Canon A35F

This is the last of the Canonets.

Canon A35F

Don’t let it bother you that the Canonet name is nowhere to be found on this camera. It’s a Canonet, all right, made in 1978 but based on the 1971 Canonet 28. The two cameras share a 40mm f/2.8 lens, of five elements in four groups. Like the 28, it accepts film from 25 to 400 ASA. I wouldn’t be surprised if it also shares the 28’s rangefinder mechanism.

Canon A35F

It differs from the Canonet 28 in three key areas, however. First, its range of apertures and shutter speeds is different, running from 1/60 sec. at f/2.8 to 1/320 sec. at f/20, versus 1/30 sec. at f/2.8 to 1/620 sec. at f/14.5 on the 28. Third, and most importantly, the A35F offers a built-in flash. When you slide the flash button on the back, the flash pops out of the top. Adding the flash led to a revised film transport with a shorter door.

Canon A35F

The flash made it necessary to move the film rewind mechanism as well. A little crank pops out of the top. The focus ring also differs from the Canonet 28, as does the way you set ASA. But when you hold this camera in your hands, it feels and acts like any Canonet.

If you like Canonets, check out my reviews of the Canonet 28, Canonet QL17 G-III, and Canonet Junior. If you’re a fixed-lens rangefinder fan, you should enjoy my reviews of the Yashica Lynx 14e, Minolta Hi-Matic 7, and Konica Auto S2. Or just check out my master list of camera reviews, here.

The SLR reigned supreme by 1978 but there was a growing market for capable compact cameras. Canon probably figured that if they added a built-in flash to the Canonet 28 they could have a sales winner, at least until they could roll out their first autofocus and autoexposure camera with built-in flash, the similarly named AF35M. You might know that camera better as the Sure Shot. It came out in 1979.

The A35F needs two batteries โ€“ a dreaded, banned 625 mercury cell to drive the light meter and an everyday AA battery for the flash. I slipped a zinc-air 675 battery into the A35F; it made contact and worked well enough. An alkaline PX625 battery would have done the job too.

I took the A35F along on a trip to Chicago, but this was the only photo from there that I liked. This lens delivered rich color onto workaday Fujicolor 200, but all through the roll shadows were mighty dark. I’m sure I could have brought out a little more detail in Photoshop but I liked the mood the shadows created.

Pagoda

I had better luck on an early-evening drive along the Michigan Road. This is my favorite shot from the roll, from Sycamore Row near the little town of Deer Creek. This is an old alignment of the road, in service through the 1980s; read its story here. The sycamore trees made for a narrow passage.

Sycamore Row

This abandoned school sits just off the Michigan Road along State Road 26. I wrote about it a long time ago; read about it here. I hate that it’s being allowed to deteriorate.

Abandoned school

Heres another shot of that school. This lens really delivers.

Abandoned school

I imagine that whoever owns the farm behind the school also owns the school. Dig the great blue in that sky, and the rich pewter of those silos.

Farm scene

I slipped a double-A battery into the A35F and took a couple of photos inside. The flash system is smart enough to read exposure and the set focus distance and set the flash voltage to match. I was lukewarm about its performance, though. Here’s my dog Gracie. On the shelf you can see two of my folding Kodaks, the Monitor Six-20 and the Junior Six-16 Series II.

Gracie at home

Maybe I was too close to my subjects. Maybe this flash does better lighting up group shots. This is the desk where I write this blog. My giant No. 3A Autographic Kodak is in the corner on one of my two Kodak Metal Tripod No. 1s.

My desk

See the rest of the photos that turned out in my Canon A35F gallery.

This camera’s fatal flaw is that its film door is hard to open. I wrestled with it to put the film in, and again to get the film out. The door doesn’t pop open when you pull down the open lever. It was a pain in the butt to pry it open each time. And that’s why I pretty quickly sold this camera on.

But I was very happy with the sharpness and color I got. Maybe I should give the Canonet 28 another try.

If you like old film cameras, check out all of my reviews here!
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Comments

44 responses to “Canon A35F”

  1. Derek Avatar

    Great samples from that camera. And I thought I am the only one who woke up at 3am developing film / blog :D

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I cheat – I write these in advance and schedule them to post at 5 am!

      1. Derek Avatar

        Right right, but then you’re still replying me right now ;)

        1. Jim Grey Avatar

          Touche. I get up at 5 and write for a couple hours before I have to go off and make software for a living.

          1. Derek Avatar

            I just went to bed too early, haha. Also have 2 rolls of film needed to be develop anyways, might as well try and get it done before I go to work.

  2. Brandon Campbell Avatar
    Brandon Campbell

    Looking good! I’d definitely consider one of these if I was in the market for another vintage rangefinder. Which would you say is easier to focus, this or the Olympus XA?

