CanonA35 F

The Canon A35 F comes out of the late 1970s — the last gasp of fully mechanical pocket cameras before electronics took over. Catalogued as a rangefinder compact, it pairs the Canon 40mm f/2.8 with a 35mm film path. A bit of background: Canon's first compact rangefinder with a built-in flash — quite a deal in 1978.

Format

35mm

Year

1978

Lens

Canon 40mm f/2.8

Shutter

1/60s – 1/650s

Min. focus

1.0 m

Flash

Built-in pop-up

Battery

1× PX625 + 2× AA (flash)

The Canon 40mm f/2.8 sits in the daylight sweet spot: sharp wide open, well-corrected against flare, and small enough to disappear in a jacket pocket. Standard 35mm keeps it compatible with whatever Kodak, Ilford, Fuji or CineStill stock you find on the shelf today. It was designed around the now-banned 1.35V mercury PX625, so use a Wein cell or an MR-9 voltage adapter if you want the meter to read correctly. The built-in flash will fire whenever the meter decides it should, so learn the override before your first night out. Minimum focus is 1.0 m, close enough for a coffee cup or a face but stops short of true macro. One thing worth knowing before you load a roll: sibling of the popular Canonet QL series, but smaller and simpler. Best for everyday life and half-length portraits — a 40-ish lens stays out of the way and renders people without distortion.

The Canon A35 F hasn't been swept up by the algorithm yet, which is the entire window — get one before the rest of the internet catches up. Worth remembering: the 40mm f/2.8 lens is sharp enough to still earn fans on film forums today.

• §1Canon's first compact rangefinder with a built-in flash — quite a deal in 1978.
• §2Sibling of the popular Canonet QL series, but smaller and simpler.
• §3The 40mm f/2.8 lens is sharp enough to still earn fans on film forums today.