Pacific Rim Camera
WE BUY CAMERAS
Canon Rangefinder
Canon Hansa/Original Canon
Hansa Canon, in original box, in the JCII museum in Tokyo
The first model of Canon was referred to at the time as"the Canon". Most were sold by Omiya Trading Co., and carried their Hansa trademark above the word Canon on the top plate. These are easily identified by the geared focusing wheel, pop up finder, and the large 1" film counter on the front of the camera. This is a very desireable camera, and I will give you lots of money for one. $$$$$
J Series Canons
Canon J-II, with 50/3.5 Seiki Serenar lens, on the counter, in my bathroom
Canon JS with 50/1.5 Serenar lens.
These cameras are all viewfinder cameras, identified by the single window in the front. They lack the pop up finders of the other Seiki era cameras. All are marked Seiki Kogaku under the word Canon on the top. All use a thread lens mount that appears to be Leica, until you try mounting one on a Leica. (This was an accident, they were misinformed about the pitch on the Leica thread mount). The J has no slow speeds, the JS has a slow speed dial on the front, and the J-II has a patch where the slow speed dial would be if it had one. All three models are $$$$$
S Series Canons
The S and NS were the continuation of the Hansa design. The most noticable change is the film counter is moved under the wind knob, Leica style. The pop up finder is retained, and the cameras are marked Seiki Kogaku above the serial number on the top plate. The S has a slow speed dial, with a little lever on it, and the NS has no slow speeds. Either is $$$$$
The S-II can be indentified as the only camera that is marked Seiki Kogaku that has a combined rangefinder and viewfinder. It has one rectangular window, and one round. $$$$$
Canon Camera Co. Later Leica Style Cameras
They made about 20 different models during this period, many only slightly different than the others. All are priced $$ except for the following:
IIA and IIAF, both models without slow speed dial $$$$$
Canon 1950, marked "SERVICED AND GUARANTEED IN SAN FRANCISCO CALIFORNIA" engraved on the baseplate.$$$$$
Cameras marked U.S.ARMY SIGNAL CORPS $$$$
V Series (Five Series)
Canon VT with 35/2.8 Canon lens
Includes VT and VT deluxe models. Newer style, retains slow speed dial on front. Marked on front of baseplate. All models, chrome $$, black $$$$$
L Series
Like the V series, but with lever wind. Most models not identified on camera. All models, chrome $$, black $$$$$
VI Series (Six Series)
Canon VI-T with 50/1.2 Canon lens and Canon meter
VI-L is lever wind like the L series, but without the slow speed dial on front. Chrome $$, black $$$$$. VI-T is marked on front. Trigger wind baseplate. Chrome $$, black $$$$$.
Canon P
Canon P, with 50/1.4 Nikkor
Marked P on top. Lever wind. A very popular (the P stood for "popular") and common in chrome. Chrome $$, black $$$$$, chrome with the Canon eagle engraved on top, or Japanese military markings $$$$.
7 Series
Canon 7sZ, with 50/0.95 lens
The Canon 7 is extremely common in chrome, they made over 137,000 of them. Marked "7" on top. Chrome $$, black $$$$$. The Canon 7s was the last of the Canon rangefinders with interchangeable lenses. Made in two variations, both just marked 7s on the top plate. The regular 7s has the rangefinder adjustment port (a small circlular plug) at 1 o'clock to the shutter speed dial. The later model 7sZ has this port above the second "n" in "Canon". Either $$$.
Canonet
There are a wide variety of different models of Canonet, which we are not interested in at this time. Value would be $.