Released in 1978, The Canon A-1 was the flagship of the Japanese manufacturer's A series. The A series allowed amateurs to taste the joys of photography without spending gargantuan sums on professional equipment. Now legendary, the A-1 continues to inspire new generations of photographers.
The Canon A-1 carried a major innovation for the time. The body had the world's first digital computer and allowed the use of five different automatic exposure modes: shutter priority, aperture priority, automatic mode, flash mode and closed aperture mode. A feat not found among competing brands of the time.