in a hurry, these things stuck when they should (to your hand) and never stuck when they shouldn't (to a bag strap, clothing or whatever).

The design was slick. No big protrusions to snag on something or break off by leverage on an impact, no sharp angles anywhere to catch on something. While offering such a grip you could hold it hanging down by your side with four fingertips alone with a big lens attached. It'd survive a screeching slide across a concrete wall in a big press scrummage - you should see all the scarred top plates on the old 1Dees. And on very big impact, most lenses just sheared off at the mount, cheap & easy fix

11 months ago*permalink

thx1138

All the haters and bashers have never seen let alone picked up and used a 1D series in real life. Just forum jockeys spouting nonsense with authority.

11 months agopermalink

The Silver Nemesis

@thx: most probably yes. I remember that the first time when I held a digital one in my hands I was scared by it… Man, that was a real brick. Nothing like the 1V or the F6… and those two, even without grips installed, were no slouch either.

11 months agopermalink

gefrorenezeit

I enjoyed it. Still have an EOS-1 here. :)

11 months ago*permalink

Funny Valentine

Respect to Canon for keeping it "made in Japan" even to this day.

11 months agopermalink

Funny Valentine

The sad thing about Canon is they really go wild and cripple their mid range products to unimaginable extent. The RF 85 f/2 and RF 35 f/1.8 are one of the worst 2 lenses on the market available now, because of outdated AF motors, build quality and loud operation. They're not even made in Japan.

I owned an R6, was a lovely camera and excellent build quality (from Japan) but there was no good sub 1200$ prime lens for me to buy. Only STM toy lenses. I switched to Sony, made in Thailand or China body and lenses, but Sony lenses are 1000X better built than Canon.

11 months ago*permalink

Djehuty

Don't think you can find a bad camera or lens these days with today's manufacturing standards and they all have to meet a specific standardisation be it Japan or elsewhere. Deviation in quality would be kept to a minimum, the only difference is cost, if it was bad, its likely to be a design flaw rather than a manufacturing one

11 months agopermalink

keolisho56

The trouble being most people too busy gossiping about cameras and forgetting to actually use their cameras; with film or without film what's the difference?

Made in Germany used to be important until people realised that the electronic components sourced from all over Asia. Only American collectors made a fuss when LEICAS assembled in Portugal and Canada.

11 months agopermalink

Kandid

Looks like I have gone a bit crazy here arguing with myself - maybe I was……🙄

10 months agopermalink

Mortal Lion

What no video morph? Disappointing

11 months agopermalink

LightPriority

The EOS 3 is a wonderful camera, despite being 20 years old its still going strong and has great AF and performance with modern L glass. I wonder how many digital cameras will still be useful in 20 years time?

11 months agopermalink

my 5dmki has only about a good 3 years to go

11 months agopermalink

JasonTheBirder

If I can still find a battery for it in ten years, I am sure my Pentax K5 will still be useful, and that will make it about 20 years old. Its 16 megapixel images are great for decently sized prints, and those prints will still look nice on the wall no matter how high-resolution screens go. (And let's face it, we are already at near maximum pixel density for screens for us to notice any difference.) The D500 would also still be very usable in twenty years I would say.

Now and twenty years in the future is certainly going to be less than now and twenty years ago. Let's face it, you cannot fight the law of diminishing returns in any domain.

11 months agopermalink

D500. Yes.
D750. Yes.

11 months agopermalink

The Silver Nemesis

Don’t know, but I still use the EOS 3 for bw photography.

11 months agopermalink

Kharan

What’s the point of this article? Some form of camera pr0n? I guess that’s me, but I find most Canon bodies amorphous blobs that lack any attractive features.

Also, all that gushing over the T90 seems a bit over the top, when the Minolta 9000 AF had been released the year before, and that camera was way more advanced, including: a touch-enabled shutter button, a full-size LCD screen on the back, highlight and shadow metering priority, and even a video still back that might make it the first DSLR. Oh, and autofocus.

11 months agopermalink

gazza73

You must be some Canon hater to not recognise the T90 for the revolution it was. The Minolta 9000 was a very advanced camera but Minolta played it boringly safe, still very much with the old school of camera design. It even had a manual film advance lever., separate motor drive attachment and looked like every professional camera before it. No wonder it was Minolta’s first and only pro camera. The DNA of the T90 can still be seen in Canon cameras of today witch only goes to show the design classic it was. I had the pleasure of owning a Canon T90 and it was a great camera an handled like no camera I’d used previously.. To this day I can remember the product brochure for it - the cover image and double page spread was true camera porn.

11 months agopermalink

@Kharan:
That LCD-screen on the back(-door) was A) optional, and B) still not anything close to what folks interpret as an LCD-screen today (or better: since at least 1-2 decades).
(hint: it was just a grey-tone user-interface, for the highly complicated controls & timers/brackets, *not* a monitor showing images)

11 months agopermalink

Kahran i don't think this was an article to say how advanced the t90 was..it was to show how some of its innovative design features can still be seen on the latest canon bodys today ...i don't see any agronomics or controls on the sony A1 that was carried over from the 9000AF or any other camera for decades
ho the point is some may find it interesting

11 months ago*permalink

Mr Bolton

Yeah, no decades of ahead of their time UI development on the Sony bodies.

