Canon S-I Rangefinder Camera 1946

A Description of the rare Canon S-I Rangefinder Camera of 1946

a Canon S-I of 1946 mounted with a pre-war Nikkor 5cm f3.5 lens

Resumption of Seiki-Kōgaku Production in 1945-1946

In late 1945, staff of the Seiki-Kōgaku Kogyo Co., Ltd. gradually returned to Tokyo and began to restore camera production. The Canon history site states that the main factories survived the war "without major damage". The Canon site further states:

"...the Allied Occupation Forces (centered on the U.S. Forces) showed great interest in Japanese cameras. [Dr. Takeshi] Mitarai felt that it was not impossible to restart camera production, and submitted an application for production of consumer goods to the GHQ (the Allied Army General Headquarters). The application was granted on October 1, l945, two months after the end of the war, for Precision Optical Industry Co., Ltd. to resume the production of cameras. ⁴ The primary producion was at the Canon factory near the Schimomaruku train station, Tokyo which was later expanded into the Canon headquarters complex. ⁴

the Canon factory Schimomaruku where production was resumed in late 1945

At first, at the end of 1945, a simple camera, the Canon J-II was assembled from Canon S and Canon J parts. You can read about the Canon J-II by clicking here. Then began the production of the far more complex Canon S-I, as it is now called. The S-I was basically the pre-war Canon S model as produced after the war in 1946. Dechert states that accoring to Canon records, only 97 S-I cameras were produced. ¹ This was clearly the production of a few carefully hand-made cameras made from Canon parts which had survived the destruction of the Tokyo are in 1945.

Production of Cameras in Japan during World War II

As can be seen from the table below, Japanese camera production by all manufacturers barely recovered in 1946 from war-time levels.

These production figures demonstrate the effects during World War II of the combination of the scarcity of materials, the destruction of the distribution network, and the ban on sales to cameras to private citizens. Manufacturers struggled during 1943-1945 to produce even the limited quantities they were able to supply the Japanese military.

So in 1946, the Japanese camera industry was (like most of Japan) in a difficult economic situation, struggling to rebuild.

Production of the Canon S-I

Peter Dechert in Canon Rangefinders wrote:

"Even after regrouping for several weeks, all that the staff [of Seiki-Kōgaku] could do was to work with parts at hand. Their first postwar product was the Canon S-I." ¹

The Canon S-I produced during the last month of 1945 until November 1946 were limited: Dechert estimates 97 cameras, based on Canon records. ¹ This production was limited not only by difficult post-war conditions, but also because the Canon S-I camera was the last to be constructed with the Nikkor focusing lens mount.

a late Nikkor focusing mount from Nippon Kōgaku

You can read more about this Nikkor focusing mount by clicking on the Nikkor 50mm lens and mount.

The Canon S-I camera was the only post-war camera made with the complex Nikkor focusing mount. It is doubtful that Nippon Kōgaku made any more of these mounts after about 1941 or 1942, so the Canon S-I would have been assembled from the few focusing mounts on hand.

All these factors would account for the very small number of Canon S-I units produced during 1946. However, they are examples of Seiki-Kōgaku's determination to rebuild their production and their business.

The 1946 Canon S-I bodies were equiped with Nikkor 50mm f3.5 lenses, as well as the Nikkor 50mm f4.5 as shown in the photograph above, and also with the very rare bayonet mount Nikkor 50mm f2.8 lens, as can be seen in the photograph below.

a rare Canon S-I of 1946 with a rare Nikkor 5cm f2.8 lens

Canon Preparations for the Canon S-II

During this time of Canon S-I production, Seiki-Kōgaku was preparing a new, and better (and more simply) designed camera: the Canon S-II. This camera rebuilt the Canon camera business 1946-1949 as you can read by clicking on this link to the Canon S-II page.

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