The history of the single-lens reflex camera predates the invention of photography in 1826/27 by one and a half centuries with the use of a reflex mirror in a camera obscura first described in 1676. Such SLR devices were popular as drawing aids throughout the 18th century, because an artist could trace over the ground glass image to produce a true-life realistic picture.
A British patent was granted in 1861 for the first internal mirror SLR photographic camera, but the first production photographic SLR did not appear until 1884 in America.
These primitive SLR cameras began to mature in the early 20th century, but their many disadvantages continued to make them unsatisfactory for general photographic use for decades. The SLR may be elegantly simple in concept, but it turned out to be fiendishly complex in practice. The SLR's shortcomings were solved one by one as optical and mechanical technology advanced and in the 1960s the SLR camera became the preferred design for many high-end camera formats. In the 1970s, the addition of electronics established an important place in the mass market for the SLR. The SLR remains the camera design of choice for most professional and ambitious amateur photographers.
The photographic single-lens reflex camera (SLR) was invented in 1861 by Thomas Sutton, a photography author and camera inventor who ran a photography related company together with Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard on Jersey. The first production SLR with a brand name was Calvin Rae Smith's Monocular Duplex (USA, 1884). Other early SLR cameras were constructed for example by Louis van Neck (Belgium, 1889), Thomas Rudolphus Dallmeyer (England, 1894) and Max Steckelmann (Germany, 1896), and Graflex of the United States and Konishi in Japan produced SLR cameras as early as 1898 and 1907 respectively. These first SLRs were large format cameras.[1][2] While SLR cameras were not very popular at the time, they proved useful for some work. These cameras were used at waist level; the ground glass screen was viewed directly, using a large hood to keep out extraneous light. In most cases, the mirror had to be raised manually as a separate operation before the shutter could be operated.
Following camera technology in general, SLR cameras became available in smaller and smaller sizes; medium format SLRs soon became common; at first larger box cameras, and later "pocketable" models such as the Ihagee Vest-Pocket Exakta of 1933.
The first SLR in the 35mm format was the Soviet Union's Спорт (“Sport”),[3] prototyped in 1934, was a very smart design with a 24mm x 36mm frame size, but did not enter the market until 1937.[4] In the 21st century, the 35mm SLR has been transformed successfully into the world of digital photography.
The first German 35mm SLR camera was the Ihagee Kine-Exakta, produced in 1936, which was fundamentally a scaled-down Vest-Pocket Exakta. This camera used a waist-level finder.
Various other models were produced such as the Kine-Exakta, the Exakta II, the Exakta Varex (Featuring an interchangeable pentaprism eye-level viewfinder and identified in the United States as the 'Exakta V'), the Exakta Varex VX (identified in the United States as the 'Exakta VX'), the Exakta VX IIa, the Exakta VX IIb, the Exakta VX500 and the Exakta VX1000. Exakta also manufactured less expensive cameras under the 'Exa' camera label such as the Exa, the Exa Ia, the Exa II, the Exa IIa, the Exa IIb (which was generally not considered part of the "official" Exa line), and the Exa 500.
Zeiss had begun work on a 35mm SLR camera in 1936 or 1937[1]. This camera used an eye-level pentaprism, which allowed eye-level-viewing of an image oriented correctly from left to right. Waist-level finders, however, showed a reversed image, which the photographer had to mentally adjust for, while composing the image by looking downward and viewing and focusing. To brighten the viewfinder image, Zeiss incorporated a fresnel lens in-between the ground-glass screen and the pentaprism. This design principle became the conventional SLR design used today.
World War II intervened, and the Zeiss SLR did not emerge as a production camera until Zeiss, in the newly-created East Germany factory, introduced the Contax S in 1949, with production ending in 1951. This camera was the first "fixed" eye-level pentaprism 35mm SLR, the historic progenitor of many later SLRs that adopted this arrangement.[5][6][7][8]
Another German manufacturer, Edixa was a brand of camera manufactured by Wirgin Kamerawerk, which company was based in Wiesbaden, West Germany. This company's product line included 35mm SLR cameras such as the Edixa Reflex, which featured a Steinheil 55mm f/1.9 Quinon lens, and an Isco Travegar 50mm f/2.8 lens; the Edixamat Reflex, the Edixa REX TTL, and the Edixa Electronica.
