Canon sells its final film camera

[Shawn Knight]

The big picture: Like a senior citizen late in life, the traditional photography industry is losing company to Father Time. Digital is king and has been for many years but it's still sad to see an old friend laid to rest.

Canon this week officially ended sales of its last remaining film camera, the single lens reflex (SLR) EOS-1V. It marks the first time in more than 80 years that Canon doesn’t have a film-based camera for sale.

Canon introduced the EOS-1V in 2000. As PetaPixel highlights, the “V” in the model name is in reference to it being Canon’s 5^th generation professional SLR camera (the “V” also apparently stands for “Vision”). Interestingly enough, Canon ended production of the EOS-1V in 2010 but has continued to ship and sell it from excess inventory ever since.

Eight years’ worth of excess inventory is a lot but then again, I can’t imagine the market for a dated piece of equipment based on dated technology was all that demanding.

Existing owners aren’t being left out in the cold, however, as Canon has vowed to accept repair orders until October 31, 2025. After October 31, 2020, however, Canon may refuse repairs if it no longer has the necessary parts in stock to fix the cameras.

The EOS branding, which stands for Electro-Optical System, persists in Canon’s modern digital camera family.

Those still itching for a new 35mm SLR camera have a couple of quality options remaining, namely the FM10 and the F6 from Nikon. The second-hand market is always an option as well.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/74881-canon-sells-final-film-camera.html

 

[Uncle Al]

What a sad day, but never fear, there appears to be a bit of a Retro on the horizon with film camera's making a bit of a comeback. Seems people are realizing that as with audio, something does tend to get lost with the all digital craze. They certainly won't be making a 4x5 or 8x10 digital camera anytime soon!

 

[p51d007]

My first "slr" camera was a Canon AE-1 (non program version). Got it in 81, had to upgrade in 1999 because the film winder stopped working and it would cost about half as much as a new one. Got a Rebel and used it until 2010 when I switched to a d-SLR. Still have it because you can't sell it, for what you have in it but if the "retro" thing holds on, maybe I'll be able to get a buck or two for it one of these days.

 

[Hasbean]

Still got a Canon T90 I bought new in mid 80's. Still in pretty much mint condition.

 

[Squid Surprise]

I had an ELF in the mid-90s... loved it... but I'd never go back - digital is so VASTLY superior...

 

[ChrisH1]

What a sad day, but never fear, there appears to be a bit of a Retro on the horizon with film camera's making a bit of a comeback. Seems people are realizing that as with audio, something does tend to get lost with the all digital craze. They certainly won't be making a 4x5 or 8x10 digital camera anytime soon!

https://www.dpreview.com/articles/7964414898/canonlargestsensor - 202*205mm 120 megapixels, that's about 8*8 ...

 

[senketsu]

What a sad day, but never fear, there appears to be a bit of a Retro on the horizon with film camera's making a bit of a comeback. Seems people are realizing that as with audio, something does tend to get lost with the all digital craze. They certainly won't be making a 4x5 or 8x10 digital camera anytime soon!

I'm sad too, a friend of mine had an 8x10 camera he used to lug around the mountains. Pictures were phenomenally good. Inevitably though digital will surpass. Plus as an old 35 mm guy I so much enjoy how I can crop, not worry about developing film etc.

 

[CortyDK]

Yeah, I still got my dads old 8mm family films with audio on mono casette tapes. I have digitized them, but are keeping the films for nostalgic reasons.

That said, and as others have pointed out, analogue sound has had a bit of a revival. Personally I almost daily use my vinyl record player (with valve (tube) pre-amp) and more rarely my compact casette deck.

I also have my VHS machine even though I have no tapes to play, but now and then someone will ask me to digitize some old family films from VHS, and I'm quite happy to oblige..

I like playing around with old analogue equipment. I'd love to get my hands on a reel to reel tape recorder, but the missus has veto'ed that because she thinks they are to big and bulky. But she can accept vinyl records and compact casettes, so I'll live with that.

With regards to pictures, developing film are way to expensive here in Denmark. Yes it can still be done, takes about a week, and the cost is somewhere around 150 DKR for 36 images. That's around US$ 23,49, so 65 cents, per image, just for developing. That's a bit steep for my taste, and as I'm not the big photographer, we just have a Panasonic compact digital camera for taking pictures. So yes, it's sad to see them go, but money has spoken... and ease of use... and durability... you get the "picture" (pun certainly intended) ...