The EOS 10 - Another Forgettable EOS?

An enthusiast-level EOS that virtually no one is enthusiastic about ;-)

  Updated May 29, 2024

   When Canon management decided on March 31, 1985 to embark on a two-year program to develop a completely clean-sheet auto focus (AF) 35mm SLR system, they were granting Minolta a two-year head-start in that burgeoning market. This was a result of the instantaneous success of the Minolta 7000, introduced almost two months before. Canon realized that their first FD-mount AF SLR, the T80, due to be introduced in April of that year, was completely outclassed by the 7000 and bold measures were thus imperative. Consequently, Minolta had the 35mm AF SLR market to itself for 14 months, until Nikon introduced their F-501 (N2020 in USA) in April 1986. Right on schedule, in time for their 50th anniversary as a camera manufacturer, Canon brought out the EOS 650 on March 1, 1987. Within two months, it became the top-selling AF SLR in Japan and Europe and was a match and more for the 7000 and F-501. But Minolta had not been sitting idly by. The summer of 1988 brought their second-generation enthusiast AF SLR, the Minolta 7000i, which was a huge jump forward from its not-exactly-ancient ancestor, as is usually the case in the early stages of the growth cycle of any technology. Canon had caught up to (and surpassed in a few areas) Minolta's and Nikon's first-gen AF SLRs, but how would the second generation of EOS fare against a much more sophisticated competitor? 

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