The earliest Japanese SLR for rollfilm was perhaps the Baby Super Flex (or Super Flex Baby), a 127 camera made by Umemoto and distributed by Kikōdō from 1938.[9] This had a leaf shutter, but two years later came the Shinkoflex, a 6×6 camera made by Yamashita Shōkai, with a focal-plane shutter and interchangeable lenses.[10] However, Japanese camera makers concentrated on rangefinder and twin-lens reflex cameras (as well of course as simpler, viewfinder cameras), similar to those of the Western makers.
Asahi took a different manufacturing path, inspired by the German SLRs. Its first model, the Asahiflex I, existed in prototype form in 1951 and production in 1952, making it the first Japanese-built 35mm SLR. The Asahiflex IIB of 1954 was the first Japanese SLR with an instant-return mirror. Previously, the mirror would remain up and the viewfinder black until the shutter was cocked for the next shot. In 1957, the Asahi Pentax became the first Japanese fixed-pentaprism SLR; its success led Asahi to eventually rename itself Pentax. This was the first SLR to use the right-hand single-stroke film advance lever of the Leica M3 of 1954 and Nikon S2 of 1955. Asahi (starting with the Asahi Pentax) and many other camera makers used the M42 lens mount from the Contax S, which came to be called the Pentax screw mount.
Orion's (later name-changed to Miranda's) Miranda SLR camera was sold in Japan from August 1955. The camera was narrowly the first Japanese-made pentaprism 35mm SLR. It featured a removable pentaprism for eye-level viewing, and also a waist-level finder (which would be used for waist-level use). (See http://www.mirandacamera.com/)
The Zunow SLR, which went on sale in 1958 (in Japan only), was the first 35mm SLR camera with an automatic diaphragm, which stopped down to the preselected aperture upon release of the shutter. The automatic diaphragm feature eliminated one downside to viewing with an SLR: the darkening of the viewfinder screen image when the photographer selected a small lens aperture.
As an example, if the photographer set a 'normal' 50mm f/1.8 lens (50mm lenses were a standard focal length lens sold with 35mm SLR's in the 1950s and 1960's) to its f/5.6 aperture setting, the camera lens would still remain at its maximum aperture for viewing purposes until the shutter was released. Then the following sequence of events would occur: the mirror would flip upwards, the diaphragm would stop down to the pre-selected f/5.6 aperture and the shutter would open; then these actions would conclude after the exposure. The shutter would then close, the reflex mirror would then return to its viewing position (but the reflex mirror would not be tensioned to the critical 45 degree angle; that step required the film advance lever to be wound again for the next exposure), and the diaphragm would reopen to its maximum aperture, which is the viewing aperture. (See http://www.cameraquest.com/zunow.htm)
The control layout used on the vast majority of SLRs in the next 30 years was kept standard, i.e. from left-to-right, the rewind crank would be on the left side, with the pentaprism housing next, followed by the shutter speed dial, the shutter release and then finally the single-stroke film advance lever, which in some higher-end SLRs was ratcheted so that multiple strokes could be used to advance the film. The exception to this design rule were the Nikkormat FT cameras (manufactured with the brand-name 'Nikormat' in European countries and elsewhere) produced by Nikon, and the OM series produced by Olympus. These SLR cameras had the shutter speed control as a ring around the lens mount.
In 1959, photographers saw the introduction of new 35mm SLR's from various manufacturers, notably from Canon and Nikon. The Canonflex SLR, which was introduced in May, one month before Nikon introduced its 'F' model, was a moderate success. The camera featured a quick return mirror, an automatic diaphragm and was introduced with an interchangeable black pentaprism housing. It also featured newly developed 'R' series breech lock mount lenses. [2] This SLR was superseded by the Canonflex RM, a fixed prism SLR which featured a built-in selenium cell meter. Later came the Canonflex R2000, the first 35mm SLR to feature a top shutter speed of 1/2000 of a second. This model was also superseded by the Canonflex RM.
In 1962, FL series lenses were introduced along with a new camera body, the Canon FX, which had a built-in CdS light meter positioned on the front left side of the camera, a design which appeared much like the Minolta SR-7.
