Canon VI-T and VI-L were launched at the same time in Sept. 1958 and except the winding operation with either a lever at the top or trigger at the bottom, these two had the same construntion and mechanisms. It is said that VI-T was popular among those who used wide lenses on many occasions and VI-L was popular among those who often used tele lenses while they have little difference.
Comparing with Canon V series, there can be seen various improvements on VI.
All of shutter speed numbers are evenly spaced and arranged on the single-axis shutter speed dial, and the shutter speed are enabled to couple with built-in selenium meter.
Canon meter II (exposure meter), which are attached onto the accessory shoe and the coupling shoe on the shutter speed dial, reads the shutter speed selected and gives the corresponding aperture value.
The viewfinder is bright-frame finder wiht automatic parallax correction. The viewfinder magnification could be set to 0.65x for a 35mm lens, 1x for a 50mm and 100mm lens and 1.55x for focusing.
Canon VI-T and VI-L, together with IV Sb and IV Sb2 are still popular for now.
- First introduced in Sept. 1958.
- Camera type : 35mm focal-plane shutter rangefinder camera
- Standard lens : F1.2/50mm and others
- Shutter : two-axis horizontal-travel focal-plane shutter with metal curtains
- Shutter speeds : B, 1-1/1000sec.
- Viewfinder : Coincidence rangefinder with three-step variable bright-framed line
- Flash sync contact : FP, X
- Exposure meter : aperture-reading selenium photocell
- Body dimensions : 144 x 76 x 34mm
- Body weight : appox. 580g.