User:Ukexpat/Canon A series

The A series is Canon's penultimate series of manual focus 35 mm single lens reflex cameras aimed at the amateur photographer.

Design history
Beginning with the amateur level Canon AE-1 of 1976, there was a complete overhaul of the entire Canon SLR line. The 1970s and 1980s were an era of intense competition between the major SLR brands: Canon, Nikon, Minolta, Pentax and Olympus. Between circa 1975 to 1985, there was a dramatic shift away from heavy all-metal manual mechanical camera bodies to much more compact bodies with integrated circuit (IC) electronic automation. In addition, because of rapid advances in electronics, the brands continually leap frogged each other with models having new or more automatic features, and less expensive components and assembly. The industry was trying to expand out from the saturated high-end professional market and appeal to the large mass of low-end amateur photographers keen to move up from compact automatic leaf shutter rangefinder cameras to the more "glamorous" SLR but were intimidated by the need to learn all the details of operating a traditional SLR.

Although Canon Camera K. K. had been making fine quality 35 mm cameras for decades, it had always been overshadowed by archrival Nippon Kokagu K. K. and their Nikon cameras. While Canonets easily led in the amateur compact fixed-lens rangefinder market (where Nikons did not compete), Canon SLRs had far less cachet than Nikon SLRs. Because of its unrivaled reputation for worksmanship, assembly quality, tight tolerances and material build, Nikon held a stranglehold on the prestigious professional SLR market that competitors could not break and Nikon's amateur SLRs benefited from their success.

The A-1 is the high technology standard bearer of the landmark Canon amateur level A-series SLRs. The other members of the A-series are the Canon AE-1 (released 1976), AT-1 (1977), AV-1 (1979), AE-1 Program (1981) and AL-1 (1982). They all use the same compact aluminum alloy chassis, but with differing feature levels and outer cosmetic acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) plastic panels. By sharing most major components, and an inexpensive horizontal cloth-curtain shutter, costs could be spread out over a larger production volumes. The A-1 represented Canon's bid to defeat Nikon through more features and the cheapest price.

Category:Canon cameras