Nikon's 'F' model, introduced in 1959 as the world's first system camera, became enormously successful and was the camera design that demonstrated the superiority of the SLR and of the Japanese camera manufacturers. This camera was the first SLR system that was adopted and used seriously by the general population of professional photographers, especially by those photographers covering the Vietnam War, and those news photographers utilizing motor-driven Nikon F's with 250-exposure backs to record the various launches of the space capsules in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo space programs, both in the 1960s. After the introduction of the Nikon F, the more expensive rangefinder cameras (those with focal plane shutters) became less attractive as, the SLR's dominance in acceptance and sales among many photographers, both amateur and professional eclipsed these types of cameras.
It was a combination of design elements that made the Nikon F successful. It featured interchangeable prisms and focusing screens; the camera had a depth-of-field preview button; the mirror had lock-up capability; it featured a large bayonet mount and a large lens release button; a single-stroke ratcheted film advance lever; a titanium-foil focal plane shutter; various types of flash synchronization; a rapid rewind lever; a fully removable back. it was a well-made, extremely durable camera, and adhered closely to the then current, successful design scheme of the Nikon rangefinder cameras.
Instead of the M42 screw mount used by Pentax and other camera manufacturers, Nikon had introduced the three-claw F-mount bayonet lens mount system, which is still current in a more modified form today. The focal plane shutter, unlike other SLR's of the period which used a cloth material for the focal plane shutter design (NOTE: with this design, it was possible to burn a hole into the cloth of the shutter during mirror lock-up in bright sunlight) used titanium foil which was rated for 100,000 cycles of releases of the shutter (according to Nikon). The F was also a modular camera, in which various assemblies such as the pentaprisms, the focusing screens, the special 35mm roll film 250 exposure film back and the Speed Magny film backs (two models: one using the Polaroid 100 (now 600) type pack films; and another Speed Magny was designed for 4x5 film accessories, including Polaroid's own 4x5 instant film back). These could be fitted and removed, allowing the camera to adapt to almost any particular task. It was the first 35 mm camera offered with a successful motor drive system.
Unlike most of the other manufacturers involved in 35mm camera production, the Nikon F was released with a full range of lenses from 21 mm to 1000 mm focal length. Nikon was also among the first to introduce what is commonly known today as 'mirror lenses' - lenses with Catadioptric system designs, which allowed the light path to be folded and thus yielded lens designs that were more compact than the standard telephoto designs. Subsequent top-of-the-line Nikon models carried on the F series, which has as of 2005[update] reached the F6 (although this camera has a fixed pentaprism). With the introduction and continued improvements being made in digital photography, the Nikon F6 is likely to be the last of the flagship Nikon F-line film SLR's.
Minolta's first SLR, the SR-2, was introduced to the export market in the same year (in fact, at the same Philadelphia show as the Canon and Nikon products) but had been on sale in Japan since August 1958. Lenses started with the designation 'Rokkor'. With the introduction of the SRT-101, the lenses added the designation of 'MC' for 'meter-coupled', and then later to 'MD' when the Minolta XD-11 was introduced with full-program mode. Became 'Konica-Minolta' in the early 2000s - and dissolved in Sony on January 2006.
Miranda produced early SLR's in the 1950s which were initially manufactured with external auto-diaphragms, then added a second mount with internal auto-diaphragm. To list some of Miranda's cameras with external diaphragm, there was the Miranda Sensorex line. The internal auto-diaphragm Miranda cameras consisted of the Miranda 'D', the popular Miranda 'F', the 'FV' and the 'G' model, which had a larger than normal reflex mirror thereby eliminating viewfinder image vignetting when the camera was used with long telephoto lenses. Miranda cameras were known in some photographic discussions as 'the poor man's Nikon'.
The Olympus Pen F series was introduced and produced by Olympus of Japan between 1963-1966. The System consisted of the original Olympus Pen F, later the behind-the-lens metering Pen FT, 1966-1972; and the non-metered version of the FT, known as the Olympus Pen FV, which was manufactured from 1967-1970. The design considerations used were unusual. The camera produced a half-frame 35 mm negative; it used a porroprism as a design-replacement for the conventional pentaprism thus producing the 'flat top' appearance; and the view through the viewfinder was of 'portrait' orientation' (unlike standard 35mm SLR's which had 'landscape' orientation). These half-frame cameras were also exceptional in that all used a rotary shutter, rather than the traditional horizontally-travelling focal-plane shutter commonly used in other SLR camera designs. The camera was produced with various interchangeable lenses. The smaller image format made the Pen F system one of the smallest SLR camera systems ever made. Only the Pentax Auto 110 was smaller, but the Pentax system was of much more limited range in terms of lenses and accessories.
