Canon Rangefinder Long 200mm to 1000mm Lenses

A Description of Canon Rangefinder 200mm to 1000mm Telephoto Lenses produced 1946-1970

(l) a Canon 200mm f3.5 and (r) a Canon 400mm f4.5 lenses for use with a Canon Reflex Housing

Canon Long Telephoto Lenses: 200mm to 1000mm

Peter Dechert in Canon Rangefinder Cameras 1933-1968 describes Canon's first long lens: a Seiki Kogaku 20cm f4.0 lens manufactured in small numbers during September, October 1946. ¹ According to Dechert, only one of these lenses is known to have survived, and is shown below in its specially fitted box.

a unique Seiki-Kogaku 20cm f4.0 lens of 1946 in its fitted box and mounted on a Canon S-II

Canon Reflex Housing 1 and Long Telephoto Lenses

In March 1957 ², Canon introduced the Canon Reflex Housing and a 200mm f3.5 lens which could be attached to the Reflex housing for focusing, as shown in the photograph below.

the Canon Reflex Housing 1 with a 1957 200mm f3.5 telephoto mounted on a Canon P body

Canon 400mm f4.5

In the summer of 1956, Canon introduced the Canon 400mm f4.5 for mounting on the Canon Refles Housing 1

Description of the Canon 400mm f4.5 from the contemporaneous Canon catalogue

You can click on the links in the table below to consult other pages of the canonrangfinder.org site.

Any additions or corrections to these pages would be welcome simply by contacting this site as shown at the foot of this page .

¹ Dechert, Peter. Canon Rangefinder Cameras 1933-1968. Hove Collectors Books. West Sussex, United Kingdom. 1985. ISBN 0-906447-30-5.

Peter Dechert's book is the most important expert source of information regarding Canon Rangefinder Cameras.

² Kitchingman, Peter. Canon M39 Rangefinder Lenses 1939-1971. A Collector's Guide. Published by Peter Kitchingman. Perth, Australia. 2008. ISBN 978-0-646-48144-9.

Peter Kitchingman's book is the definitive study of the more than three decades of M39 format camera lenses developed for Canon Rangefinder Cameras.

³ Nostalgic Canon Camera Book. 懐かしいキヤノン EI Publishing Co. Ltd. Tokyo, Japan. June 2003.

Peter Kitchingman's book is the definitive study of the more than three decades of M39 format camera lenses developed for Canon Rangefinder Cameras.

⁴ "Canon Camera Museum" history website. https://global.canon/en/c-museum/history/ published by Canon, Inc. accessed in 2019.

⁵ Rajner, Hans P. (author), John Wade (editor). Leica Copies. Classic Collections Publications. London, UK. ISBN 13: 9781874485056

Hans P. Rajner's book is an excellently detailed and carefully researched study of camera from around the world which used the Leica M39 lens mount and the same lens to film plane distance.

⁷ Dechert, Peter. Canon Single Lens Reflex Cameras 1959-1991. Historical Camera Publications. Yakima, Washington. 1992. ISBN 1-879561-04-2.

⁸ Tomlinson, Shawn M. The Film Photography Book. Lulu Pulbications. 2016. ISBN: 9781365263972

⁹ Sartorius, Ghester. Identifying Leica Lenses. Classic Camera 19. Tokyo, Japan. 2001. ISBN 4-257-12029-0

¹⁰ website http://www.nicovandijk.net/rflensmatrix.htm consulted 2019.

¹¹ O'Reagan, Douglas M. Allied Exploitation of German Science after World War II. Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore, Maryland. 2019. ISBN 9781421428888

¹² website www.canonrangefinder.servehttp.com consulted 2008.

¹³ Minolta expert Andrea Aprà has posted information on minoltarangefinders group and other groups and further detailed information by email. (thanks Andrea !)

¹⁴ website http://www.collection-appareils.fr/objectifs/ consulted 2019.

¹⁵ Small, Marc James. Non-Leitz Leica Thread-Mount Lenses. Wittig Books. Hückelhoven, Germany. 1997. ISBN 3-930359-47-2.

¹⁶ the Nikon Corporation website: https://imaging.nikon.com/history/ consulted 2019.

¹⁷ p 152. Ray, Sidney F. Photographic Lens ISBN 9780240510323

¹⁸ website http://www.rokkorfiles.com/Lens%20History.html accessed 2019

¹⁹ Wilkinson, M. and Glanfield, C. A Lens Collector's vade mecum Draft Paper Edition 1997. revised 2001.