Canon F-1, Minolta, and Nikon archives

[cooltouch]

Today I was going through some old boxes, looking for some old copies of Popular Photography magazine that I know I have around here somewhere, but was unable to find, when I ran across some other cool stuff I'd collected in past years that I thought might be of some general interest to the members here.

I have two copies of Canon's An Introduction to the Canon F-1 with publication dates of October 31, 1975 and May 31, 1977. The first one comprises the F-1 system plus Canon accessories, and Canon's complete array of lenses that existed during the time of the first model of the Original F-1, and the second one features the second model of the Original F-1, plus most all Canon lenses and accessories available then.

Joseph Cooper is perhaps best known for his Nikon Handbook, but he also compiled one for Minolta too. I have both. Each is a two volume set, with publication dates in the 1970s.

Now, the cool thing about the above publications is the level of detail that they contain. For example, cutaway schematics of almost all of the Canon lenses are shown, as are the Minolta's -- and I'm pretty sure the Nikons are too. The F-1 books have some cool exploded diagrams of the F-1 cameras. All three have quite a few representative photos demonstrating lenses or photographic techniques. Plus each publication covers a rather extensive list of all the various accessories that were made for these cameras, and how they are best used. A lot of these accessories I have never seen before, and were most likely produced in very small quantities.

So, anyway, rather than my posting a bunch of example stuff, I thought I'd just let y'all know what I have, and if you have any specific questions regarding these three systems, I'll see what these references have to say, and will scan and post the relevant information, assuming of course that I have any.

[marty]

Thanks for making available such interesting material, Michael.

Cheers, Marty.

[cooltouch]

Not a problem, Marty.

Here are a couple of pages from the F-1 guide:




In this day and age, we've gotten so used to seeing mechanical drawings that were done using AutoCad or similar programs, that I think most of us have forgotten that this stuff used to be done by hand. All the above drawings were inked and lettered by hand, which kind of gives them an appeal all their own.

[martinsmith99]

Interesting reading.

I've been buying old photography books from charity shops and a lot of them have drawings in which must have taken an age and a lot of skill to produce.