Professional Photographers of the 1940s and 1950's time-period preferred to use hand-held meters such as the Sekonic selenium cell light meters, and others which were common during these periods. These hand-held meters did not require any batteries and provided good analog readouts of shutter speeds, apertures, ASA (now referred to as 'ISO') and EV (exposure value). Selenium cells, however, could easily be judged for their light sensitivity by simply looking at the size of the cell's metering surface. A small surface meant it lacked low-light sensitivity. These would prove to be useless for in-camera light metering.
Built-in light metering with SLR's started with clip-on selenium cells meters. One such meter was made for the Nikon F which coupled to the shutter speed dial and the aperture ring. While the selenium cell area was big, the add-on made the camera look clumsy and unattractive. In order for built-in light metering to be successful in SLR cameras, the use of Cadmium Sulfide Cells (CdS) was imperative.
Some early SLR's featured a built-in CdS meter usually on the front left side of the top plate, as in the Minolta SR-7. Other manufacturers, such as Miranda and Nikon introduced a CdS prism which fitted to their interchangeable prism SLR cameras. Nikon's early Photomic finder utilized a cover in front of the cell which was raised and a reading was taken and the photographer would either turn the coupled shutter speed dial and/or the coupled aperture ring to center a galvanometer-based meter needle shown in the viewfinder. The disadvantage of this early Photomic prism finder was that the meter had no ON/OFF switch so the meter was constantly 'ON', thus draining battery power. A later Photomic housing had an ON/OFF switch on the Pentaprism. CdS light meters proved more sensitive to light and thus metering in available light situations was becoming more prominent and useful. Further advances in CdS sensitivity, however, were needed as, CdS cells suffered from a 'memory effect'. That is, if exposed to bright sunlight, the cell would require many minutes to return to normal operation and sensitivity.
Japanese camera manufacturers introduced the first behind-the-lens metering systems (referred to by some as 'TTL') used in production-model 35mm SLR film cameras. The advantages to this system were that the photographer could light-meter a scene with a long telephoto lens attached and receive a reliable light reading, unlike a direct reading meter which would be unable to view the same kind of light as the telephoto lens and suffered from a parallax problem. Behind-the-lens meters would also be invaluable in photomicrography (micro photography) and photomacrography (macro photography) where the camera was metering light entering from a lens attached to either a microscope or else an adapter; or a lens attached to a bellows system for 1:1 or greater closeups or slide copying.
Pentax was the first manufacturer to show a prototype camera with a behind-the-lens spot metering CdS meter system in 1961, the Pentax Spotmatic. Production Spotmatics, however, didn't appear until mid-to late 1964, and these models were featured with an averaging meter system.
Tokyo Optical's RE Super (Beseler Topcon Super D in the US), however, preceded Pentax into production in 1962. Topcon cameras used behind-the-lens CdS (Cadmium Sulfide Cells) light meters which were integrated into a partially silvered area of the mirror.
Japanese-made SLRs from the early 1960s included the Minolta SRT-101, and later the SRT-202 and 303 models, which used Minolta's own version of behind-the-lens metering which they referred to as 'CLC' (which acronym meant: 'contrast light compensation').
Other camera manufacturers followed with their own behind-the-lens meter camera designs in order to compete in the marketplace. 35mm SLR film cameras such as Miranda with their Miranda Sensomat, unlike most other systems used a behind-the-lens meter system built into the pentaprism itself. Other Miranda 35mm SLR cameras could be adapted to behind-the-lens capability through the use of a separate pentaprism which included coupled or non-coupled built-in CdS meters. Miranda had a second lens system, consisting of the Sensorex models which had an externally coupled auto diaphragm. Sensorex camera bodies had built-in meters and these evolved to include TTL and 'EE' capability.
The Nikon F, like the Miranda, was updated with various pentaprism TTL metering heads. The Photomic series of prisms, which was initially designed with a direct coupled-metering CdS photocell (2 models were produced). The Photomic prism head later 'evolved' to include the Photomic 'T', a behind-the-lens metering prism head which metered an averaging pattern of the focusing screen. The later-manufactured center-area reading Photomic Tn, concentrated 60% of its sensitivity in the central portion of the focusing screen and the remaining 40% for the outlying screen area. The Photomic FTn was the last of the Photomic finders for the Nikon F.
