Written by John Picciuto
Sometimes the Unique Photo Used department gets some pretty rare and unique cameras. Earlier this week, we received this Hansa Canon 35mm rangefinder camera.
This was Canon's first production model and Japan's first high-quality 35mm camera it was an improved version of the KWANON camera, and it also incorporated technology from Nippon Kogaku (Nikon). The marketing date was for February 1936, though some say that the camera was marketed in October of 1935. It featured the Nikkor 5cm f/3.5, which was the first time this lens was mounted on a civilian camera. Nippon Kogaku made the rangefinder optics and focusing mount, and the viewfinder was a reversed Galilean type that was separate from the rangefinder window.
The viewfinder was found to be nicknamed "surprise box" because often it surprised users when it popped up after the button was pressed.
Gore Yoshida, Saburo Uchida, Takeo Maeda, and Seiki-Kogaku Kenkyusho intended to develop a 35mm rangefinder camera and produced the first prototype for their 35mm camera called the “Kwanon”, but was never commercialized. After the initial designs Uchida and Mazda developed the camera with the help of outside investors and the camera later became known as “Canon”. Originally the camera was produced with the name Hansa on its top plate but was later changed to Canon.
Each Hansa Canon had their lens focusing mount made by Nikon who then were the only Japanese manufacturer of camera glass and the producer of Nikkor branded lenses. Their focusing mount design avoided the patent utilized by Leica which allowed them to utilize their mounts in the Japanese markets.
Each Nikkor focusing mount had a number engraved on its base. The focusing mount numbers are the best way to identify individual Hansa Canon cameras. There was also a serial number stamped inside the baseplate of each camera but the focusing mount numbers aged better over time compared to the baseplate.
With the success of the Hansa Canon the small and slowly growing company eventually grew to the massive Canon Camera Company and eventually became Canon, Inc. The success of the Hansa Canon led to the introduction of the Canon S lineup which initially was introduced in late 1938.
Make sure to come into the Fairfield and Philly stores to check out the rest of our used departments for great used gear!