Japanese SLR production numbers. Part 4: Canon

Canon wasn't always the dominating (D)SLR producer as we know them today. They have been focusing on their very nice rangefinder cameras in the beginning, and entered the SLR market in 1959 at about the same time as Nikon did with the F.  During the 60ies and early 70ies they were just one of many SLR producers. Their breakthrough came 1976 with the Canon AE-1, a tremendous success. After 1985 during the early AF area they had a serious battle with Minolta about the leading SLR producer position. Later they were mostly competing with Nikon to finally succeed with the dawn of the DSLR cameras. As I'm only counting "traditional" SLR cameras (no AF, no build-in motor drives), Canon came out with "just" a total of 15.8 million units, a little less then the early market leader Pentax, but more then Minolta and Nikon. 

Launched at about the same time as the Nikon F, Canon's first SLR called Canonflex wasn't as successful. That might have be attributed to a weird design concept putting the advance lever at the bottom of the camera. Canon experimented a lot and brought new models almost every year, with small improvements, though.  However, it looks like they always were technically behind the competition for a couple of years.

With the F-series launched in 1964 they came closer to the main stream design concepts, but none of these cameras had outstanding features, which kind of explains, why Canon's SLR market share remained comparatively small. They tried to be innovative: The Pellix camera with the semi-transparent but stationary mirror was their first TTL metering camera. However, it was quite a flop. The other innovation they tried to use for marketing was the QL (quick-loading) system, which silently disappeared just a couple of years later. 

The first SLR they were able to sell over a million times was the FTb, a mainstream model at the time giving Canon the confidence that they can compete on the market and take the next step. The introduction of the AE-1 as the first camera of the A-series pushed Canon at the top of the market. With the AE-1 they sold high-end automatic features at average market pricing. With the AE-1 the SLR arrived at the average consumer and opened up a much bigger market than before.

Some of the success Canon had with the FTb and the A-series can also be attributed to the flagship F-1 they launched in 1971. The technical efforts they invested to make this camera gave them the experience and technology to succeed with the mass market models. The F-1 was Canon's attempt to compete with Nikon's professional F series. Without really beating Nikon, Canon definitely was their most serious and successful competitor.

In March 1983 Canon introduced the T-50, a camera with a build-in motor drive and the first of the T-Series. This series probably sold as good as the A-series did. However, it was just the transition to the modern EOS series of fully automated AF-SLR's, where Canon eventually took over the lead in the SLR market. This all is a complete different story and might be assessed later.

Modell	Comments	Introd.	Disc.	Numbers produced
R Mount (1959-1963)
Canonflex	instant return mirror	03/1959	1959	17,000
Canonflex RP		1960	1961	31,000
Canonflex R2000	1/2000 sec	1960	1960	8,800
Canonflex RM (1962)	build-in selen meter	1962	1964	72,000
FL Mount (1964-1969)
Canon FX	Build-in CdS light meter	04/1964	1966	270,000
Canon FP	Same as FX w/o metering	10/1964	1966	50,000
Canon Pellix	stationary mirror, TTL	03/1965	03/1966	35,000
Canon Pellix QL	QL: quick load	03/1966	1970	76,000
Canon FT QL	TTL stop down	03/1966	1971	550,000
Canon TL QL	max 1/500 s	1966	1971	55,000
FD Mount (1970-1990)
Canon EF	Auto exposure (S)	11/1973	1977?	320,000
Canon F-1	professional	09/1970	1981	380,000
Canon New F-1	professional	1981	1991	205,000
Canon FTb (QL)	open aperture TTL	03/1971	1976	1,800,000
Canon FTbn		1973	1976
Canon TX	stripped down FTb	03/1975	1976	180,000
Canon TLb	stripped down FTb	09/1974	03/1975	120,000
A series (1976-1985)
Canon A-1	full Auto (P,S,A) mode	1978	1985	2,430,000
Canon AE-1	Auto exposure (S)	1976	1984	5,730,000
Canon AE-1 Program	Auto exposure (S, P)	1981	1984	4,000,000
Canon AL-1	focussing aid	03/1982	1985	200,000
Canon AT-1	manual match needle	12/1976	1985	520,000
Canon AV-1	Auto exposure (A)	1979	1984	200,000

For this assessment I again used multiple sources from the internet, but did most of the counting by myself using this method. Canon is kind of unique as they use a date stamp inside the film chamber and in a few cases I was able to get both, date and serial number of a certain camera. With this the distribution of the produced cameras over the years was a little easier than with the other producers. For the Canonflex series I totally relied on the info I found on cameraquest.com.

