In January 1961, Canon released the Canonet, a reasonably priced EE (electronic eye; now called AE) camera onto the market. Boasting faultless performance and capable of creating beautiful images with the press of a shutter button, it was priced at under 20,000 JPY — less than half that of similar models. In fact, this prompted rival companies in the industry to accuse Canon of "dumping" even before the Canonet reached shop shelves. As such, the scene was set for a sensational debut, in which one week's worth of stocks sold out in the first two hours of the Canonet's release.

The impact of the Canonet was groundbreaking. Thanks to technological innovations, high-end and inaccessible cameras had become within reach of the average consumer. This sparked a camera craze, which gave birth to the mass market for cameras. Such is the typical pattern of Canon's many successes over the years.

Demand for the Canonet was colossal, with more than one million units sold in just two and a half years. However, we now have another contender that looks set to rewrite the record books: the EOS DIGITAL Rebel/EOS 300D, which debuted in September 2003. More than one million units of this digital SLR camera have been sold in less than a year (as of June 2004), and production continues at 100,000 units per month. We interviewed the engineers responsible for adding yet another product to Canon's list of market hits.