Canon 7 "Dream" (1962).

Howard Somerville (10 million views)
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Canon 7
Canon 7 "Dream" (1962).

The Canon 7, a Leica M rival, was notable for its unique f0.95 standard lens. More than a stop faster than an f1.4, it was called the "Dream" lens because it supposedly admitted 4 times as much light as the human eye.

Arguably, there was then a need for ultra-fast lenses. Colour film was slow (Kodachrome 1, the best slide film available in 1961, had a speed of only 12 ASA) and moving subjects in low light were otherwise impossible to photograph.

For nearly 50 years, the "Dream" lens was the fastest (and most expensive) standard lens ever made, and only equalled for speed now by the new, aspherical Leitz M-mount 50mm f0.95. A drawback was its huge weight and diameter which, even without a lens hood, causes a viewfinder 'blind spot' which hides a quarter of its field. Although the Canon 7 body has a Leica-screw lens mount (used by its other interchangeable lenses) for the f0.95 lens it needed a non-standard, auxiliary bayonet mount. The rangefinder spot is less clear than the Leica's, but the Canon's viewfinder has 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 100mm and 135mm frames, selected manually.

The verdict? The Canon 7 was a fine, professional-quality rangefinder camera, but the f0.95 lens was considered to be more for show than serious use, as wide open it was a little soft. This was unfair because at smaller stops, its performance matched that of slower 50mm lenses. But it was an unbeatable "mine-is-faster-than-yours" status symbol, and today makes a highly collectable curiosity

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Taken on: September 5, 2024
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