The AE-1 was the first of the "A" series, introduced in April, 1976. The
AE-1 Program was introduced in April 1981 as the AE-1's successor. The A-1
was the top of the line for the "A" series, introduced in April 1978. This
line of bodies also included the AT-1, AV-1 and AL-1 (introduced in various
years) as variants of the original AE-1.
I believe production continued into the mid-1980's until the "T" series
displaced them. This is a little like comparing apples to oranges. The
professional grade Canon was the F-1 introduced in March 1971, a number of
years prior to the AE-1 which is a consumer grade (albeit higher end)
body. This does not diminish the fact they are workhorses. There are
quite a few AE-1[P] bodies around still making photographs (two of my
cousins have the AE-1). Having handled a friend's AE-1P, it falls between
an OM-PC and an OM-2S in ruggedness, probably closer to the OM-PC.
-- John
At 22:03 7/9/01, Larry Otto wrote:
I don't know exact years of production, but I had once heard or read that
the Canon AE-1 & AE-1P were the most popular and highest production SLR's
ever. Has anyone else ever heard of this? I don't really think the AE-1
compares to the OM-1 in size or features, but I do believe they were from
about the same time period.
Larry
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