AE-1 Styled DSLR from Canon?

[CarlMillerPhoto]

Maybe some don't, but I think many of us love the feel and process of using a film SLR. Rotating through the shutter speeds. Deciding to set and burn 160 ASA film at 100 for slight overexposure when shooting portraits. Being able to see all your camera's settings without having to look at an LCD. Nikon tried to appeal to this sentiment with their Df, but fell short and ended up with a messy hybrid. Fuji seems to be doing it right, and I've been eye-balling the X-T1, if only based on aesthetics. I want Canon to put out something similar. I'd love to see an AE-1 styled digital body with at least the specs below:

• Full Frame (6d sensor maybe?)
• Shutter Speed Dial
• ISO Dial
• Exposure Comp Dial
• LP-E6 battery, if possible
• PC Sync port
• No pop-up flash
• Replaceable focus screens

Who else is interested in this sort of Camera?

 

[Steve]

Anybody who would want something like that would (should) just get a Fuji. They're absolutely killing it in that niche.

 

[dgatwood]

Depends on what they leave out when adding the extra controls. GPS? Wi-Fi? Focus points? DPAF?

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I think Nikon tried a retro camera, it fell flat.

 

[pleasehelp]

I love my old AE´s but i see no reason to make a retro digital.

 

[Sporgon]

IMHO Canon will not consider making a 'retro' look dslr because they haven't fouled up the design of the current EOS. It has been a gradual evolution in staying up to date, a little like the Porche 911 perhaps.

The latest Nikon's on the other hand looked like they were designed by Dr. Jekyll after a night out on the town as Mr Hyde, so I can quite understand Mr Mitsubishi saying 'let's get back to what we were good at'. Except they then seem to have let Quasimodo's great aunt design the Df.

One day soon Mr Mitsubishi is going to find out where Canon's chief EOS designer goes out for his drinks, meet him there and press a great wad of Yens into his hand and say: please come and work for me.

 

[zim]

Only if it was based on the Canon P and takes all my FD's, not a niche market at all ;D

As has been said, Fuji really has this retro base covered.

It would be a bit of fun but I doubt that's a big driver at Canon central

 

[c.d.embrey]

I shoot a lot of film with my Canon Elan 7n If I had to use an AE-1, I'd stop shooting film Simple as that.

 

[zlatko]

I'd love to see an AE-1 styled digital body with at least the specs below:
....
Who else is interested in this sort of Camera?

I'm not at all interested in AE-1 style. It wasn't that attractive back then, even less so now. However, I'm very, very interested in AE-1 size & weight for a full frame camera.

There is an interesting recent interview with Canon designer Yoshiaki Sugiyama in which he says: "I believe that the optimum size among Canon cameras is the AL-1.” What's notable about that is that the AL-1 was made in 1982 and it was small. So he feels that Canon achieved their optimal camera size 32 years ago!

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/education/technical/developing_the_eos_1_series_design.do

At the end of the interview he says "I previously said that I believe the optimum size among Canon cameras is the AL-1. I believe that the trend towards compact, lightweight equipment is a certainty among categories encompassed by advanced amateurs, and even professional equipment, [so] the entire [EOS] system will move toward a more lightweight form."

So I'm looking forward to smaller & lighter EOS cameras!

 

[unfocused]

I think the main appeal of the Fuji is that they took the classic style of a rangefinder and added to it to update the camera without losing the classic style. The Nikon seems more like a Franken-Camera, where they pasted bits and pieces of old and new together in some fairly inconvenient ways.

The "M" series might be a bit more popular if it had more of a rangefinder look to it, but honestly, I just took a look at the old Canonets and they seem pretty boxy and clunky, so not sure Canon ought to revive that style.

 

[c.d.embrey]

I think the main appeal of the Fuji is that they took the classic style of a rangefinder and added to it to update the camera without losing the classic style. The Nikon seems more like a Franken-Camera, where they pasted bits and pieces of old and new together in some fairly inconvenient ways.

The "M" series might be a bit more popular if it had more of a rangefinder look to it, but honestly, I just took a look at the old Canonets and they seem pretty boxy and clunky, so not sure Canon ought to revive that style.

The Nikon F put the Pro Rangefiders out of business. No more Canon or Contax. The Leica became an expensive camera for Leica collectors. It took the EOS film cameras to get Pros looking at Canon again.

Only the hopelessly-hip would like the hokey-hybrid-viewfinder that Fuji uses. It took the X-T1 for me to take Fuji seriously.

The Canonet, Olympus Trip 35 and others were inexpensive snap-shot cameras -- and they looked the part.

 

[Barrfly]

I'd be happy with a functional digital back for the old film cameras that included a lcd screen for reviewing the photos.