Japanese SLR production numbers. Part 3: (Asahi) Pentax

Chapter 3 of my Japanese SLR production number series is about the Asahi Optical Corporation, better known under its SLR brand Pentax and later on renamed into Pentax Corp. With their Asahiflex series from 1952 they actually were the first producer of a SLR in Japan and remained the only one for a couple of years. While the others copied German rangfinder cameras, Asahi decided to try it with a copy of the Praktiflex. Especially during the late '60ies and early '70ies Asahi was (number wise) the leading SLR producer. Proudly they announced the 10 millionth SLR in 1981, as the first of the big 4 (Nikon, Minolta and Canon being the other 3). My assessment shows a total of 17.8 million manual focus SLR's produced in Japan.

Kapitel 3 meiner Studie zu Produktionszahlen japanischer Spiegelreflexkameras handelt von der Asahi Optical Corporation, besser bekannt unter ihrem Markennamen Pentax und später in Pentax Corp. umbenannt. Mit der Asahiflex Reihe von 1952 war Asahi Optical der erste Hersteller einer SLR in Japan und blieb es auch für ein paar Jahre. Während die anderen deutsche Messsucher Kameras kopierten, entschied sich Asahi, es mit einer Klon der Praktiflex zu versuchen. Vor allem in den späten 60er und frühen 70er Jahren war Asahi (von der Anzahl her) der führende Spiegelreflex Hersteller. Stolz verkündigte Pentax 1981 die Produktion der 10-Millionsten SLR, als erster der großen 4 (Nikon, Minolta und Canon sind die anderen 3). Meine Bewertung zeigt, dass Pentax am Ende 17,8 Mio. MF SLR in Japan produziert hat.

The early Asahiflex and Pentax SLR's are very well documented including production numbers and I had no reason to doubt the info I found on www.pentax-slr.com. I just distributed the production among the documented years in a reasonable manner.

Die frühen Asahiflex und Pentax SLR sind sehr gut dokumentiert, einschließlich Produktionszahlen und ich habe keinen Grund, die Informationen, die ich www.pentax-slr.com gefunden habe anzuzweifeln. Ich habe die Gesamtzahl lediglich auf die jeweils dokumentierten Jahre in angemessener Weise verteilt.

The Spotmatic series introduced in 1964 on the one hand was an evolutionary continuation of the Pentax S series. However, the essential feature it added - TTL metering - in a well made and modern body at affordable prices pushed Asahi at the top of the SLR market. The SP was the first SLR sold more than a million times, when discontinued in 1974 more than 2.7 million have been produced. The entire series counted for more than 4.4 million bodies.

Die Spotmatic-Reihe, eingeführt im Jahr 1964, war auf der einen Seite eine evolutionäre Fortsetzung der Pentax S-Serie. Doch TTL-Messung als wesentliches neues Merkmal, noch dazu in einem gut gemachten und modernen Gehäuse zu erschwinglichen Preisen, katapultierte Asahi an die Spitze des SLR-Markts. Die SP war die erste Spiegelreflex, die sich mehr als eine Million Mal verkaufte. Beim Produktionsende im Jahr 1974 waren es dann mehr als 2,7 Millionen. Die gesamte Serie umfasst mehr als 4,4 Millionen Stück.

The K series really was a true transition product. Asahi saw the disadvantages they had with their M42 thread mount and proposed a bayonet mount, the Pentax K mount, aimed to become as universal as the M42 thread used to be. Consequently they continued the successful Spotmatic series with the new bayonet for some time before the new M series would take over. Interestingly, the most simple body (K-1000) survived the change for almost two decades, but its production moved to Hongkong and later to China respectively. As I'm only counting SLR's produced in Japan, the total number mentioned above does not include the these cameras. However, see my estimate of production in the graph on the left.

Die K-Serie ist wirklich eher ein Übergangsprodukt. Asahi sah die Nachteile mit ihren M42 Schraubgewinde und schlug eine Bajonettfassung vor, das sog. "Pentax K Bajonett", mit dem Ziel, wieder so universell wie das frühere M42 Gewinde zu werden. Folglich setzte man die erfolgreiche Spotmatic-Reihe für einige Zeit mit dem neuen Bajonett fort, bevor die neue M-Serie übernehmen würde. Interessanterweise überlebte das einfachste Gehäuse (die K-1000) die Änderungen für fast zwei Jahrzehnte, allerdings zog die Produktion erst nach Hongkong und später nach China um. Da ich nur die japanische Produktion hier zähle, sind diese Kameras in der oben angegebenen Gesamtzahl nicht enthalten. Allerdings kann man meine Schätzung zu deren Produktion in der Grafik auf der linken Seite sehen.

