Weird, Funny & Inappropriate Canon AE-1 & AE-1 Program Commercials (TV Ads) 

Love it! “.......the AE-1 is now mostly used for Moody images of gas stations and neon signs.” Lolololololol.......so true.

Great work as always! TOC is one of my favorite series! Coincidentally it was a pair of AE 1 cameras and selection of cheap lenses I picked up at a local pawn shop several years ago that reignited my own photography. I would be embarrassed to say how much I've spent on the hobby since then.

Never owned a Canon camera, I'm a Nikon fanboy - but watching this makes me want to go try one! Great video mate :)

I've exposed hundreds of rolls of film with the AE-1, AE-1 PROGRAM and A-1. Some of the best images I've ever made were with those cameras.

great ads, and nice "skirting around that issue", at 9:06 ; but nice to still see the stuff made around the time fun was still a thing, no censoring the crap out of everything.

These comercials take me back to when cameras were notable and valued things to own and use. In many households an SLR camera was a valued thing to have. On holiday these Canons along with the products of other Japanese camera makers would be seen and appreciated. It seems like cameras have become less valued today by people other than photography enthusiasts. I Have a Canon AE-1 Program and it takes me back to when these cameras were mainstream and in common use.

Haha I love these old camera commercials.

I love this series, including the old commercials. Never had one of those Canons, but like to see the next part Fichte ongoing video series! 👍

I’ve tried thinking of so many ways to say this without me sounding like a jerk but I’m not sure it’s possible so here it goes… your videos of testing a camera or film and the resulting development process are great, helpful and deeply appreciated. But the deep dives into the history of a camera or film with, of the time advertising and reviews are my favorite videos on your channel. There are other Channels that go out and shoot and they are great and when you do it it’s a step above but these videos, like the top cameras of 19xx are why I keep coming back. All of your effort is appreciated and I’m going to join the newsletter and Patreon as a way to give back some of what I’ve got from your videos. Thanks Azriel keep kicking ass! (Oh and enough Canon more Nikon!! /s)

This was awesome - great job! I graduated high school in 1979 so I remember many of these commercials. The AE-1 launched with the 1976 Montreal Olympics and the ads were everywhere here in Canada.

This is awesome, just like the Minolta tv ad reviews you did!

No, reading and watching a lot of material from that era, it wasn’t innocent and cute at the time. It was edgy in a good way. There was a sense of freedom men and women enjoyed. That woman showing their underparts wasn’t “a disgusting male peeping under a sacred female dignity”, it’s a play where one wants to show and the other one looks. 70s was an era of liberation after many years of extreme puritanism. Same with 80s. In a bizarro turn of events, these days are extremely puritan and young people is the one being the most repressive, puritan, obedient and the one that hate freedom the most. An indoctrination and manipulative work really well done I must say. These days you hear young people talking like the older and most conservative people from the 60s, 70s and 80s.

This was great !!! Keep up the good work!!!

"... has restraining order written all over it in this day and age!" Ded 🤣☠️

Loved these old commercials, Azriel. Thanks for sharing.👍👍

I wish Canon would employ that singing guy again for their current lineup. "CANON! E-O-S...RRRRRR!!"

Will the podcast come back at some point? This episode made me think about Grainydays as a great guest.

Great to see the old commercials. The AE1 with a power winder was my backup to my F1. It had what you needed in a film camera, accurate reliable shutter, kept the film flat and a good center weighted exposure meter.

Interesting to see tv commercials from an era, where we only had one channel in Denmark, that wasn't allowed to show commercials (and still isn't). TV commercials was something we could only see, if we watched German channels - or if we went to a movie theater, there were (and still are) commercials before the movie starts.

All the Japanese commercials of the AE-1 focus on the "continuous shooting" (連写: rensha) ability of the camera. They make it quite clear calling it of "連写一眼" (continuous-shooting SLR) and by using the sound of the motor accessory. The focus is not on the AE function actually, but on the ability of continuous / fast shooting.

Really enjoy your historical videos. Would be interested if you did one on film stocks, historical pricing, format preferences (B&W, color, 35mm 120, large), regional usage, magazine recommendations, etc. Keep up the great work!

That was interesting. I never really got into that model. I don't know why but the FD glass are pretty awesome. I had T70 and used that for a while but I got over it after a year and many rolls.

