This Canon is truly special, but because it belonged to my late grandfather. Its slightly odd features situate the T70 in the mid-eighties, a technological era defined by the transition from analogue to digital.

The T70 was Canon’s last camera with manual focus before equipping their brand-new EOS series with auto focus only a few years later. Other eighties features include push buttons and a small LCD display for the settings, a AA battery operated motor for automatic film winding and rewinding, as well as eight different programmes to choose from.

Unfortunately, the auto programmes only offer shutter priority: with no aperture priority available, you do not get to choose the depth of field. Compensation for this limitation comes with a 35-75 mm f3.5-4.5 lens that has you covered from among-crowd to medium-distance shots.

With a very large and bright rangefinder to top it off, the Canon T70 is a charm for easy shoot-away or street photography. Not if you want to go unnoticed, though, because the ‘cla-clack bzzzzzzt’ that accompanies every shot is just as loud as it is iconic.