Most camera manufacturers followed a similar path. Whether they were producing viewfinder/rangefinder cameras or single lens reflexes (SLRs), each new camera tended to be an echo of what had gone before, but with extra features and innovations added. The design of that camera, in turn, then led to an even better successor. And so it went on. As with its competitors, Canon by and large trod that familiar path. Unlike its competitors, Canon also developed a habit of sometimes exploring a different path that led to a camera that bore little resemblance to anything that had gone before and would have no influence on what would follow. Most of those cameras are, today, still available and very usable.
1961: Canon 7
There’s nothing particularly unusual about the Canon 7 itself. This was the first Canon camera with a built-in selenium meter coupled to the shutter control, with readings displayed in a window in the top plate, and with a rangefinder base half as long
