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March 1987: EOS 650 – Introducing the EF lens mount March 1987 saw the launch of the EOS 650. The camera was the first to be launched with the Electro-Focus (EF) lens mount. In a move that would later be copied by all other manufacturers, the EOS 650 - and every subsequent EOS camera - replaced the mechanical links and levers between the camera and the lens in favour of a fully electronic configuration.
The new EF mount had the largest internal mount diameter (54mm) of all 35mm SLR cameras, allowing for larger aperture lenses.
One of the early EF lens range innovations was the Ultrasonic Motor (USM). Canon had previously manufactured auto focus lenses for their FD camera system, but the lenses were bulky and the auto-focus action relatively slow. With USM, Canon developed a way of using vibrating piezoelectric elements to create a drive mechanism that would power auto focus. USM allowed faster, more accurate and virtually silent auto focus while also allowing manual focus override. With this revolutionary advantage, EF lenses soon won renown for their auto focus capability. September 1989: EOS-1 – Cross-type BASIS With its 5.5 fps shooting speed and auto focus accuracy, Canon’s first ‘1’ series camera - the EOS-1 - firmly established EOS as the market leader amongst professional news, sports and fashion photographers. By giving the camera the ability to sense base lines on both the horizontal and vertical planes, the EOS-1’s Cross-type BASIS (Base-Stored Image Sensor) sensor allowed the camera to focus automatically with unprecedented accuracy on a vastly greater variety of subjects than was previously possible.
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