Canon's Forgotten Landmark Camera, the Pellix

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[@joellinker9899]

The reason the Pellix had the ability to black out the view finder is; since the mirror doesn't flip up during exposure (and is "half mirrored") it can't stop light from coming through the pentaprism , via the view finder, and thereby leaking light onto the film when the shutter is open.

[@randallstewart1224]

Correct. If the Pellix is tripod mounted, such that your eye is not blocking the viewfinder during exposure, failure to set the viewfinder light cover will allow light to pipe through the prism and flood the mirror box and film plane with light during exposure, as the "half mirror" transmits light both ways.

[@sundarAKintelart]

The mirror is called a Pellicle mirror. This mirror was used in some other camera later. Then discontinued. Semi transparent. The black flag mark that closes the view finder is to avoid stray light entering the camera when used on self timer or when the shutter is operated via a cable release while the photographer stays away from camera.

[@Stephen.C.]

These old cameras are beautiful to handle.

[@timothyplatt6053]

I enjoy these videos so much that I watch even the ones about the cameras I have zero interest in. Great job.

[@Colorado_Ronin]

I was just in Tokyo on the first week of the month and was surprised to see a few trees already blossoming

[@thomasthiele3948]

Hi, the other Canon cameras with a non movable mirror are the F-1 High Speed from 1972 (olympics); the New F-1 High Speed from 1984 I believe (with 14 fps), the EOS RT of 1990 and the EOS RS of 1994. The EOS cameras work well when the aperture is open. When you stop down, the image in the viewfinder becomes dark, just as in the pellix. But you can see whether eyes are open or closed when you take the picture. That was useful in the era before the digital controls.

[@randallstewart1224]

I was in college when the Pellix was introduced, and a friend was much taken with it and purchased one. It's prime feature was the fixed pelical mirror in lieu of the conventional moving reflex mirror. The TTL metering was relatively nothing special, as several cameras already in the market use some form of stop-down TTL metering, most being better implemented. The pro of the mirror was (1) no movement meant no vibration, and (2) no exposure delay from shutter release to shutter activation for a mirror to swing out of the light path. In reality, these were fairly trivial benefits. The pro for Canon was marketing:"Look, we have something the other guy doesn't have."(*} The cons were (1) The camera was expensive, more than any other Canon model by quite a bit. (2) The pelical mirror is "delicate", far more so than the fairly delicate swinging mirror. The Pellex had a reputation for easy damage to the mirror, the replacement of which was quite expensive. My impression at the time was the owners lived in continuing fear of such damage, as you could not clean it with tissue or brush. (3) And the big turn-off. This was the era of "fast" - fastest film, fastest lenses, film speed enhancing developers. The Pellex siphons off light to the viewfinder, about a stop as I recall. This light is permanently not available to make an exposure. It was like mounting a one-stop slower lens than everyone else used. Dealers countered by offering the Pellex with 50mm 1.4 (and I think a 1.2 as well), neither of which were much optically to write home about, and either significantly increasing the cost of an already expensive package. (4) To minimize issue (3), the viewfinder is relatively dim - dimmer than other Canon SLR bodies of the day. The Pellex was a total flop for Canon, yet as the flagship model, it dragged on for years. (*) Nikon, and Canon too, much later produced a small run of bodies using some form of pelical mirror for a special purpose. By eliminating the moving reflex mirror, they were able to affix high speed motor drives to these bodies and achieve much higher "frames per second" exposure bursts than otherwise available, something over 10-12 framers per second if I recall correctly.

[@robstammers7149]

As a Canon camera collector I found this video very useful, many thanks. Regards Rob.

[@Beanso]

Wow man! Finally I camera I own!! Bought at a thrift store w the 100m and 100-200mm

[@davidlewis8702]

The Pentax Spotmatic did not have spot metering in spite of the name. I have several Spotmatics as well as the Pellix. Very good presentation.

[@---us7qf]

I like how solid it looks. The build quality, back then, was sooo good on both Nikon film and Canon film cameras. I am really into buying and using old Nikon film cameras, so this is not for me, but it is interesting. Nonetheless. Thank you!

[@geofff6671]

It sounds like it has the Ae-1 shutter squeak issue, although I think that was actually a mirror return issue.

[@ghw7192]

I managed a camera store for 16 years and I was told by a repair tech that the squeal was caused by the shutter brake going bad.

[@geofff6671]

@@ghw7192 it is pretty well known that squeak can be fixed by a drop of oil on the mirror return. Plenty of videos showing that, so I doubt the repair tech was correct.

[@fistfulloflenses]

often wondered about these cameras,thank you for a very informative video,shame about the cherry blossom

[@Whywas6scared]

There's no mention of the lever stopping down the lens like it does in the FT. Did you just forget to mention this or does it have open aperture metering? The mention of how other makers turn on the meter implies that it is open aperture metering, but that would seem strange for this design.

[@rickdeckard4434]

I've got the black and the chrome version in my canon collection, bought them recently on line. I bought a chrome one many years before the Ebay era. Paid way to much as then i never saw one and thought they where super rare, to make things worse the mirror was desilvering, making the camera rather useless😠😠.

[@Dominator_Frost]

hello, I wanna know which is the best Japanese TLR camera your last video do you said autocord, but I am curious about whether primoflex is better than autocord? Thank you.

[@Dominator_Frost]

primoflex automat

[@fretlessfender]

The shuttermechanism is really dry, that's why it squeeks. It is screaming for a CLA😂

[@dflf]

Just not worth buying