Canon celebrates 50 years of single-lens reflex camera sales

TOKYO, January 6, 2009—Canon Inc. and Canon Marketing Japan Inc. today commemorated the 50th anniversary of the sale of Canon's first single-lens reflex camera in 1959. Over the past half-century, Canon SLR cameras have evolved with the times, incorporating advanced and groundbreaking technologies. Winning the widespread support of users worldwide, production of Canon SLR cameras have already surpassed the 50-million* unit mark.

With film-based SLR camera sales of more than 39 million units and digital SLR camera sales exceeding 14 million units, Canon is sincerely grateful to all of its users for their support and will continue pursuing the challenge of creating cameras that deliver superior imaging performance and reliability.

Via Canon press release.