Canon RC-260 (1990)

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Unveiled at Photokina 1990. Marketed in early 1991. The ION series (which stood for Interactive Online Network) was only marketed in Europe under this label. Outside of Europe the camera was simply called Canon RC-260, not Xapshot and not Q-PIC (which were the corresponding labels in the US and Japan). The camera wasn't even marketed in Japan at all. This camera had a 1/2" 0.23MP CCD imager and came with a whole bunch of accessoires. Apart from many TV adapters, remote control, lens adapters, connector cables, chargers and such, a digitizer board was available and a film adapter (model FA-C26). The RC-260 truly brought still video to the masses and was sold by the thousands. This late SVC models eliminated the use of bulky and expensive VF players and recorders as they could be connected directly to a TV set and had playback capability onboard. The once expensive camera (around $1,600) can now be found for under $50.