What is your favorite FL/FD Camera?

I had wanted one for a while, and I found this on Ebay. Forty dollars american and it also came with the leather wrap case. I do not know if it will become my new fav, but we'll see.

 

Out of all my film cameras this one was my favorite till the film drive died in it, I have recently been having a thing for my Pentax MX. With it's 50mm F2.0 lens it is small and light. Nice for wandering around and taking street shot or what ever same as the T70.. The thing I liked about the T70 was all you had to do was Focus and set the aperture or if you were really lazy use it in auto.
I have a large assortment of lenses in FD and FL mount so I replaced the T70 with a AV-1.
The AV-1 does not have the same feel as the T70 but it does allow me to use my FD and FL lenses.

 

Had an AE1 back in the day when they were a new thing......hated it.
Played with a T90 when they were a new thing......hated that too.
When EOS first came out I bought one of the early ones, non stop problems from day 1 .......no prizes for guessing how I felt about it.

Recently I stearted collecting cameras from my past and naturally snared an AE1, looking at it with the distance of time I thought my views on it back in the day may have been harsh but...yup hate it even worse now.

But ohh la la ..........I picked up an FTb in Japan in a second hand shop and thought I might like it. When I got home I bagged off a pristine FTb off ebay for £40 complete with a mint FL lens. Its completely changed my view of Canon. I had always associated them with plastic and chips......the FTb is a revelation. Its smooth, simple, beautiful to hold, built solid and I LOVE it.

 

I have an FTb and have found just fitting a 1.5 silver cell works and its accurate. You will need an adaptor to fit one of these. I use one I bot from Jon Goodman, you will find him with a Google search. Oddly I tried a zinc air battery as well and the meter is accurate as well with that if a little low, almost as if the camera is auto adjusting. I have taken it to bits and cant see that anyone has carried out any mods so it may be the circuitry can cope. I tested it against an AE1 and my Pentax KX and they all gave similar readings so I am pretty sure the FTb is working reliably. By the way inside they are a marvel......very solidly constructed.

You may want to get the top off though because Canon used horrid decaying foam near the prism. The foam in mine had started to eat the prism retaining metalwork and had it been in contact with the prism the prism would have been wrecked. I replaced mine with good quality felt to stop a recurrence.

 

My first 35mm camera was the T-50...really a good starter camera for me then. I started to learn more about photography, which led me to the A-1. The A-1 camera was awesome and very advanced in features! Making a long story short...after missing my A-1 for 28 years, I recently bought its replacement this month. I am focusing in 35mm film only these days--so I am using an EOS Rebel GII camera and added an A-1 for my photography needs. So my vote is the Canon A-1!!

 

Canon A1 with an FD 50mm f1.8, AE1 50mm f1.8 and 28mm f2.8. I recently did a test shoot on full auto with these two and my EOS 300, EOS 50E cameras using one FP4+ film loaded and re-loaded into each camera in turn and shooting as near as possible identical images in my garden. I'm pleased to say that the negatives were consistent and accurate for exposure across all cameras. I have had both the A1 and AE1 from new and apart from renewing the deteriorating seals a few years ago they have performed faultlessly. The two EOS cameras were acquired recently to assist my ageing eyesight with focusing.

 

F1 - had one with the rotating sports finder and 50/1.4 for many years, the finder was ideal for someone like me who wears glasses and does a fair amount of macro and micro photography.

 

The F-1. Build, reliability, match needle. I just recently acquired an F-1 to replace one I had sold. Over time I came to regret that sale. So I searched a number of websites and finally found one. The deal included an FD 28 f2.8 and a 50 f 1.4

 

Forgot to say that I still have an AL-1 which I use for testing FD lenses when I sell them. Not a bad little camera, runs on two AAA batteries and has manually controlled speeds as well as an auto mode, and weirdly uses focus confirm electronics instead of a normal focusing screen. It's manual wind so the batteries last for years. The only problem with it (as often seen with other Canons that use AAA batteries) is that the catch for the battery compartment is broken. I use a cable tie to keep it closed.

 

I have a large number of film camera, one of the advantages of volunteering at Vinnies. my favorite is the T70. I have recently purchased another one as my first one's drive motor died. one magazine wrote that "it was too good for amateurs, it was crank less, lever less and best for it's class." It is small and simple to use.

 

Johnsey, if you had not worked hard to get what you have and had been just given one, I don't think you would have had the same respect and taken the same amount of care with your gear.

 

I was an educational lab technician and doing a lot of scientific photography, partly for work and partly my own interest. I was trained using Exakta Varex, which also had interchangeable viewfinders, and eventually bought my own, but it didn't have TTL metering on anything other than a special (and very expensive) non-coupled pentaprism, not really very good for photomacro / micro. I got by with it for a decade or so, but eventually decided to move on and went with Canon because I was working part-time for a 2nd hand dealer and saw a lot of the gear, and it seemed to me that the F1 was nicer than the Nikon equivalent - also cheaper 2nd hand. In the event I got an AE1 and right-angle finder first, and didn't get the F1 for a year or so. The sports finder was a revelation when I saw what it could do - they really ought to have aimed it at the macro/micro market too!

 

When I was shooting professionally I liked my T-90's, but for overall durability the F-1.

 

Yesterday I visited my local camera store and purchased an A-1 with a 50mm 1.4 lens mounted. I also picked up a Canon FD 50mm 1.2. I'm not sure yet which I will leave mounted on the camera with the other lens becoming the spare.

 

Whitelotus9, I have a variety of FD lenses and in my collection is a 55mm F1.2 and if you 50mm F1.2 is any thing like my version it will have a large chunk of glass which will get quite heavy after a while compared to the 50mm F1.4, so my advice is leave the 50mm F1.2 for special low light and portrait shots and the F1.4 for walk around shots. May I suggest you invest in a 28mm F2.8 for landscape shots when on holidays. I volunteer at "Vinnies" which you would know as a Op Shop. 50mm and 28mm are two of the most donated lenses so check your op shops out for FD lenses. I usually purchase the non functioning cameras and try to repair what I can. At the moment my walk around lens is a AE1 program but my all time favorite is my little T70, it's a delight to use with no fancy batteries that need recharging only two AA needed. One 1984s magazine stated "its starkly functional T70 style body was crank less, lever less and amazingly electrified." Another said "it was too good for amateurs to use."

 

Hi Everyone,

I own best cameras and all of them are performing very well, but just for fun or exposure, I bought a disposable camera and it'll be quite a fun to use it. The problem is that I don't know that how to operate it and how can I get best results from it. Is anyone knows about its usage? Any help will be highly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

Okay, let me share in a while complete details with you.

 

Can you please clear my confusion that can I consider them for professional photography? I have checked your site and it clearly shows your experience and exposure in professional photography.