Canon Model 7s

Produced: estimated at 16,000

Ser. Nos.:  100000 to 118500

Although SLR’s were beginning to dominate the camera market, the Model 7 had been such a success that Canon decided to improve on the 7 and continue to manufacture it. Their improvement was the Model 7s.

The first improvement was the change from a selenium photo cell to a CdS photocell for the light meter. This of course meant the addition of a battery to power the cell and the addition of an on-off switch on the back of the top plate.

The second improvement was the addition of an accessory shoe on the top plate which had been missing on the Model 7

Later capies of the 7s had an oversized rewind knob that did not sit down in the depression created for the original crank. The one shown on the left is an early variant and the smaller knob fits in the recess in the top plate.

No 7s cameras are known to exist in the all black finish that was so popular. The last rangefinder camera to be available in all black appears to have been the Canon Model 7.

The Operator’s Manual for the Canon Model 7s

Model 7sZ

Produced: About 4,000

We have already seen that Canon would make changes, usually improvements, to a model during production and not rename the camera. It would just appear in the market unannounced. The 7sZ was one such camera. Canon never used this designation. To them it was just the Model 7s. However, certain deficiencies were known in the 7s’s viewfinder since the system was introduced with the Model P several years earlier. Sometime in 1967 changes were made to the viewfinder to solve these problems.

On the ouside the 7sZ and the 7s are identical with one

All 7sZ’s have the larger rewind knowb that does not sit down into the top plate. But this is not a reliable test for which camera you have because some plain 7s’s have this larger crank as well.

With the 7sZ we have the last of the Canon rangefinder cameras. It is possibly also their best camera to that point.