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      XA. The A35F really needs a little lever hanging off the focus ring to make focusing easier.

  3. Richard Avatar

    Jim,

    I call this the “son of Canonet”. It’s a dependable little camera.

    This weekend someone asked me to name my favorite garage sale camera. The first one that came to mind was my Canon A35F.

    I’ve included my Canon A35F write-up if that’s OK.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I admit, I prefer my Canonet QL17 G-III. I love it. But it has bad light seals, and this A35F doesn’t. The camera that needs no repairs gets shot more often, at least by me.

    2. Richard Avatar

      Here’s the link to my Son of Canonet post: http://whatisafilmcamera.com/canon-a35f-son-of-canonet/

  4. N.S. Palmer Avatar
    N.S. Palmer

    Beautiful! Refresh my memory (if I ever knew it in the first place): What’s aperture-priority exposure?

    I remember the Sure Shot. I didn’t know that it had such a distinguished lineage.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Aperture priority is where you set the aperture, and the camera reads the light and sets the shutter speed appropriately to get a good exposure.

      The AF35M was the first of a long line of Sure Shots. Many later Sure Shots were just junk cameras, but the AF35M was, by all accounts, a decent performer. I have had two but both of them have had broken winding motors and were thus useless.

  5. msogavt Avatar
    msogavt

    I have one of these myself, and still shoot it from time to time. I like the compactness and the fact that it does everything it needs to for picture taking, although not much in the way of controls. As it is, the camera is more than up to the limits of my abilities.
    http://msogavt.wordpress.com/2011/07/17/another-old-rangefinder-canon-a35f/
    http://msogavt.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/photo-a-day-june-22-a-change-of-light/

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Thanks for the links! Heh, I see I commented on one of those when you posted it. I enjoyed using the A35F but wished for my Canonet QL17’s better handling. It was hard for me to judge this camera solely on its own merits because it shares the Canonet body and the QL17 is such a wonderful camera.

  6. pesoto74 Avatar

    I don’t think that I have seen this camera before. I imagine that whatever sells it had must have dried up once the auto focus ones came out. Still it looks like it had a good Canon lens. I also do that thing where I try to imagine what I would think if the camera I am testing was my only camera.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I think this was just a stopgap camera until the Sure Shot could be introduced. They probably only made it for a year or two.

  7. Yovanna Garcia Avatar
    Yovanna Garcia

    I just found my moms old one and I can’t tell if it work!!! Help please:)

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Put some batteries in it and wind it and see if the shutter fires. If it does, then go buy a roll of film and shoot it. When the film comes back from the processor, you’ll see how well it works.

  8. Alex Corona Avatar

    Hi, you mention the Canonet 28 had aperture priority and unfortunately that is false.

    The aperture setting was for when you used an attached flash. It would set the camera to a fixed 1/30th speed. No matter if you chose f/2.8 or f/16 the shutter would always be 1/30 because that was the flash sync speed.

    I owned a 28(along with a QL7 and the original 19) and loved it, unfortunately I gave it away to a friend so I’m looking to replace it with a a35f since I love the black on black!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Oh, you’re right – it’s a shutter-priority camera. I corrected the text.

      1. Alex Corona Avatar

        Hi, No it’s not shutter priority either. The 28 is just full auto with the option of choosing the aperture when a hot shoe flash is mounted. Which then sets the shutter to a fixed 1/30 to sync with the flash. You then set the aperture to how far away the subject was, because the flash didn’t have any automation you compensated by setting an appropriate aperture. Closer the subject the smaller the aperture to compensate the exposure. It was really an odd thing.

        The Canonet 17 and 19 do offer shutter priority but the Canonet 28 does not.

        by the way I got the a35f and I’m loving it so far!

        1. Jim Grey Avatar

          Thanks, I just deleted the offending sentence. I do wish to get it right.

  9. Javier Restrepo Avatar
    Javier Restrepo

    Hi, I’m from Colombia. Well, i’ve got my grandpa’s camera and I would like to know if it works. Does not have any battery but I mean, if you press the button has to make any sound or something? Or only by having the battery inside the camera? Almost forgot, it’s the 675 battery, not the AA just in case. Hope you could help me because I really want to use this camera, my grandfather died due to a gastric cancer, so it would be like a good memorie shooter. By the way, sorry if my English is not good. Haha. Anyway, It would be awesome if you help me in this, or if you want to get my email or something to explain me better, i won’t have any problem to provide it.

    Sincerelly, Javier.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I’m sorry that you lost your grandfather. Your best option is to buy a 675 alkaline or silver-oxide battery and see if the camera turns on, and when you press the button the shutter fires. If so, then buy some film and get shooting. This is how I test out an old camera; it’s the only way I know.

