Canon Sureshot Multi Tele

[minoly]

EDIT: 10-23-15. Photos were lost because of server trouble. The same ones are posted in this edit but in slightly different order and format.

It took 4 years for Canon to get into the half-frame fad that Olympus started with the first Pen in 1959; Canon’s first offering was the Demi (1963) . But Canon stuck with the format and, 25 years later, joined Konica and Yashica in the last flare-up of HF activity with the SureShot Multi Tele (Autoboy Tele 6 in Japan), first sold in 1988. The Multi Tele doesn’t have the classy look of the first Demi or the photo firepower of the Demi EE 1.7 (1966); but, it does have some features that stand out in the half frame category, features derived from P&S technology as it stood in 1988.

The Multi Tele offers its most important features-- excellent quality vf, af, flash, and image quality-- in both full frame and half frame formats: just flick a little lever on the gate before loading the film and the camera takes care of all the rest. Karen Geller-Shinn’s review in Peterson’s Photographic (June, 1988) hit the nail on the head by pointing out that the Multi Tele took superb photos in full frame, that most people would use it that way normally, & that for big events it offered the possibility of easily taking twice as many photos. Geller-Shinn emphasized lens and format versatility in the sub-head of her review; it’s the lens versatility that gives the Multi Tele its niche in the HF world.

Just how the MT lens works is not well explained in anything that I’ve seen. The manual states that the 35mm (FF) lens is 3 elements and the 60mm (FF) lens is 6 elements; just how the elements interact isn’t clear to me, but the lenses put on quite a show moving out and in when a frame is exposed. When HF is selected the format becomes vertical and the 35mm lens has the effect of a 50mm and the 60mm the effect of an 85mm lens. Add the accessory Telephoto Converter (75mm on FF) and you get a HF equivalent of a 110 mm lens. This is a good combination in many situations, giving the Multi Tele quite a reach. Though that means that a wide angle view isn’t possible, there is some consolation in the close-up capacity which extends all the way down to 1.3 ft. (though the manual doesn’t manage to make this completely clear).

Some downsides: the Multi Tele isn’t small-- it‘s a full size Sureshot; there’s no way to turn off the flash; it takes a big 2CR5 battery; it’s noisy in action. A couple more upsides: there is a fill-flash option; you can make long exposures up to 4 seconds manually; a little foot lets you tip up the MT, set it on an appropriate surface and get yourself in the photo with a self-timer; the Telephoto adapter is threaded for 40.5mm filters--I don‘t quite get what need that meets, but there it is.

So Canon ended its half-frame production with a camera that gave HF users a chance to share in many P&S features with a more conventional look than its contemporaries, the AA-35 and the Samurai. Here are some color photos, all made in half-frame format, from a recent roll of Fuji 200 taken at the Carpenter Nature Center (on the Minnesota side of the St. Croix River just before it reaches the Mississippi); Fall coloring of the trees is just starting here and there, but the smaller ground vegetation definitely shows it's September.

[PFMcFarland]

Those look fine, Bill, especially once one clicks on them for the slightly larger screen size, which seems sharper. Very interesting about the HF capabilities. I've passed on these before because I didn't know about that.

PF

[Dennis Gallus]

Bill,

Thanks for an interesting article. I had never heard of that camera's features before. Good photos, too!

[Philip]

I own a couple of dozen half-frame cameras but, until now, I never knew about this sweet one. Nice account of it, and some fine HF pictures too!

[Julio1fer]

I had no idea that this type of camera existed, let alone that Canon persisted so long in offering half frames. The results are excellent! Thanks for sharing this interesting information.

[Bennybee]

That is a cool camera. I never heard about this one. Thanks for sharing. Very interesting.

[minoly]

Thanks to all for the comments; I enjoyed getting them. I probably should have emphasized more than I did how well the Multi Tele works in FF, too. Canon says the 35mm is only 3 elements; still the one roll I am sure that I used the MT for in FF gave truly topnotch results-- lots of variables I guess, too.

Bill Delehanty