Canon Has Sold Its Last Film Camera (techcrunch.com)

As spotted by PetaPixel, Canon this week announced with no fanfare that it's sold its last film camera. TechCrunch reports: The model in question is the EOS-1V, which, incidentally, the company actually stopped making a full eight years ago. Since it has simply been selling out the rest of its stock, which, it seems, has finally depleted. It's less of a bang than a prolonged whimper, but it's the end of an era, nonetheless, marking the first time Canon hasn't offered a film camera since the 30s, when its parent company started offering a device called the "Kwanon." Those who are feeling suddenly nostalgic, you can likely pick one up used fairly easily (though this news might bump up their premium a bit), and I'm sure the inevitable Kickstarter project to revive the technology can't be too far off, because that's how these things go now. Canon will continue to offer repair on the EOS-1V until October 31, 2025, "though that could end as early as 2020 for some, if parts and inventory run out sooner," adds TechCrunch.

Comments

Re:I still shoot film

[tlhIngan]

Still I can't imagine buying a new film camera at this point. I've got a Canonet Rangefinder for daily use, my 4x5 for arty stuff and there's so much on the used market that new gear simply isn't attractive.

That's a huge appeal of film cameras - they're so unwanted that a top end film camera from a couple of decades ago can be had super cheap as everyone migrated to digital. You can find an immense amount of pro level gear without spending a whole lot of money.

Maybe that's where the hipster thing starts - because all the old good stuff is so unwanted people are dumping it

One amazing thing about 35mm film specifically is how much dynamic range it has - you don't "shoot HDR" because the film IS HDR. Enough so you can often pull it a few stops either way without blowing out details. (If you only have ISO 100 film and need ISO 400 film? Shoot the ISO 100 film as if it was ISO400 film and you'll be fine as long as you remember you underexposed it 2 stops. But it can take it just fine). It's why you can make 35mm film cameras down to the "disposable" side of random aperture, random shutter and still have users end up with decent photos - 35mm film just did not care if you under or overexposed it - it was able to still capture a photo. You may have to adjust the exposure during development, but you can recover images even with thee shittiest of cameras.