Anyone not familiar with the early part of the 1980s can be forgiven for snickering at some of the "advanced" technology that captured the collective imagination of the time. Looking at the Atari 5200 game system with its cartridges and wired controllers, a resident of the 21st century is allowed more than a fair bit of amusement when trying to compare that to modern game systems. It's important to remember, though, that cutting edge technology is always, at least at the time, cutting edge. Only with the benefit of hindsight is it quaint. In 1983, in addition to the Cabbage Patch dolls, Swatch watches, and the IBM PC XT, one piece of cutting edge technology was released by Canon in the form of the Canon T50.

The Canon T50 was the first of five Canon "T" cameras and it is the most simple. It came with one shooting mode called "Program" and it freed the user from having to choose shutter speeds or apertures. The T50 was also the first Canon SLR to have an integrated film advance mechanism and allowed the user to shoot at 1.4 frames per second. In a departure from the earlier "A" series cameras, the T50 and its successors used a vertically traveling metal shutter curtain, which remained more accurate longer than the horizontally traveling cloth shutter curtain. Plus, its ability to use the full range of Canon's FD lenses, the T50 was just as capable as its older SLR cousins the A-1 and AE-1 at producing great images.

As with any camera, the first thing that gets noticed is its design. While 21st century eyes might not appreciate the color or lines of the T50, in 1983 it was groundbreaking enough to win the Good Design Award from Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry. With beauty being in the eye of the beholder, it's best left to personal judgement to decide how well that accolade holds up.

The limitations of the Canon T50 are fairly obvious when the user looks at the minimalist control dial. With settings limited to "Self" timer, Program, "Lock", and Battery Check, it's clear that that the T50 does not provide the user with many options. When the lens' aperture ring is set on "A", the camera's shutter speed and aperture are determined by the pre-programmed settings. To have any creative control, the photographer can adjust the aperture ring to an f-stop setting other than "A" and the shutter speed will default to 1/60th of a second. Really, what more control does anyone need?

Whether the Canon T50 deserved the design award or not is, like most subjective questions, best left to long discussions over drinks. What's not up for debate is the fact that Canon created a solid, reliable, compact, and very usable 35mm SLR with the T50. These days it may be relegated to use by beginning film photographers or as a backup FD camera, but it's still more reliable than a 1983 Swatch watch and more functional than an Atari 5200.

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