It is interesting, how often the winder option was presented in the ads. And it fits perfect in this marketing concept of taking sports / action photos. I'm using Canon SLR since 1978 and I could remember this time very well. But I never saw a Canon commercial on German TV. I rember the ads of Olympus OM SLR cameras at this time, but Canon was rather a matter of printed catalogs and consultations in the camera shops. These were numerous in those days. With the A-system Canon could offer a whole line of FD-lenses and special fit A-accessories. That was not so common in the days of the AE-1. Price, the whole line of gear and the top lenses with a lot of third party glass and accessories were the key to Canons success. And the image of the F-1 system for professional sports photographers, which changed to Canon in favour of the fast super telephoto lenses and the other L-/ Aspherical glass. In the beginning Canon made the mistake to distribute their early F-cameras with large warehouses, such as Bell&Howell. So many thought of "cheap japanese junk" regarding these marketing disaster. The quality and technology were on par with other brands, but the image of Canon suffered. In retrospective, Canon could sell much more cameras and lenses, and the word of the real quality began to spread. In 1973 Canon corrected the former faults and with the F-1 the star begann to rise.

This is awesome.

Arch Deluxe. Wasn’t that MacDonalds New Coke?

10/2/21 Good job on the Canon AE-1. Canon cameras have always been good sellers even into the digital age with canon's many lenses. I like to see you do an in-depth review of the Konica Autoreflex T which was my preferred first 135mm purchase cause of the AE exposed and great lenses. I still own several of the models made over the years until it later mostly plastic models. Konica too has an interesting history that would make for a great review.

Awesome video enjoyed that liked and subbed. I'm a bit of a collector, can't resist a bargain, I just picked up a n AE-1 with a faulty light meter for 60nzd I have an old 50 1.8 FD i acquired 20 years ago, just sat in a draw waiting for something to attach it to, the union is complete. Can't wait to take em out for a shoot soon, no dodgy restraining order stuff tho'.....

The Japanese Commercials are masterpieces. 😂

Some of these commercials "aged like milk" 😂😂

I actually LIKED the Arch Deluxe! 🤣 Japan will always do Japan when it comes any and everything!

I’m a grown up and I want to be photographed eating a modern day burger 🍔 by someone using an AE-1 and Lomo 800.

The AE-1 Program is more like the A-1 than the AE-1. Just look at the Body Lines/Shape.

I only heard about this camera but I never/will own one. I am sure it must be very advance at that time. Someone told me a story about this camera. A couple getting marry and hired a studio to do both video tape production and wedding photography for them. The studio photographer had to shoot the video therefore he hired a part time photographer. This part time guy claimed that he studied photography before and he is confident that he can perform the job well. After the wedding day, the studio took rolls of wedding films to develop. The results were unbelievable and shocked the studio's owner. All the pictures were underexposed and non of it can be used. They found the part time guy and asked him what happened. He said he was a "Nikon slr user" and he wasn't familiar with Canon. He must have accidentally pressed a button and locked all the exposure incorrectly. End of the story was that the entire studio staffs along with the studio owner had to come before the couple to apologized and of course the video production was free of charge.

Interesting that the Japanese ads boast "continuous shooting" but you never see a power winder.

Looks like American marketing focused on branding the camera with professionals of any sort, in order to associate the camera in the mind of consumers with "professional." They also made it clear that a near idiot could operate the thing, hence turning the regular amateur into a virtual professional. The "official camera of" is simple brand recognition strategy that associates Canon with other prestigious institutions, which is a genius way to market to a country of people who absolutely love looking up to celebrities and institutions. The Japanese marketing you showed focused on the auto-winding "continuous shooting" feature, and assumed potential buyers could already use a camera confidently. They weren't trying to sell the idea that the camera is professional, because they seemed to be marketing more towards actual professionals, or enthusiasts, instead of the every-man. This is also a solely feature-based approach, whereas in America, the feature isn't even mentioned--it is simply shown to be easy and quick to use. "Just focus and click!" I love seeing the strategies used for different audiences. Watching these old commercials really unravels the history of the hype behind the Canon name. They were a company with fantastic products, but it seems that an equal part in their success has been the image they have successfully created, and have been creating ever since these old days. Ask any random person what's a "professional" camera brand and they will say "CANON!"

I dunno about the taboo on hot chicks these days. I still want to look at them. Don't care about it either.

This makes me not want to get an AE-1

These cameras are just worse versions of Nikons!! Joking, I just don’t understand why everyone is horny for the ae-1 and say not the Nikon FE or FA