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Lot Essay
Condition: 4B(ii)ding
Cosmetic: Normal use and wear.
Mechanical: Apparently working.
Lenses: Clean and clear, minor handling marks.
According to Peter Dechert, the Canon 1950 owed its development to a talented designer Hiroshi Suzukawa who joined the company in 1948, becoming head of their technical development department and later going on to become vice-chairman of the Canon Company.
The Canon 1950 model is virtually unknown and was designated as model IIc during its short production life. Canon later gave this model designation to different camera. Essentially the Canon 1950 was an early trial version of the later model IV. It is now regarded as the 1950 model because it was the single new Canon type to be manufactured that year.
Only fifty units were produced and most were apparently shipped to C.R. Skinner Mfg. Company in San Francisco for sale to the public. At first Skinner designated it the model IIC, which was later changed to model IVM, a designation never used by Canon.
The Canon 1950 abandoned what still basically the Canon S shutter design for a new one that remained largely unchanged during the next years. Continuing to employ two dials, the new shutter split them at 25 rather than 20, added a 'T' time exposure setting on the slow dial, and from 1950 onwards also incorporated a top 1000 speed.
More importantly, the new shutter was fully synchronized for use with flashbulbs; contact with the flash unit was affected by a rail on the rewind end of the camera body, one of Suzukawa's inovations that remained the standard Canon synchronization contact design until the model VT.
Beyond the new shutter there were other additional features in the operating mechanism. Although the well loved take-up spool with the pop-up top did not appear until 1951, the take-up shaft of the Canon 1950 was notched for use with rapid wind baseplate - a Leicavit-like accessory that apparently was another of Suzukawa's ideas. Later Canon literature insisted that this winder could only be used with cameras after serial number 50200, beyond that of any of the Canon 1950's. However, it can in fact work with all Canons abover serial number 50000.
Partially in order to protect the synchronization contacts from dust and dirt, the bottom face of the lower shutter crate cover (which had been exposed when the baseplate was removed from all earlier Canons in order to load or unload film) was newly shielded by a thin metal cover that carried a loading diagram. The 1950 lacked the patent notice for the synchronizer which is first found on the Canon IV.
The maker's name on the top still read 'Canon Camera Co Ltd'. This was changed before the model IV was introduced, making it easy quickly to distinguish the Canon 1950 from the later IV of 1951, whose general characteristics were the same. Another distinctive marking was that below the A-R switch: on the 1950 there is no engraved 'A' and the 'R' positions are marked. The rear superstructure cover retaining screw of the 1950 was still offset toward the right end of the accessory shoe as had been the case on all the IIB's made before 1951. Finally, the 1950 body shell is a reworked version of the dull grey one found on late IIB's instead of blackened throughout in the manner of the 1951 and later shells.
With the new IIB-style finder and the improvements first tested on the 1950, Canon clearly had determined the basic pattern that all their cameras of the next five years would follow. Introduced by other companies during 1950 were the Leica IIIf and the Contax IIa, and the synchronized Nikon M cameras; the Canon 1950 could easily outperform all of them.
Therefore, because it so clearly points the way toward so many Canons to come and yet was not quite one of them, the model 1950 is highly important and interesting in its own right. Unfortunately, although it was used to illustrate the first Canon IV instruction book, almost all examples of the Canon 1950 have since disappeared.
Cosmetic: Normal use and wear.
Mechanical: Apparently working.
Lenses: Clean and clear, minor handling marks.
According to Peter Dechert, the Canon 1950 owed its development to a talented designer Hiroshi Suzukawa who joined the company in 1948, becoming head of their technical development department and later going on to become vice-chairman of the Canon Company.
The Canon 1950 model is virtually unknown and was designated as model IIc during its short production life. Canon later gave this model designation to different camera. Essentially the Canon 1950 was an early trial version of the later model IV. It is now regarded as the 1950 model because it was the single new Canon type to be manufactured that year.
Only fifty units were produced and most were apparently shipped to C.R. Skinner Mfg. Company in San Francisco for sale to the public. At first Skinner designated it the model IIC, which was later changed to model IVM, a designation never used by Canon.
The Canon 1950 abandoned what still basically the Canon S shutter design for a new one that remained largely unchanged during the next years. Continuing to employ two dials, the new shutter split them at 25 rather than 20, added a 'T' time exposure setting on the slow dial, and from 1950 onwards also incorporated a top 1000 speed.
More importantly, the new shutter was fully synchronized for use with flashbulbs; contact with the flash unit was affected by a rail on the rewind end of the camera body, one of Suzukawa's inovations that remained the standard Canon synchronization contact design until the model VT.
Beyond the new shutter there were other additional features in the operating mechanism. Although the well loved take-up spool with the pop-up top did not appear until 1951, the take-up shaft of the Canon 1950 was notched for use with rapid wind baseplate - a Leicavit-like accessory that apparently was another of Suzukawa's ideas. Later Canon literature insisted that this winder could only be used with cameras after serial number 50200, beyond that of any of the Canon 1950's. However, it can in fact work with all Canons abover serial number 50000.
Partially in order to protect the synchronization contacts from dust and dirt, the bottom face of the lower shutter crate cover (which had been exposed when the baseplate was removed from all earlier Canons in order to load or unload film) was newly shielded by a thin metal cover that carried a loading diagram. The 1950 lacked the patent notice for the synchronizer which is first found on the Canon IV.
The maker's name on the top still read 'Canon Camera Co Ltd'. This was changed before the model IV was introduced, making it easy quickly to distinguish the Canon 1950 from the later IV of 1951, whose general characteristics were the same. Another distinctive marking was that below the A-R switch: on the 1950 there is no engraved 'A' and the 'R' positions are marked. The rear superstructure cover retaining screw of the 1950 was still offset toward the right end of the accessory shoe as had been the case on all the IIB's made before 1951. Finally, the 1950 body shell is a reworked version of the dull grey one found on late IIB's instead of blackened throughout in the manner of the 1951 and later shells.
With the new IIB-style finder and the improvements first tested on the 1950, Canon clearly had determined the basic pattern that all their cameras of the next five years would follow. Introduced by other companies during 1950 were the Leica IIIf and the Contax IIa, and the synchronized Nikon M cameras; the Canon 1950 could easily outperform all of them.
Therefore, because it so clearly points the way toward so many Canons to come and yet was not quite one of them, the model 1950 is highly important and interesting in its own right. Unfortunately, although it was used to illustrate the first Canon IV instruction book, almost all examples of the Canon 1950 have since disappeared.