8/11/2023 0 Comments Canon sure shot 35mmA much-improved version of SST would appear for the last time in 1989, when Canon introduced their top-end Sure Shot Zoom XL, a physical giant among 35mm Point & Shoots. It also found its way into a single FD-mount 35mm SLR lens the New FD 35-70mm f/4 AF of May 1981. It was originally developed for the Canon AF514XL-S Super 8 movie camera, which was not an inexpensive unit (about three times the cost of the Sure Shot). Thus, the SST module only made it into one 35mm model (the Super Sure Shot/Autoboy Super/ AF35M L) with its 40mm f/1.9 lens. SST was theoretically capable of higher accuracy but was nearly as complex to produce as Visitronic and was also just as dependent upon sufficient light levels to function properly. The main differences with SST versus Visitronic were that both mirrors were fixed while the prism pivoted, and the CCD replaced the dual photosensors. There were two mirrors, two miniature lenses, a prism, and a CCD ( Charge- Coupled Device). We'll start with Solid- State Triangulation as it was developed first and more closely resembled Visitronic, while utilizing one less component. And nobody played that game better than Canon (refer to the AE-1 of 1976 -)).Ĭanon pursued consumer AF on two fronts with CAFS ( Canon Auto Focus System): 1) using SST, and 2) using IRED (oh yeah, it's already getting acrimonious with the acronyms in this article -)). Any way to reduce complexity and cut costs was the name of the game. Simple? Not so much, and here is where Canon saw an opportunity: the Visitronic module consisted of seven basic components (the two mirrors, two miniature lenses, the two photosensors, and the prism), which doesn't sound like much, but we are talking consumer cameras here. Once the voltages from the two arrays matched, the focusing motor was actuated to move the lens to the correct position for focus. And that operation is what Honeywell sought to automate with the Visitronic system by using a rangefinder (with one fixed mirror and one that pivoted with a fixed prism between the two mirrors) with the addition of two photosensor arrays behind the rangefinder that produced voltages based on the incoming light. And that's as far as the math will go, I promise -). The most basic way that has been used for centuries to calculate distance is by means of triangulation, where distance to the subject is determined by obtaining measurements (aka rangefinding) from two different points at a known distance (aka the base length) from each other. That precept formed the basis for developing usable AF systems. The name of the game when it comes to determining focus is: distance from the subject to the film or sensor. Come late-1979, however, Canon announced their entry into the 35mm AF fray with the Sure Shot and a different take on how to achieve AF with these consumer-oriented cameras. Soon, a flood of other Japanese manufacturers followed suit with their own Visitronic-equipped, Cosina-manufactured models (Chinon 35F-A, Fujica Flash Auto Focus, Mamiya 135AF, Minolta Hi-Matic AF, Rolleimat AF, and Yashica Auto Focus, to name a few) with Canon conspicuously absent. So it was of little surprise when the Konica C35 AF debuted in 1977 that a Honeywell Visitronic AF module was present inside. Honeywell, just freshly divorced from being the American distributor of Asahi Pentax, was the foremost pusher behind the technology of AF for cameras in the mid-to-late-'70s.
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