Borrowed Canon Pellix, an Interesting Detour

January 17, 2022

Flash back to the mid 1960s, Camera manufacturers were in a race to have the coolest camera on the market. While Nikon went the route to be the most reliable with the F and Nikkormat, other companies like Minolta and Topcon were pushing bounderies with TTL metering. Canon was looking for something to keep up with Nikon, they had a great rangefinder line based on Leica Screw Mount lenses but that platform was nearing the end. While the Canonflex was Canon's answer to the Nikon F, it wasn't keeping the engineers at Nippon Kogaku up at night, they were experimenting with different technologies. Here we have the Pellix, an interesting camera with what amounts to dead end technology.

The Pellix has what's called a Pellicle mirror, meaning light can transmit through the mirror and hit the film plane. Big plus, there's no mirror mechanism going up and down, the mirror just stays there. Such technology would be great in Australia, The US Southwest, Middle East, Spain, Portugal, South of France, Italy, Greece, etc, with night photography, IR photography and anywhere in Northern Europe, Pacific Northwest and Great Lakes Region in North America during the winter, not so much.

Now the Pellix has a big achilles heal, the mirror that doesn't go anywhere, not as much light is going to hit the film plane so the meter would have to be recalibrated to reflect that, and two, you need to shoot with an F1.4 or F1.2 lens in FL mount. I was lucky to have a 50 F1.4 FL mount lens on the camera. The last achilles heal, any dirt, dust or fingerprints on the pellicle mirror WILL show up the negative.

What's it like to shoot? The Pellix handles a lot like the later FTb from the 1970s but it doesn't have quite the refinement. Changing the ISO requires a magnifying glass see what ISO to set, the meter for a 55 year old camera however works, and nicely too. What I found I was shooting at 1/60 F4 for most of the roll on an overcast day between Christmas and New Year's Day. The shutter however could use with a CLA as it was struggling a wee bit with the cold air. Nothing a graduated filter in Lightroom can't fix.

I don't have any plans to get a Pellix, I already have three FTbs which are a better camera. If you are a Canon collector looking for a body that has an interesting story it might be an interesting addition, maybe a user if you live somewhere where the sun shines all the time.

Camera: Canon Pellix, FL 50 f1.4 lens.

Film: Fomapan 400, Ilfotec HC 1+31.