What is your favorite Canon FD body?

[FrankS]

Love it. In a sad way of course.


"my brother, the ass hole JUDAS"

 

[nikon_sam]

I only have the A-1 so it's my favorite...
A good friend gave it to me it belonged to her father and he wasn't using it anymore...
It came with a third party zoom lens but was a bit cloudy...I've picked up an Canon 50mm 1.4 and 100mm 3.5 plus a Vivitar 28mm 2.8 and a 75-205mm zoom...

 

[Spavinaw]

Number one would my A-1. It does so many things. Heck, it's hexa-photo-cybernetic. The ads said so! Number two would be my F-1n. Really like that metering rectangle in the middle of finder screen. FT-bn meters the same way and is lighter to carry if you don't need all that interchangeable stuff for the F-1n. Never had a T-90, but it seems to have gobs of features.

 

[farlymac]

My first Canon SLR is an FT, which I still have. I just like the style of the clamp-on hoods, and the old school way the camera works. I've also got an FTbn, an A-1, and Pellix (purchased for the FL 50/1.4 hanging on it), and have recently added a T70 because it was so cheap. I had a really nice AE-1P, but I had purchased it along with a set of FDn lenses for one of my brothers.

I'm thinking of cutting back to just the T70, and a set of FDn lenses, as it likely won't see a lot of use (I've also got Nikon, Olympus, and Yashica outfits to use, plus a couple sets of rangefinders). I like the fact it uses AA batteries which I can always just pop a fresh pair in right before loading a roll. And the metering system seems to be spot on, so it would make a good birding camera with the 100-300 zoom I just purchased.

I haven't used the A-1 enough to consider it a favorite, though that might change if I don't get another AE-1P. I do like being able to see the finder information in low light situations.

PF

 

[rogue_designer]

F1N - liked it so much I've owned as many as five of them at a time. I still have two.

 

[__jc]

I've owned: TLb, AE1, AE1P, A1 (x2), F1, F1N (x2)

My favourite? Well I only have two F1Ns now, and they are superb cameras. The only bad experience I've had with any of them was when the F1 suddenly and unexpectedly started metering 2 or 3 stops under. That problem fixed itself and then the camera got stolen along with my first A1 (but arguably this was not the cameras' fault!). The slight negative is far outweighed by all the incredibly positive experiences this family of cameras have given me.

But I think I'll just stick with the two F1Ns now.

 

[rlouzan]

1) Canon T90
2) Canon F1, original
3) Canon FTb-ql

 

[Sid836]

I love my F-1. The next best to that is my New F-1. I have them both with the 50mm 1.4, FD and FDn and from these two the FD (breechlock) is my favorite.

 

[HuubL]

Love the whole FD system, but the EF is my favorite body.

 

[mynikonf2]

...has to be an even draw between the EF and the F-1n (really depends on how I want to shoot) with the Ftb-n close behind.

p.s. I really do love shooting the EF with that overhanging shutter speed dial, that's why I enjoy the M-5.

 

[hugivza]

For me the F-1 original. I had a Tokyo Olympics special, which cost around $350.00 brand new. I parted with it a couple of years ago with some regret.

 

[Paul Jenkin]

Having owned a few (a fair few years ago) mine are:

1. F1N-AE
2. T90
3. EF

I've owned / used others and son't really disline any of them. However, these fitted my hand best and seemed to give me the best results.

 

[mnutzer]

F-1 amateur's version FtBn in black was my favorite at daylight, A-1 in the dark because of the integrated digital readout on shutter speed and aperture.
Would like to get these informations to my Leica-M models, to which I switched instead of Canon-EOS.

 

[sevo]

Emotionally the F-1 (second version - the only I had since the early eighties), practically the New F-1 AE.

 

[shadowfox]

I got that big lens above for cheap, so I had to find a body for it. The FTb turned out to be a fun camera to use.

An example from the above combo (at f/2)

... just for fun:

 

[JP Owens]

Got to be the Canon F1n, the later model. Used these with motor drives until the EOS-1 came along. Best sorted out SLR i've used.

 

[kermaier]

I moved from AE-1P to A-1 to F-1N (latest).

The A-1 is a very usable and lightweight machine, but robustness of build is definitely prosumer, rather than pro.

The F-1N is a tank -- I think I could literally pound nails with it, and it never failed me. Now I have 3 of them, with a bunch of accessories, but they haven't tasted film in several years, since I started shooting digital for all small-format needs. I guess it's time to let them go.....

Regards,
Ari

 

[dogberryjr]

Since others are giving their FD timelines, I'll add mine. I bought a T70 new in 1986 and used it for years, unfortunately without really appreciating what I was doing, photographically, that is, I used it as a snapshot machine. I'd have probably been better off with an AE-1P or an A1, but young me was fascinated but the looks of the T70 with its autowinder. Skip forward many years and I decided to get back to basics and bought an A1 which made me slow down a bit, and stop the spray and pray methods of my youth. Eventually I found an F1N for a good price and fell in love, leading me to be hard pressed to turn up a good priced F1. I think I'd like the EF if I ever used one, after all, it's basically a lightweight F1. I found a broken EF year ago, but haven't gotten around to having it repaired, and I probably never will at this point, time, money and other shooting opportunities being what they are.

 

[raid]

I liked the modular system of the F1N. Using the MD gives me shutter priority, while using an AE finder (which I never bought) could give me aperture priority. A less documented feature of the F1N is the fact that setting the camera to A with the regular finder results in AE without the camera showing the settings. Changing the screens give me three types of exposure types (average, partial spot, spot). I wanted a spot meter for easier metering of low ISO transparency film. Nikon did not have any cameras with spot meters then.

 

[dc5]

Has to be my EF with the split image screen... same build as the F1, but just seemed to handle better.