In 1972, the Nikon F2 was introduced. It had a more streamlined body, a better mirror-locking system, a top shutter speed of 1/2000 of a second and was introduced with its own proprietary, continually-improving Photomic meter prism heads. This camera was constructed mechanically superior to the 'F', with some models using titanium for the top and bottom cover plates, and featured slower shutter speeds via the self-timer mechanism. All Nikon F and F2 photomic prism heads coupled to the shutter speed dial of the respective camera, and also to the aperture ring via a coupling prong on the diaphragm ring of the lens, which design-feature was incorporated into most auto nikkor lenses of that time. It is still possible to have Nikon technicians install a coupling prong on 'D' type auto nikkor lenses so that these newer lenses will fully couple and operate with the older Nikon camera bodies. This is not possible with the 'G' type auto nikkor lenses and lenses with the 'DX' designation.
One of the most significant designs of the seventies for the 35mm SLR camera industry was the introduction of the Olympus OM-1. After experiencing success with their small Olympus Pen half-frame cameras, particularly with their half-frame SLR-based Olympus Pen-F, Pen-Ft and Pen-FV cameras, Olympus set out with its chief designer Yoshihisa Maitani to later create a very small, compact SLR—the M-1—with new compact lenses and a huge bayonet mount that could accept almost any SLR design optic. This camera was later renamed the OM-1, to avoid a trademark problem with Leica. The mechanical, manual OM-1 was significantly smaller and lighter than contemporary SLRs, but no less functional. The camera was supported by one of the most comprehensive 35mm SLR lens and accessory systems available. Maitani decreased the size and weight by totally redesigning the SLR from the ground up with unprecedented use of metallurgy, which included repositioning the shutter speed selector to the front of the lens mount, instead of a more conventional position on top of the body.
Olympus made another significant advance some years later with the OM-2, featuring aperture-priority automatic with the world's first off-the-film plane flash metering and off-the-film (which Olympus referred to as 'OTF') available-light metering systems, which eliminated the problem of automatic flash units using a built-in photocell which only measured light directly, and not through-the-lens as Olympus' system accomplished. This system ended the problem of calculating apertures for flash-to-subject distance settings. This system was especially valuable in photomacrography (macrophotography) and photomicrography (microphotography).
The Olympus OM System was further enlarged; its Zuiko lenses gained a reputation as being among the sharpest lenses in the world, and in the nineteen eighties, Olympus added further improvements by replacing the OM-1 and OM-2 cameras with the OM-3, a mechanical manual SLR and the OM-4 automatic, both of which featured multi-spot metering capabilities. These cameras were further improved into the last of the OM SLRs, the titanium-bodied OM-3Ti and OM-4Ti, introducing at the same time, the world's fastest electronic flash synchronization speeds, at 1/2000 second with their new Full-Synchro strobe-based flash technology.
Gradually, other manufacturers incorporated this feature into their own SLR camera designs.
By 1974, the autoexposure SLR brands had aligned into two camps (shutter-priority: Canon, Konica, Miranda, Petri, Ricoh and Topcon; aperture-priority: Asahi Pentax, Chinon, Cosina, Fujica, Minolta, Nikkormat and Yashica) supposedly based on the superiority of their chosen mode. (In reality, based on the limitations of the electronics of the time and the ease of adapting each brand's older mechanical designs to automation.) These AE SLRs were only semi-automatic. With shutter-priority control, the camera would set the lens aperture after the photographer chose a shutter speed to freeze or blur motion. With aperture-priority control, the camera would set the shutter speed after the photographer chose a lens aperture f-stop to control depth of field (focus).
Perhaps the most significant milestone of the 1970s era of SLR computerization was the 1978 release of the Canon A-1, the first SLR with a "programmed" autoexposure mode. Although the Minolta XD11 was the first SLR to offer both aperture-priority and shutter-priority modes in 1977, it was not until the next year that the A-1 came out with a microprocessor computer powerful enough to offer both of those modes and add the ability to automatically set both the shutter speed and lens aperture in a compromise exposure from light meter input.
