Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Canon VT and VT de luxe

Canon · LTM mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film · 1956

Also known as: Canon VT · Canon V T · Canon VT Deluxe · Canon VT de luxe · Canon VTD · Canon VTDZ · Canon VTDM · Canon VT-Deluxe · Canon 5T

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
VT LTM 1956–1957 — No figure published
VT de luxe (VTD) LTM 1957–1957 — 3,475 (camera-wiki, Feb–Sep 1957)
VT de luxe Z (VTDZ) LTM 1957–1958 — 4,875 (camera-wiki, Apr 1957–Jun 1958)
VT de luxe M (VTDM) LTM 1958–1958 — 2,550 (camera-wiki, Jan–Dec 1958)
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • Trigger wind under the baseplate and a back that opens — no other Canon before it has both
  • 'VT de luxe' in red on the later Z cameras; a silvered rather than gold rangefinder patch on the M

VT:

  • Marketed August 1956, 115,500 yen (w/50mm f/1.2) 82,000 yen (w/50mm f/1.8) · 815 g · 144 × 81 × 36 mm
  • Bottom trigger wind; swing-open back; self-timer; gold-finished half-mirror prism; pop-up rewind knob; parallax pin in the shoe
  • Finder: 0.4× for 35mm, 0.72× for 50mm, 1.4× RF position (museum)

VT de luxe (VTD):

  • Marketed May 1957, 97,000 yen (w/50mm f/1.2), 58,000 yen (body) * The price of the 50mm f/1.2 lens was greatly reduced from 60,000 yen to 39,000 yen. · 985 g · 144 × 81 × 34 mm
  • Back safety latch, rewind crank, restyled top; silver only

VT de luxe Z (VTDZ):

  • Marketed May 1957, 97,000 yen (w/50mm f/1.2), 58,000 yen (body) * The price of the 50mm f/1.2 lens was greatly reduced from 60,000 yen to 39,000 yen. · 985 g · 144 × 81 × 34 mm
  • Film-magazine key added; 'VT de luxe' in red letters; some with stainless shutter curtains

VT de luxe M (VTDM):

  • Marketed May 1957, 97,000 yen (w/50mm f/1.2), 58,000 yen (body) * The price of the 50mm f/1.2 lens was greatly reduced from 60,000 yen to 39,000 yen. · 985 g · 144 × 81 × 34 mm
  • Silvered (cool) half-mirror prism in place of gold; silver and black versions; some stainless curtains

Specifications

Format
24×36mm on 35mm film
Finder
Combined coincidence rangefinder and reversed-Galilean viewfinder, three positions: 0.4× (35mm, 17.2 mm effective base), 0.72× (50mm, 31 mm), 1.4× rangefinder position (60 mm base); gold half-mirror, later silvered · pin in the accessory shoe moves a coupled accessory finder parallax correction
Shutter
Horizontal cloth focal-plane, two dials · T, 1–1/15 on the slow dial; X, B, 1/30–1/1000 on the fast dial · flash sync FP, M-F and X at 1/50; bayonet terminal on the side · self-timer
Film advance
Single-stroke trigger in the baseplate; knob also fitted
Back
Hinged, swings open
Meter
None
Weight
815 g
Dimensions
144 × 81 × 36 mm
Country
Japan
Original price
115,500 yen (w/50mm f/1.2) 82,000 yen (w/50mm f/1.8) (August 1956, Canon Camera Museum) (today ¥742,000)

What reviewers say

No reviews aggregated yet — this family is still in the research queue. Written one? We'd love to index it.

History

For twenty years every Canon loaded through the baseplate like a Leica. The VT of August 1956 opened at the back, wound with a trigger folded into the bottom plate — T for trigger — carried a self-timer, and put a gold-coated half-mirror in a new three-position finder whose widest setting framed a 35mm lens, which the museum says made the finder two and a half times brighter than before. It was priced at ¥115,500 with the new 50mm f/1.2, ¥82,000 with the f/1.8. camera-wiki finds the trigger “awkward to use for rapid shooting”; others find it fast once learned.

The VT de luxe of May 1957 added a back latch and a rewind crank, and came in three runs that camera-wiki counts from Dechert: 3,475 VTD, 4,875 VTDZ with the film-magazine key and red lettering, 2,550 VTDM with the silvered prism, some in black. The L1 and L2 are the same camera with a lever on top; the VL is the VTDM with a lever.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

Canon VT and VT de luxe
Canon VT de Luxe — Leonard Bentley, via Openverse (flickr) (BY-SA 2.0)
Canon VT and VT de luxe
A 1958 Sears advertisement for the VT De Luxe and the L-1 — Nesster, via Openverse (flickr) (BY 2.0)

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $240 across 38 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-11 (middle half $160–$350). Tracked since 2026-09-09, 3 days: up 8% from $220.

By day
DateMedianMiddle halfListings
2026-09-11$240$160–$35038
2026-09-10$220$160–$35041
2026-09-09$220$150–$32043

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 71 more listings

Listings updated 2026-09-11. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Canon III, IIIA and IV series · Canon L1, L2 and L3 · Canon VI-T and VI-L · Canon VL and VL2

Lenses for this body: Canon 19mm f/3.5 · Canon 25mm f/3.5 · Canon 28mm f/2.8 · Canon 28mm f/3.5 · Canon 35mm f/1.5 · Canon 35mm f/1.8 · Canon 35mm f/2 · Canon 35mm f/2.8 · Serenar 35mm f/3.2 · Serenar 35mm f/3.5 · Canon 50mm f/1.2 · Canon 50mm f/1.4 · Canon 50mm f/1.5 · Canon 50mm f/1.8 · Serenar 50mm f/1.9 · Serenar 50mm f/2 · Canon 50mm f/2.2 · Canon 50mm f/2.8 · Serenar 50mm f/3.5 · Canon 85mm f/1.5 · Canon 85mm f/1.8 · Canon 85mm f/1.9 · Serenar 85mm f/2 · Canon 100mm f/2 · Canon 100mm f/3.5 · Serenar 100mm f/4 · Canon 135mm f/3.5 · Serenar 135mm f/4 · Canon 200mm f/3.5 · Canon 300mm f/4 · Canon 400mm f/4.5 · Canon 600mm f/5.6 · Canon 800mm f/8 · Canon 1000mm f/11

Sources (4)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.