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Pelliculi, pellicula

Doug Kerr

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Across the current wave of speculation regarding potential configurations for potential new camera lines, we sometimes see mention of the possibility that a certain configuration would include a pellicle mirror in a single-lens reflex formulation, the usage often seeming to imply that the author believes that this term refers to a mirror:

a. Whose substrate is a stretched thin film.
b. That is semi-reflective.
c. That is fixed.

Sometimes aspect "a" is not given much import.

In fact the term pellicle, applied to a mirror, only implies "a". (The word comes from a root meaning, essentially, "skin".)

The tendency to think that the term also implies "b" and "c" doubtless comes from the fact that, in the general field of still photography, our greatest awareness of cameras using a pellicle mirror perhaps relates to the Canon Pellix camera, which used a fixed, semi-reflective pellicle mirror in a single-lens reflex formulation.

Best regards,

Doug
 
S

Sandrine Bascouert

Member
AH yes I remember the Canon RT (we called that a semi transparent mirror, never tought about calling it pellicle)...

Let's stick to our bad habits:
In French we call a film (eg: a 35mm film) a "pellicule", I think it's back from the days where one could see the photographer brush the coating on a piece of glass (later done by machines) where you can describe in French as "deposer une pellicule". The same as when you coat a thin film of pigments on the gelatin-ed surface in the dichromate process (or the wind could coat some dust on your car bonnet). By extend it became the way of calling a roll of film for amateurs...


PS: "pellicule" is also dandruff... (small parts of skin)
 
C

Charles L Webster

pro member
Considering that Canon's first model with a fixed, semi-silvered mirror was called "Pellix" it's not suprising that we make the broader assumptions is it?
 
Doug Kerr

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Charles,

Charles L Webster said:
Considering that Canon's first model with a fixed, semi-silvered mirror was called "Pellix" it's not suprising that we make the broader assumptions is it?
Click to expand...
Indeed.

As an old Scottish guy once said:

The tendency to think that the term also implies "b" and "c" doubtless comes from the fact that, in the general field of still photography, our greatest awareness of cameras using a pellicle mirror perhaps relates to the Canon Pellix camera, which used a fixed, semi-reflective pellicle mirror in a single-lens reflex formulation.​

Best regards,

Doug
 
C

Charles L Webster

pro member
My bad for not reading closely.

I can tell you from personal experience that the Canon Pellix was not a successful camera for many reasons, but quietness was not one of them. I used it for theater photography because of the quiet, but hated it because of the light-loss in the mirror. It made the viewfinder very dim, and made you use faster glass.
 
B

Bart_van_der_Wolf

pro member
Sandrine Bascouert said:
Have we still have different names in Europe and in the US for cameras (mostly canon).
Never heard in my life of a Pellix*.... Heard of a RT , the EOS 1 NRS as well

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_EOS_RT


*I just saw it was in 1964...Excuse me! I was not born... :)
Click to expand...

Hi Sandrine,

Modern history started before you, or I for that matter, were born ;-) :

http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/history/canon_story/1955_1969/1955_1969.html

From the weblink:
In the 1960s, the Through the Lens (TTL) metering system was identified as the challenge for the SLR cameras. TTL metering determines the optimal exposure for the amount of light transmitted through the shooting lens, which is possible because of the unique characteristics of the SLR camera. The advantage of this method was that it permitted measuring only the light in the field of the lens. It was natural for the camera user to have great expectations for this convenient TTL metering. In order to respond to the customers expectations, Canon introduced the "Pellix" in 1965 and the "FT QL" in 1966. Both cameras featured partial-area TTL metering SLR.
Click to expand...

Cheers,
Bart
 
S

Sandrine Bascouert

Member
HI bart, I tried to tease you all...:)
It's strange the 1st one I remember seeing is the AE-1. I can remember even very old Nikon (from far before I was born) being used. I can remember seeing old Pentax and Olympus in the hands of my fellow countrymen but never really old Canon, I wonder why. Maybe not a good press...
 
Jerome Marot

Jerome Marot

Well-known member
Sandrine Bascouert said:
I can remember even very old Nikon (from far before I was born) being used. I can remember seeing old Pentax and Olympus in the hands of my fellow countrymen but never really old Canon, I wonder why.
Click to expand...

Nikon's first SLR (the F, using the present bayonet in its first iteration, in 1959) was introduced 12 years before Canon's first SLR (the F-1, using the deprecated FD bayonet, in 1971).
 
B

Bart_van_der_Wolf

pro member
Jerome Marot said:
Nikon's first SLR (the F, using the present bayonet in its first iteration, in 1959) was introduced 12 years before Canon's first SLR (the F-1, using the deprecated FD bayonet, in 1971).
Click to expand...

Hi Jerome,

The F-1 wasn't Canon's first SLR (I have one, still works fine, as do the lenses ;-), film may become an issue though). If we are to believe the info in the Canon Camera Museum link I gave above, then:
The "Canonflex," the first 35mm SLR camera from Canon was introduced in May 1959. In June of the same year, Nikon released the "Nikon F."
Click to expand...

There is a lot of interesting historical info in that Canon link, also about other brands. As to the accuracy of the info about others others, I don't know. I wasn't born yet when some of the earlier (pre-SLR) models were introduced, and I was too young to remember the Canonflex introduction. These companies go back a long time.

Cheers,
Bart
 
Doug Kerr

Doug Kerr

Well-known member
Hi, Jerome,

Jerome Marot said:
(. . .the F-1, using the deprecated FD bayonet, in 1971).
Click to expand...

As near as I know, all FD-mount lenses were of what is usually described as the breech-lock type (not a true bayonet in that the lugs do not turn for engagement).

By "bayonet" do you mean somehow to distinguish the early FD lens style with a separate rotating "breech ring" from the later FD lens style where the entire outer body turns (sometimes called a "false bayonet")? (The entire outer body is the "breech ring".)

I currently have in the collection two of the former style (a Canon FD 50mm f/3.5 macro, with a metallic color breech ring, and a Sigma 35-135mm f/3.5-4.5 with a black breech ring with a locking button) and one of the former style (a Canon FD 50mm f/1.8).

I keep the EF 50mm f/1.8 on my Canon T70 in our museum.

Best regards,

Doug
 
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