arhphotographic

The Canon FT QL is one in a series of cameras released in the 1960’s by Canon. The manual for the FT states:

“We are highly gratified that you have selected the Canon FX – a wise choice that promises you many delightful years of photographic experiences”

Hey….. wait a minute that is exactly what the Canon FX manual says. My review of the FX can be found here.

Indeed you can see the likeness with the 1966 Canon FX, which had an external light meter who’s readings where manually input into the camera. With the FT the TTL meter has been moved into the camera body. According to the Canon Camera Museum page here

“Twelve percent of the image area surface was semi-silvered with vapor deposition(???) The incident light reflected by this semi transparent mirror was directed to the metering element” 😮

The Canon FT has the usual controls on its top plate. The film wind on has a long but satisfyingly smooth 174° throw. Shutter speed range from B through 1/1000 second. A nice inclusion is a very useful shutter lock lever, marked A/L in the image below.

On the top left the Canon FT has a battery check. Lifting the film rewind reveals the instructions for using it: Set film speed to 100 and the shutter to X, then move the lever below the film rewind and watch the match needle in the viewfinder move above the 0. If it does your good to go.

The back of the camera

Below, the battery compartment door for a Mallory 1.3v 625 or equivalent. The meter in mine works but is about two stops out. So if I dont use a hand held light meter, which I normally do, I just have to remember to get the match needle about 5mm above the central 0 in the viewfinder.

The self timer lever, below, is activated by turning it anti-clockwise. It can also activate the light meter when pushed clockwise towards the lens.

The lever can also be locked into place allowing you to focus on well… focussing …and achieving correct exposure of course.

So why the QL? Enter the Canon Quick Load feature for film loading

At some stage in its life this had required some repair.

As the video below shows, it works very well. The fit and finish of this camera like the others in the series exude quality and attention to detail that make this camera so enjoyable, in my opinion.

I mentioned in my Canon FX post that I had a 135mm FL f 3.5 lens I was keen to try. It has an Automatic and Manual setting. When set to A , the meter has to be activated with the ‘self timer’ lever and the chosen aperture only closes down when the shutter is released. If set to Manual, the lever doesn’t have to be used as the aperture opens or closes and the meter registers the amount of light accordingly thus allowing you to chose correct exposure.

No surprise that most of the images I took were taken with this lens, the others were taken with a Canon 50mm FL f 1.8. Like the FX this camera has a bayonet mount and is at home equally with FD lenses.

The camera weighs, with the 135mm lens, 2kg or just over 1lbs which during my afternoon walk was just about right.

A little creative bokeh anyone?

The 135mm lens is lovely and sharp. The 50mm not so.

I love the look of the image below , it could so easily have been taken in the 1960’s.

I have to admit to being rather partial to this series of cameras. They are so simple to use, a joy to hold and use, and you are rewarded with great looking images. What more could you ask? But don’t take my word, why not try one for yourself.