Programmed autoexposure, in many variations, became a standard camera feature by the mid 1980s. This is the order of first introduction of 35 mm SLRs, by brand, with a computer programmed autoexposure mode, before the rise of autofocus (see next section): 1978, Canon A-1 (plus AE-1 Program, 1981 and T50, 1983); 1980, Fujica AX-5; 1980, Leica R4; 1981, Mamiya ZE-X; 1982, Konica FP-1; 1982, Minolta X-700; 1982, Nikon FG (plus FA, 1983); 1983, Pentax Super Program (plus Program Plus, 1984 and A3000, 1985); 1983, Chinon CP-5 Twin Program (also first with two program modes); 1984, Ricoh XR-P (tied with Canon T70 as first with three program modes); 1985, Olympus OM-2S Program; 1985, Contax 159MM; 1985, Yashica FX-103. Of the brands active in the mid 1970s, Cosina, Miranda, Petri, Praktica, Rolleiflex, Topcon and Zenit never introduced programmed 35 mm SLRs; usually the inability to make the transition forced the company to quit the 35 mm SLR business altogether. Note that the Asahi Pentax Auto 110, Pentax Auto 110 Super (Pocket Instamatic 110 SLRs from 1978 and 1982) and Pentax 645 (a 645 format SLR from 1985) also had programmed autoexposure.
Autofocus compact cameras had been introduced in the late 1970s. The SLR market of the time was crowded, and autofocus seemed an excellent option to attract novice photographers. The first SLR to demonstrate autofocus capability was the Pentax ME F of 1981, which used one special autofocus lens with an integral motor, while in the same year Canon introduced a self-contained autofocus lens, the 35-70 mm AF, which contained an optical triangulation system that would focus the lens on the subject in the exact center when a button on the side of the lens was pushed. It would work on any Canon FD camera body. Nikon's F3AF was a highly specialized autofocus camera. It was a variant of the Nikon F3 that worked with the full range of Nikon manual focus lenses, but also featured two dedicated AF lenses (an 80 mm and a 200 mm) that coupled with a special AF viewfinder and would not work with any other Nikon model. Nikon's later AF cameras used an entirely different design. These, and other experiments in autofocus from other manufacturers, had limited success.
The first true 35mm SLR autofocus camera that had a successful design was the Minolta Maxxum 7000, introduced in 1985. This SLR featured a built-in motor drive and dedicated flash capability. Minolta also introduced a completely new bayonet mount lens system, the Maxxum AF lens system, which was incompatible with its previous MD-bayonet mount system, in which the lenses' focusing action was driven from a motor in the camera body. This reduced complexity in the camera body and the lens. Canon responded with the T80 and a range of three motor-equipped AC lenses, but this was regarded as a stopgap move. Nikon introduced the N2020 (known in Europe as the Nikon F-501), which was their first SLR with built-in autofocus motor, and redesigned autofocus auto nikkor lenses. Nikon's lens mount, however, remained compatible with older Nikon 35mm SLR cameras.
In 1987, Canon followed Minolta in introducing a new lens-mount system, which was incompatible with their previous mount-system: EOS, the Electro-Optical System. Unlike Minolta's motor-in-body approach, this design located the motor within the lens. New, more compact motor designs meant that both focus and aperture could be driven electrically without motor bulges in the lens. The Canon EF lens mount has no mechanical linkages; all communication between body and lens is electrical.
Nikon and Pentax both chose to extend their existing lens mounts with autofocus capability, retaining the ability to use older manual-focus lenses with an autofocus body, and driving the lens focus mechanism with a motor inside the camera. Later, Nikon added Silent Wave Motor (SWM) mechanisms into its lenses, supporting both focusing schemes until the introductions of the entry-level Nikon D40 and Nikon D40X in 2006. Pentax introduced his Supersonic Drive Motor (SDM) in 2006 with Pentax K10D model and two lenses (DA* 16-50/2.8 AL ED [IF] SDM and DA* 50-135/2.8 ED [IF] SDM). Since than all Pentax DSLR support both SDM and the motor inside the body. First SDM lenses support both sistems too. The first SDM lens that does not support the old focusing sistem was DA 17-70/4 AL [IF] SDM (2008).
