Produced from 1958 to 1961, the P was among Canon’s last screw mount rangefinders, a modification of the VI-L. Incorporating many features into an attractively priced package, the P was Canon’s best selling screw mount rangefinder until the Canon 7. About 100,000 were produced. Like all but the earliest Canon Rangefinders, it uses the Leica Screw Mount, falling into a larger class of “Leica Copies.” Leica screw mount lenses or Canon screw mount lenses (and indeed ANY Leica Screw mount lens made by any maker) can be used. Black paint Leica mount Canon Rangefinders like this beautiful P are very rare. Very few were made to begin with, fewer survived in this condition. Probably only a few hundred black P’s were produced.
The P stood for “Populaire” and was blessed with beautiful clean aesthetic lines. If there is ever a “Prettiest” interchangeable rangefinder Beauty Contest, the Canon P is sure to be one of the finalists. It is also one of the few Canon rangefinders labeled on the top plate. Specs include a shutter speed range of 1 to 1/1000, B, and X flash sync at 1/55th.
The top deck is blessed with a large comfortable advance lever, a very large clearly marked shutter speed dial that even today M6 should envy, and a self setting exposure counter. Turning the shutter release collar allows the film to be rewound.
The finder is 1:1 life size and parallax corrected, with always visible built in frames for the 35/50/100 lenses. Compared to the previous VI-L on which it was based, the VI-L’s rotating 3 position prism finder was substituted for a fixed finder with all 3 framelines visible at all time. Unfortunately age has visited most P finders with more than their share of flare, a problem that cleaning may help but seldom cures. Also a victim of the lower selling price, the VI-L’s excellent finder shoe self parallax correcting accessory finder pin did not find its way to the P.
Note the very large and elegant rewind knob. If they gave out Oscars for rewind knobs, this one would be in the running. It folded back into the body in a rather nice and unusual way. Also notice the large bayonet mount around the PC terminal to attach flash units—a rather nice touch also used on Canon’s previous V/VI lineup. The X flash setting is 1/55th second. Etched framelines are visible at the rear of the viewfinder.
Above is a rare shot of a 18/1000 mm thick plastic coated stainless steel shutter curtain WHICH HAS NOT BEEN CRINKLED. Nikon decided to go with Titanium shutter curtains in the SP and Nikon F, and they proved unbelievably durable. In contrast, the stainless steel curtains in the later Canon RF’s are EASILY crinkled. It is very unusual to find unwrinkled Canon steel curtains today.
The back has an unusually secure double lock system. First rotate the bottom key, which moves the safety latch out of the way, then pull down the conventional side opening pin. It seems the designers were paranoid about someone stealing the film.
