Canon Canodate Rangefinder

As I have already stated in many of the posts here, I am not a fanboy of rangefinder cameras. I have many reasons for that statement, but I primarily see them as inferior to the SLRs of their era in build quality, reliability, and ease of use. Still, when I saw a chance to pick up a new-condition Canon, I couldn’t pass it up. I love looking at a camera and imagining the excitement that someone else felt over 50 years ago. 

There are many things I do like about this camera, however. My primary concerns for rangefinders in general have not been removed by this Canon; in truth, it takes photos just like any of my other rangefinders, but it has some features that make it a little easier than most. There are also some annoyances, but I’ll list everything.

The Canon Canondate came out at a time when all manufacturers were competing to make the photography process as automated as possible. Mine was probably made in 1973, and from what I can tell, there is very little difference between the Canodate E and the Canodate E-N.  The first “E” was released in 1970 and the E-N in1973.

It comes with a 40mm lens, f/2.8, that takes very sharp photos. They look (to me) like other rangefinder images I have taken on other cameras, but they certainly do not lack sharpness. It creates contrast-heavy images, which I like in any camera, particularly in B&W. While I didn’t shoot any color through it, it is apparently well regarded in its color rendition as well. 

The lens uses a Cadmium Sulphide photocell located at the top of the barrel for metering. This camera is all automatic, all the time. This is the meter for it all, so if you apply a filter, the system takes that into consideration, thanks to its location. 

The Seiko ESF electronic leaf shutter can choose between 4 seconds at f/2.8 and goes as fast as 1/500th at f/16. In low-light conditions, the aperture locks wide open at f/2.8, and then the shutter speed is adjusted down to 4 seconds.

The Canodate viewfinder uses a higher-end reversed Galilean that is integrated with a double-image superimposing coincidence rangefinder. All that to say, it’s not the usual scale-focused viewfinder on more budget cameras. You can see roughly 84% of the image area with its 0.6x magnification. The viewfinder also has parallax correction marks for close-up images.

This is one of the features I wish all cameras had, but I had to do some research to discover how it works. Even Google AI got this one wrong, and the manual tells you very little. On top of the camera is a small, yellow light that is also shown inside the viewfinder. Most sources on the internet tell you that it is simply a battery test light that comes on when you begin to depress the shutter button. Okay, that seems typical. But it’s more than that, and placing it on the top plate as well was genius.

When you initially press down on the shutter button, a long press to reach release to be sure, the light does come on, and confirm you have batteries in the camera. By the way, those batteries will need adapters in order for your camera to work. About $10.00 on Amazon. But as you continue to press it down, assuming the image is correctly exposed, the light will go off. Press it slightly further, and the shutter trips. 

This light is the only indication you have that you are not over- or under-exposing the image. Or rather that the camera isn’t. If the light stays on, stop and reevaluate the scene. If the image is too bright for the 1/500th shutter, you may need to add an ND filter. If the image is too dark, you may need a tripod. The image will be taken either way, but the light staying on is the only exposure feedback that the camera gives you. 

At first glance, this might seem like a handicap, and it would be if the light were only visible within the viewfinder. On a bright day, you cannot see the light at all as you frame the image, but by shielding the top plate with your hand, you can see the same light easily and be assured that exposure is correct. 

Why was this “genius,” as I called it? Because as you walk around with the camera around your neck, you can constantly check that the exposure is correct around you. The only thing left to do is to raise the camera and take the image. I’m no street photographer, but I can see where that feature might appeal to folks who are. No need to search the inside of the viewfinder for a meter or needle. You already know that if the light goes out on top, the exposure can be dealt with by the camera.

There’s another caveat about this system, though, that is less cool. Another thing AI got wrong is that you cannot “lock” exposure by pressing the shutter down until the light goes off and then recomposing. I tried it, and it simply didn’t work. The camera recalibrated both exposures exactly the same on two test images in a window. 

The most noticeable thing about this camera is the date switch on the front of the body that makes this look truly vintage and unique. Back in the day, as I can clearly recall, if you wanted the date on the images, you had to write them on the back of each photo after you got them back from the developer. Canon devised a way to use a tiny internal lamp to ‘burn’ the date (set by the dials) onto the negative so that they would be developed alongside the image. Thankfully for us in 2026, this can be turned off because the company never foresaw the need to make the dial go this far into the future. But it’s still pretty cool. 

The camera has a hotshoe for a flash, and it is incredibly small and light. It weighs in at about 1.28 lbs, but still has an all-metal chassis. The camera is totally dependent on its electronics, however, and if (and when) they fail, it becomes a paperweight. 

Another ‘pro’ on the list is that the 40mm lens reaches infinity in about 7 feet. This is a big deal for folks like me who hate rangefinder focus patches. So, as I walked around with this camera, I did not even need to focus it if the image was 7 feet or further, and all of the images came out incredibly sharp. I placed a two-stop ND filter on the lens, and with ISO 200 film, never got a ‘too bright’ warning from the yellow light, despite the bright, Florida sun.

THE SNAP:

If you are a rangefinder fan, you will likely love this camera. I paid less than $100.00 for this one on eBay, in brand-new, boxed condition, complete with paperwork and camera case. If I were to choose a rangefinder to try my hand at street photography where things move quickly, I would choose this one over the few others that I own. Primarily for two reasons. The yellow light on top is always there for me to check the light conditions before I see something happen, and the short journey to infinity, by the lens, eliminates the need to focus. What’s faster than auto-focus? Not focusing at all.

Can you get creative with this camera and intentionally over- or under-expose images? You can, to some degree, by changing the ISO setting, but as far as I could tell, there was no way to lock exposure without the camera recalibrating just as the shutter trips. The shutter is very quiet and has a slight “spring’ sound when you take an image, so it is very discreet.

In all, the camera is well worth owning at the current prices and delivers on nearly every frame. The images are sharp, thanks to the lens, and the camera does a good job at getting exposure correct, though if you use anything other than hearing-aid batteries, you run the risk of underexposure by a stop or so. Personally, I underexpose all of my images, so using a slight ‘over-voltage’ on the meter simply keeps me from tinkering with the ISO setting to get the same result. 

The Canon does a good job of nailing exposure on nearly every frame.


 

Well exposed, fine details from the 40mm lens.

The only need to focus is on images closer than 7 feet, which I slightly botched on this one. 

Both of these images came out identical when I tried to lock exposure with the shutter button. I only included this one to show I was unable to get a 'silhouette' of the flower. 

The lens takes very contrast-heavy images that are quite sharp.