 

[Lee Jay]

The AE-1 was my first camera, bought at the age of 9. I used it exclusively for many years (13, I think).

And I'd never, ever, buy a camera shaped like that again. Nostalgia doesn't help lousy ergonomics.

 

[Steve]

Only the hopelessly-hip would like the hokey-hybrid-viewfinder that Fuji uses. It took the X-T1 for me to take Fuji seriously.

I haven't used the X-Pro but the X-E1/2 are incredible for what they are. The X-T1 is fantastic as well. Fuji is playing it really smart by carving out their third party niche in the retro-stylish camera world instead of trying to out-DSLR Canikon. The lens lineup/roadmap complements the cameras perfectly with top-notch, fast standard primes and great quality standard zooms. Their customer support and dedication to keep updating older models' firmware along with the new really builds trust in the ecosystem. If I didn't do bird/wildlife photography primarily, subjects where they obviously can't compete, I would drop Canon completely for Fuji. They make really good stuff!

 

[Vivid Color]

IMHO Canon will not consider making a 'retro' look dslr because they haven't fouled up the design of the current EOS. It has been a gradual evolution in staying up to date, a little like the Porche 911 perhaps.

The latest Nikon's on the other hand looked like they were designed by Dr. Jekyll after a night out on the town as Mr Hyde, so I can quite understand Mr Mitsubishi saying 'let's get back to what we were good at'. Except they then seem to have let Quasimodo's great aunt design the Df.

One day soon Mr Mitsubishi is going to find out where Canon's chief EOS designer goes out for his drinks, meet him there and press a great wad of Yens into his hand and say: please come and work for me.

Thank you, Sporgon, for letting me know that I'm not the only one who thinks Canon DSLR bodies look a whole lot better than Nikon bodies. I would never advocate choosing a camera by its looks, but I'm glad that my Canon bodies are nice and elegant looking. I will also note that Nikon doesn't have the market on poorly designed and unattractive DSLR bodies. The top and bottom of the various Sony a7 bodies look like unrelated parts were cobbled together.

 

[beforeEos Camaras]

not a AE-1 body but a f1 body with a interchangeable penta prism and a waist level screen
when I was learning on my FTb-n camera that was the one to own and the ef1 was the 3dmk2-3 in its time. memory's are so fun blurs the reality of the old systems.

 

[CarlMillerPhoto]

Only the hopelessly-hip would like the hokey-hybrid-viewfinder that Fuji uses. It took the X-T1 for me to take Fuji seriously.

I haven't used the X-Pro but the X-E1/2 are incredible for what they are. The X-T1 is fantastic as well. Fuji is playing it really smart by carving out their third party niche in the retro-stylish camera world instead of trying to out-DSLR Canikon. The lens lineup/roadmap complements the cameras perfectly with top-notch, fast standard primes and great quality standard zooms. Their customer support and dedication to keep updating older models' firmware along with the new really builds trust in the ecosystem. If I didn't do bird/wildlife photography primarily, subjects where they obviously can't compete, I would drop Canon completely for Fuji. They make really good stuff!

+1. The X-T1 would be my dream camera if it was FF. And I hear their 56mm f/1.2 is what the Canon 85 f/1.2 II would be if it could focus faster.

However, I really need EF glass for the video work I do. I don't have the money to have video AND photo lenses, each on different systems. Here's hoping Metabones makes an EF to X-mount Speedbooster.

 

[Jim Saunders]

Do I need something like that? No. Would I play with it at a camera store? Probably. Maybe run off enough to keep one at each camera store just for the sake of a conversation piece.

Jim

 

[Hillsilly]

I've got two Fuji's - an X100 and an X-E1. I really like the manual controls and layouts. But....they are pretty basic cameras compared with the feature sets of most Canon DSLRs. I doubt Canon can make anything similar without severely crippling the cameras functionality. And if they do that, what's the point of buying it?

 

[pwp]

Maybe some don't, but I think many of us love the feel and process of using a film SLR. Rotating through the shutter speeds. Deciding to set and burn 160 ASA film at 100 for slight overexposure when shooting portraits....

Arrrgh! Retro? Call me a forward looking evolution/revolution tart, but I like new stuff. The often subtle changes that bring better design and ergonomics/useability and so on, are my tech tool turn ons. Just so long as the changes will deliver options for me to take better pictures.

It's not how cool I look taking snaps at my local cafe with a "statement" camera, it's the magic in the images that I come back with that count for me.

Whether it be cameras, cars, kettles or toasters, in my possibly narrow zeitgeist, Retro happens at a point where industrial designers have run out of ideas.

-pw