Canon Datematic

My introduction to Canon began with the Datematic (ca. 1973) which my dad bought because he thought the SRT-101 was too heavy to lug around. What happened instead was I co-opted it for myself, taking it with me to school (I was in high school by now). My own Olympus PEN-EE sort of died because of the use or misuse a tween kid threw at it (or it felt like a kid threw it…something I would regret now that I discovered eBay). Digressing, I never remembered what I used the Olympus for except for some really interesting landscapes in Japan and during field trips during my latter days in grade school. The stuff I took would probably make Lomographers of today, really proud and stand at attention. Alas, I did not bother to keep any of them…who would have known that a generation later those photos would be an art form.

Anyway, that died, so I ended up with the Canon rangefinder. My dad did not really have a choice, because what I was really interested in was the Pentax Spotmatic kit lurking in his closet. Since he did not want to entrust that to me and I complained to high heavens how heavy the Minolta was, I ended getting the Canon for my use.

It was handy and gave me a little more freedom than the SRT-101. My landscapes improved as well as my proto-street photography as I stole shots in high school. The Datematic, however with its fixed wide angle lens limited any portraiture forays (which would be soon needed if I were to make any impression on the girls).

The holy grail was ultimately the Pentax Spotmatic and its set of glorious lenses. I would eventually get my hands on them by my senior year. In the meantime, I manage to get attention with the Datematic allowing me to be part of the school paper making my dad proud enough to let me have the Pentax.

MY JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL GANG (1976)
CANON DATEMATIC (see the imprinted date?)