Canon EOS RT

Canon had made a few manual focus pellicle mirror SLR bodies previously, including the Pellix, Pellix QL, and special limited-production cameras made for professional photographers at the 1972 and 1984 Olympic Games (the F-1 and New F-1 High Speed Motor Drive models respectively).

When taking a picture with a typical SLR camera, the mirror must flip upwards to move out of the way to allow light to pass from the lens to the film plane (or digital image sensor).

The 8 ms delay is nearly instantaneous, the primary selling feature for the camera, and a decided boon for shooting action photography such as sports.

A pellicle mirror, such as the one in the EOS RT, always reflects some of the light up to the viewfinder, and allows the rest to pass to the film plane.

Having an uninterrupted view through the finder is especially helpful when trying to pan the camera and keep moving objects in the viewfinder, or during sports photography.

The EOS-1V with PB-E2 power booster (2000 release) and the EOS-1D Mark III are capable of sustaining 10 frames per second burst rates without the use of a pellicle mirror.