The major 35mm camera manufacturers, Canon, Minolta, Nikon, and Pentax were among the few companies to transition successfully to autofocus. Other camera manufacturers also introduced functionally successful autofocus SLR's but these cameras were not as successful. Some manufacturers eventually withdrew from the SLR market.
Leica, for example, still manufactures its 'R' series of manual-focus SLRs, while Nikon are still producing its manual-focus SLR, the FM10. Olympus continued to produce its OM system camera line until 2002. Sigma and Fujifilm also managed to continue manufacturing cameras, although Kyocera ended production in 2005 of its (Contax) camera systems. The newly formed Konica Minolta sold its camera business to Sony a year later.
In the 2000s, film became supplanted by digital photography, which had a huge impact on all camera manufacturers and the SLR market in particular. Nikon, for instance, has ceased production of all film SLRs except for its flagship 35mm SLR film camera, the F6; and the introductory-level Nikon FM10.
Most digital point and shoot cameras (also known as digicams) manufactured and sold today feature an LCD viewfinder display. Digital SLRs (DSLRs) however, despite their initial high cost, have gained early popularity with professional photographers working in the news media, sports, photojournalism and various types of outdoor photography, who could retain the use of their investment in expensive 35 mm film lenses. DSLR camera designs resemble their film predecessors except that most use sensors that are significantly smaller than 35 mm film frames, with the exception of the Canon EOS 1Ds and 5D, the new Nikon D3 and the Nikon D700, and some discontinued DSLR's produced by Kodak such as the DCS-Pro SLR/n ('n' for Nikon mount lenses) and SLR/c ('c' for Canon mount lenses), which used either CCD or CMOS full-frame sensors.
Over time, DSLRs have become more affordable, and manufacturers such as Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Sigma and Sony have come to dominate the DSLR market. Olympus, for example, in the early 2000s, introduced the world's first purely digital SLR format (the Four Thirds System) and was soon joined by Matsushita (Panasonic), Leica, Sigma, Sanyo, Fuji and Kodak.
Many newer "digital only" SLR lenses (i.e., Sigma refers to their digital lenses with the 'Di' designation) are designed to work only with the smaller sensors common among DSLRs, permitting a wider range of focal lengths, smaller housings, and different designs at lower cost than is possible when designing and constructing lenses for the larger 35mm film frame. However, those lenses produce unacceptable vignetting when used with 35mm film or full-frame digital SLRs. So there are now effectively three lens design standards for digital SLRs (aside from differences in lens mounts): traditional 35 mm film-style lenses, smaller-coverage "digital only" lenses, and the Olympus proprietary Four-Thirds system lenses.
While twin-lens reflex cameras have been more numerous in the medium format film category, many medium-format SLRs had been (and some still are) produced. Hasselblad of Sweden has one of the best-known camera systems utilizing 120 and 220 film to produce 6 cm x 6 cm (2 1/4" x 2 1/4") negatives. They also produce other film backs which produce a 6 cm x 4.5 cm image; a back which uses 70mm roll film, a Polaroid Back for instant 'proofs' and even a 35mm film back.
Pentax produces two medium-format SLR systems, the Pentax 645, which produces a 6 cm x 4.5 cm image; and the Pentax 67 series, which system evolved from the late 1960s introduced Pentax 6 x 7 camera. These Pentax 6 x 7 series cameras resembled huge 35mm SLR camera in look and function.
Bronica (which has discontinued camera production), Fuji, Kyocera (which has also ceased production of their Contax cameras), Mamiya, Rollei, Pentagon (former East Germany), and Kiev (former Soviet Union) have also produced Medium Format SLR systems for a considerable period of time. Mamiya produces what is termed a medium format digital SLR. Other medium-format SLRs, such as those from Hasselblad, accept digital backs in place of film rolls or cartridges, effectively converting their film designs to digital format use.
In the case of Polaroid Corporation with its instant film line, the introduction of the Polaroid Polaroid SX-70 was one of the few SLRs produced that was a rare case of a folding SLR.
The vast majority of SLRs now sold are digital models, even though their size, form factor, and other design elements remain derived from their 35 mm film predecessors. Whether a dedicated digital design such as the Olympus Four-Thirds system, which permits equivalent performance with smaller and lighter cameras, will ultimately succeed the film-derived designs from Canon, Nikon, Pentax, and Sony is as yet unclear.
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