The M series, introduced only one year after the K series was one of the biggest successes of the Pentax brand. It was even smaller as Olympus' OM series and featured some "first's". The ME-super was the world's first camera with electronic push buttons instead of dial controls and the ME-F was the first 135 film Autofocus SLR. As there was just one AF-lens available it was not very successful and I decided to count it here. AF SLR's from 1985 on have been excluded from my assessment.

Die M-Serie, nur ein Jahr nach der K-Reihe eingeführt, war einer der größten Erfolge der Marke Pentax. Die Kameras waren sogar noch kleiner als die Olympus OM-Serie und hatten auch einige "erste Plätze": Die ME-super war die weltweit erste Kamera mit elektronischen Drucktasten statt Drehschalter und die ME-F war die erste KB-Autofokus SLR. Da nur ein AF-Objektiv zur Verfügung stand, war sie nicht sehr erfolgreich, und ich habe ausnahmsweise beschlossen, sie hier mitzuzählen. Alle anderen AF-SLR von 1985 an sind von dieser Studie ausgeschlossen.

Latest with the A and P series cameras Pentax could not keep up with Canon, Nikon and Minolta anymore. They were loosing market share, although these cameras were well build and offered almost all modern features. My assessment shows more than 4 million produced in Japan. This would have been a huge success in the 60ies or even 70ies. For the 80ies and 90ies this was by far not enough. Motorized and AF models took over and Pentax was just following the major trends as a smaller market player.

Spätestens mit den Kameras der A- und P-Reihen konnte Pentax nicht mehr Schritt halten mit Canon, Nikon und Minolta. Sie verloren Marktanteile, auch wenn diese Kameras gut gebaut waren und fast alle modernen Funktionen boten. Meine Recherchen zeigen, dass mehr als 4 Millionen davon in Japan produziert wurden. Dies wäre ein großer Erfolg in den 60er oder sogar 70er Jahren gewesen. Für die 80er und 90er Jahren war es bei weitem nicht genug. Motorisierte und AF-Modelle übernahmen und Pentax folgte lediglich den wichtigsten Trends als kleiner Marktteilnehmer.

One camera did not belong to any series: Pentax LX, Asahi's attempt to serve the professional market. They only produced about 230,000 cameras, but over a time frame of over 20 years. Except of the first series, where I have used the mentioned source, I've done the production number assessment by myself using the average distance method. In the Pentax case that was comparably easy as www.pentaxforums.com is running a serial number database for almost every Pentax SLR. Based on this here is a table of my results:

Eine Kamera gehört zu keiner Serie: Pentax LX, Asahi's Versuch, den professionellen Markt zu bedienen. Man produzierte nur rund 230,000 Kameras, das aber über einen Zeitraum von mehr als 20 Jahren. Mit Ausnahme der ersten Reihe, wo ich die o.g. Quelle verwendet habe, habe ich alle Produktionszahlen mit meiner Seriennummer-Methode abgeschätzt. Das war im Fall von Pentax vergleichsweise einfach, weil www.pentaxforums.com eine Seriennummer Datenbank für fast jede Pentax SLR pflegt. Auf dieser Basis hier eine Tabelle mit meinen Ergebnissen:

Modell	Comments Bemerkung	from von	to bis	Numbers produced Anzahl
SP		1964	1974	2,700,000
SL		1968	1974	200,000
SP II(a)		1971	1973	300,000
ES (II)		1971	1975	240,000
F		1973	1976	580,000
SP500		1971	1974	170,000
SP1000		1974	1977	250,000
K2	incl. K2DMD	1975	1980	140,000
KX	incl. KX Motor Drive	1975	1977	200,000
KM	incl. KM Motor Drive	1975	1977	350,000
K-1000	Made in Japan	1975	1978	350,000
ME		1976	1980	1,600,000
MX	incl. MX Data	1976	1985	1,150,000
K-1000	Assembled in Hong Kong	Jun-78	1990	(2,000,000)
MV	incl. MV1	Sep-79	1982	1,300,000
ME Super		Jan-80	1987	2,300,000
LX	incl. LX special editions	Jun-80	May-01	230,000
ME-F		Oct-81	1984	80,000
MG		1982	1985	500,000
Super Program	Super A in other markets	Mar-83	1987	620,000
Program A	Program Plus in other markets	Feb-84	1988	400,000
P30(n), P50	P3/P5 in other markets	Oct-85	1988	1,700,000
P30t	Assembeld in China	1990	1997	(1,500,000)
K-1000	Assembled in China	Nov-90	1997	(970,000)