  10. Angela Del Avatar
    Angela Del

    So you used fujifilm 200 35mm film for all of these pictures?

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Yes – it’s my usual color film. Inexpensive and highly available.

  11. angela Avatar
    angela

    Hi i was wondering how do you change the asa speed on the Cannon A35F!

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      This online user manual tells all! http://www.butkus.org/chinon/canon/canon_a35_f/canon_a35_f.htm

      But there’s a lever on the bottom of the lens barrel that sets it. You read the setting on the top of the lens barrel.

  12. Javier Restrepo Avatar
    Javier Restrepo

    Hi, it’s me again. So, I get the battery and averything was ok. The only issues are 2: when I’m going to “charge” the roll in order to shoot (sorry, I don’t know how to say it better) it stucks. I don’t know why or even if the camera ir broken or aomrhing.

    The other problem is the flash, I put an AA battery but it does not shoot the flash I don’t know why.

    Hope you can help me in this.

    Sincerely, Javier.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      It’s hard to know for sure without seeing the camera, but it may be broken. You might be best off buying a working one on eBay.

  13. Javier Restrepo Avatar
    Javier Restrepo

    Hi buddy, it’s been a while, uh?

    I wanted to tell you a massive thank you because without your help I’d never use my camera. It’s running perfectly at all.

    I would like you to tell me about the lens cap, as you know the battery rains faster if you do not protect the ligth cell, so I was look for some information on internet but I could not find any. So doy you know what type of cap should I use?
    Where can I find it.
    Can you give me the dimensions in order to start looking in my city?

    I’m awared to your response, Javier.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I’m not aware that a lens cap came with this camera when it was new. I could be wrong. I’ve never seen a lens cap on one of these, at any rate!

  14. Javier Avatar
    Javier

    Can this camera take photos without using the flash? I don’t know why, but sometimes I can and sometimes not.
    I mean, using the flash you can take all you want, but without using it, the carger is kind of stuck, same with the shoot button

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      It’s been a long time since I used this camera, and I don’t have it anymore, but I remember it not requiring the flash to take photos.

      1. Richard C. Kraneis Avatar

        My photos without flash came out great on this camera. Visit https://www.flickr.com/photos/rkraneis/albums/72157625395112524 to see some of the photos.

        Best Wishes,

  15. Richard C. Kraneis Avatar

    I actually wrote a blog post on one of my websites about the Canon A35F.

    I called it the Son of the Canonet: http://whatisafilmcamera.com/canon-a35f-son-of-canonet/

    Richard

  16. Richard C. Kraneis Avatar

    Jim,

    Sorry, getting forgetful. I listed my blog post on this fine little camera twice.

    Richard

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      No worries, my friend.

  17. Javier Avatar
    Javier

    Hi Jim, I’m so sorry to bothering you too much. I searched on internet and found that it coul be the shutter is stucked. But as I told you, when using the flash it fires as well.

    The problem is when I try to take a photo without using the flash.
    So, why would it happens?

    I’m not able to find a person who knows a lot about this because I live in Colombia, so as you might know haha, it’s to hard.
    I need to change seals, yes of course, but when using the flash it takes the photo.
    When I try to take a photo without it, the shutter stucks.

    Help me please, I really want to use this camera because it belongs to my passed away granpa, so it’s the only thing he left me.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Hi Javier! It surely would be wonderful to restore your grandfather’s camera and be able to use it.

      Unfortunately, I’m not a repair expert, From here, it sounds like you need to disassemble the lens assembly to get at the shutter, and then lubricate it. But I don’t know how to do that. I am puzzled by the flash problem and can’t imagine what’s going on there.

      You might seek one of the camera forums, such as rangefinderforum.com, and ask the people there for help.

  18. Owen Stewart Avatar
    Owen Stewart

    Is there some kind of trick in getting the light meter battery out of the camera and is it necessary for the camera to run?

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I gave this camera away so I can’t check for sure, but I believe that the battery is necessary for full camera functioning. You probably get one shutter speed without the battery.

      Here’s a link to the manual, which should explain how to get the battery out.

      http://www.butkus.org/chinon/canon/canon_a35_f/canon_a35_f.htm

  19. Raul Altavista Avatar
    Raul Altavista

    Hi. I bought an a35f that worked perfectly. I took the battery off and opened it to clean the inside. When I put it back together the shutter just wouldn’t work any more. I think I accidentally touched the timer and I suspect that has something to do with it. Or could the battery be dying on me? I need help

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Timers are notoriously touchy on old cameras, so you may be right. If it’s the battery, a fresh one will answer that question. Otherwise, I just don’t know what might be wrong with your A35F.

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