11 months agopermalink

Strange, as the people who have used these "amorphous blobs" from Canon (and to a lesser extent) from Nikon right from the start - usually daily, sometimes even 24/7 (that'd be photojournalists, as it existed back then) never complained about the overall shape or the ergonomics. Quite embraced it, actually. There was some divide and friendly squabbles over whether Nikon or Canon had the better pro UI (both had something for them), but frankly, Minolta never entered the discussion...

11 months agopermalink

Kharan

Yeah, it's too bad that Minolta never got the respect they deserved, because they were the most innovative brand out there.

Also, I said I find them ugly, not that they don't handle well. Pentax and Olympus make bodies with superb handling too, but that actually look pretty, so it's not impossible to do both.

PS: the T90 was a dead end, the Neanderthal of the manual era. Most of its 'innovative' features, like multi-spot metering, had been pioneered by others before.

PPS: The EOS-3 is beautiful, though. If Canon had pushed along that design ethos, instead of going back to 'half-melted lego brick', my opinion of their cameras would likely be different.

11 months agopermalink

Kandid

@Kharan
Well I am sure that back at Canon HQ they are mortified that they didn’t run their business to better suit your tastes…..😑

11 months agopermalink

gazza73

Regardless of what you might have considered dead end, It was a distinctly Canon move in releasing an FD mount camera while other manufacturers were jumping on AF. I distinctly remember (living on same street as a press photographer) that working photographers had a complete mistrust of anything AF at the time. Forcing it upon them, especially as it also involved a lens mount change was the not an option Canon was willing to make and rightfully so. Not disputing what an azing camera the 9000 was but Minolta had much less to loose.

11 months agopermalink

Kharan

Nikon did it better in that sense, since their pro bodies could use either AF or MF lenses with ease. Canon were scared sh*tless of abandoning FD, especially since it took them decades to beat Pentax and finally reach Nikon, but they made the right move switching to EF. The T90 was their "plz dun abandon us" effort.

11 months agopermalink

Yes. The modern digital camera. Suited for an airline pilot or space shuttle commander.

11 months agopermalink

tuliof

Yeap! Also suited for math teachers, basketball players, fisherman or any other person... If they don't want to mess with all the controls, they can put it on "auto" and it will work beautifully! Just have to remember to remove the lens cap!

11 months agopermalink

JDWG

The T90 was indeed great. Too bad you left another great and somewhat special camera out: The EOS 1n RS with its fixed mirror…

11 months agopermalink

I will admit that the selection of cameras included in this gallery was somewhat limited by the contents of my personal camera museum :)

11 months agopermalink

RolliPoli

Great Canon advertisement.

11 months agopermalink

well at no point did i feel compelled that i want to get a new Canon body as some of its agronomics dates back to 1986...its just an interesting artical

11 months agopermalink

Gotta shift those T90s!

11 months agopermalink

Vignes

DPR is trying very hard...

11 months agopermalink

mermaidkiller

Agronomics ? Something with agriculture ?

11 months agopermalink

Kandid

😀

11 months agopermalink

AbrasiveReducer

It's a lot better than those Nikon 100th anniversary space videos. Just needs some pompous music.

11 months agopermalink

Photobygms

Still use the original Eos 1 and also the Eos 1N's and a couple of Eos 3.
And with the PB-E1 or PB-E-2 the Eos 1, !N and 1V do show how the first Eos 1D would be like.

11 months agopermalink

(unknown member)

Very nice article. It is fun to see how ergonomics changed over the years and how they have not changed. If you ask any working pro, its best they do not change.

11 months agopermalink

Albert Valentino

Enjoyable trip down memory lane

11 months agopermalink

User4286416121

Nicely done!

11 months agopermalink

madecov

Loved my T90 when the F1n with motor drive and AE finder were to heavy to travel with. I'm still upset with Canon for changing the mount.

11 months ago*permalink

mermaidkiller

Haha, if you still have FD lenses and an RF body (or even another brand MILF=MIrrorLess Fullframe), you can buy a $30 adapter using FD lenses and manual focus is even easier as most modern MILFs have focus peaking and viewfinder magnification.

11 months agopermalink

Welsh

@madecov: I’m not upset that they changed the mount. I can mount the world’s best lens collection on my R5, dating from 1987. All purely electronic connections. Check out the Pentax K mount’s curious and inconsistent history as a counter-example. The modern company that actually needs (but will never get) a new mount is … Sony.

11 months agopermalink

BackToNature1

DSLRS aren't dead, not by an long shot. Just don't expect a whole lot of new ones coming out from anyone other than Pentax.

11 months agopermalink

mermaidkiller

I've had the T90 from 1986 on and it was an awesome camera. Best ergonomics it had for any Canon camera. Not too many buttons, a wheel and no clunky mode dials on top. But somewhat heavy and bulky, particularly compared to the R6.
But the revolutionary curvy design of the T90 body itself from Luigi Colani is inherited by the EOS 1 series, including the 1DXIII and the R3 also is rather similar.

11 months ago*permalink

Not mentioning Colani in the article is indeed a grave error....;))

11 months agopermalink