Canon Pellix

The Canon Pellix was a 35mm single-lens reflex camera introduced in April, 1965 by Canon. It used the Canon FL lens mount and featured stop-down TTL metering using CdS photocell technology.

The camera was unique in that it used a very thin (0.02mm), stationary aluminized PET film beam-splitting mirror to feed the image to the viewfinder instead of the usual swinging reflex mirror. This avoided the mechanical complexity, noise and vibration of the moving mirror and allowed viewing the image at the instant of exposure.

However, this approach resulted in the following compromises: First, the exposures had to be increased because approximately 1/3 of the light coming through the lens never reached the film, it being redirected to the viewfinder. Second, as a corollary to the first, the viewfinder was not as bright as conventional reflex cameras. Third, image resolution was compromised to some degree by the existence of the beam-splitting mirror between the lens and the film plane during the exposure. Finally, under some circumstances, there may have been a chance that light coming through the viewfinder would affect the image. This was because the viewfinding system was not blocked off at the time of exposure as it is in the conventional single lens reflex camera by the swinging reflex mirror.

Complete specifications for the camera can be found at the Canon Camera Museum at the following URL: http://www.canon.com/camera-museum/camera/film/data/1956-1965/1965_prx.html?lang=undefined&categ=srs&page=f