Canon T-70. The Ugly Duckling

[steve_mareno1]

<p>I've been having trouble focusing my FT QL, so I decided to buy a Canon T-70 from KEH. Unlike the FT, it has a split prism focus screen and better eye relief. I liked the price too - 6 bucks. With shipping, it came to less than $16.</p>

<p>As the photos show, it's much less taller, (and a heck of a lot lighter), than the FT. Build quality is plasticky, but good enough. Think Nikon N6006, but manual focus. The motor drive is quite loud, but I can live w/ that as I plan on using it solely for portraits. Amazingly, all the electronic stuff is working perfectly, and the camera has a few AE program modes, as well as manual mode. With my FL 135 2.5 lens, I simply stop it down and let the camera pick a shutter speed. If I don't like it, there's TWO ways to lock exposure and change that, not counting changing the ISO setting or simply going to manual mode. With my FD lens, you have the program modes available as well. It's a much better camera than I had hoped for, once you get past the odd appearance and strange blue-grayish color. Features 2 types of metering, and takes cheap AA batteries.</p>

<p>If anyone has ever contemplated getting one of these, which I doubt, I can recommend it. Neat little retro shooter, and the focus screen is quite bright and easy to focus.</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

[steve_mareno1]

<p>With FL 135 2.5 Lens</p><div></div>

[steve_mareno1]

<p>By It's Lonesome</p><div></div>

[steve_mareno1]

<p>Here's two shots from it w/ the FL 135 2.5 lens. They were taken w/ cheap, generic C41 B&W film, and scanned from the Walgreens small prints. I'm not sure what to make of this lens. It seems to image considerably differently than the FD version I used to own. The coatings, if there ARE any, are flare prone, and the lens needs a good hood in all light. But it looks good from these poorly scanned prints, so I am going to test it some more. I really like what I see so far though.</p><div></div>

[steve_mareno1]

<p>Shot 2 with Missed Focus</p><div></div>

[jim_bielecki1]

<p>I never warmed up to the T-series. To me, this is when Canon "jumped the shark" with their SLRs'. Quite a change in camera philosophy, and construction, when compared to the F-1, FTb, EF, etc.</p>

[mdma]

<p>I bought a mint boxed one on eBay a while ago, on a whim. The styling hasn't yet grown on me, though that aside its quite a capable camera. My AE-1 Program has started playing up but I'm still able to use all my lovely FD lenses with the T-70.<br>

However probably the most interesting thing about the camera are the Japanese commercials - made by Katsuhiro Otomo who later went onto direct the landmark animated film <em>Akira</em>. <br>

</p>

[walter_degroot]

<p>I have two canon t-70 and an AE-1.<br>

If I had any older camera and wanted or needed the manufacturer to make and sell an upgrade, the t series would be it.<br>

same with old pentaxes, the me super has no lens mount oddities biu is a worthy sucessor to earlier models<br>

the metal shutter on both<br>

is a bit noisy<br>

but not subject to deterioration like the cloth shutter.<br>

I they both were interim steps but good ones.</p>

 

[flatulent1]

<p>I have never got along with slider or toggle switches (or up/down buttons, for that matter), especially for something as important as shutter speed control. My first new camera, a Maxxum 7000 lasted me three months, then I was ready to throw it out the car window on the freeway. The Contax 167MT I bought five years ago fared only a little better; I actually kept it a year, though it saw only two rolls of film go through it. </p>

<p>Why do I bring this up? Because the T70 has one of these dreaded slider switches to control the shutter speed. And since it preceded both the Maxxum 7000 and the 167MT I have to conclude that it is Satan's spawn itself. Yes, Canon may as well have named the T70 the T666.</p>

<p>The rest of the camera is relatively inoffensive; I nearly bought one a few years ago, thought better of it, picked up a few more T90s instead. Except for a mild case of OCD, I am much better now.</p>

[Member69643]

<p>I like to shoot slides, and I like to have the date imprinted on them, so in the FD realm the T-70 is the only real choice. I abandoned the EE-error prone T-90 and now own two T-70's. They have never once let me down, always ready to go; like a good hunting dog.</p>

[steve_mareno1]

<p>I'm w/ you on the slider Fred. Don't like 'em either, but I never use it on my T-70. I just stop the lens down, let the camera pick a speed, and fire away. If I need a different shutter speed than the camera has picked, I lock the exposure w/ the shutter button, or the handy little preview button on the front. What's cool is that you can hold the shutter button down and the camera will fire off shots automatically, though not as fast as I would like.</p>

<p>I just found out that Canon didn't even build the T series. They were sub contracted out to Cosina.</p>

<p>Swaroop, those videos are amazing! Hopefully I can find a poster somewhere and put it up on the wall. They sure don't make commercials like that anymore, unfortunately.</p>

<p>Here's another T70 commercial. Canon seems to have made more commercials for this camera than they made cameras, as I've never seen anyone out shooting one.</p>

<p>

[gordon_yee]

<ul>

<li>The T50, T70, T80 and T90 were all designed and manufactured by Canon. The T60 was the only T series body made by Cosina, and it was introduced in 1990 after production of FD mount bodies had essentially stopped.</li>

</ul>

 

<ul>

<li>I purchased my T80 in 1989 as a back-up and for the novelty. I won't debate the issues of the use of plastics and slide switches as I consider these to be personal preferences. I will say that the plastics used in the T80 and the other Canon-made T series bodies are of very high quality, and that the T80, including its electronics and switches, have worked flawlessly. With the exception of the T90, the Canon-made T series cameras will likely never be highly sought collectibles, but they were, and will continue to be, excellent and reliable photographic tools.</li>

</ul>

[User_4136860]

<p>I have three T90 bodys that I have owned for more than 15 years that I use regularly that I have never had the error symbol on, they have worked faultlessly without a single failure .The reason T90s fail is often from lack of use because the shutter magnets become magnetized and stick together if the shutter isn't fired for long periods, the camera isn't inherently " error prone " . </p>

[michael_josefsson]

<p>Glad to hear people still using the T70. Mine was a gift from an old age pensioner who said he was through photographing! Anyway, do your T70:s eat batteries? Mine took four AA-cells to get through the first film... a bit worrying. The motor sounds quite heavily loaded when winding. Does yours too? Perhaps the first set of batteries were simply bad?</p>

[steve_mareno1]

<p>I think your batteries were just not so good Michael. I have a couple of AA's in my T-70 and have been playing w/ it and endlessly shooting it to make sure I know what's up before I put film in it, and it's still showing 3 bars. Looks like they'll last a long time. The motor sounds a lot like the winders on the AE-1 to me, slow, but eventually gets it done.<br /> Thanks for the correction on the manufacturing of these Gordon. I got my info from Wikipedia, but when I went back just now I saw that I had mistakenly pulled up the specs on the T-60, which is a totally different beast.</p>

[william_vickers1]

<p>One stupid design flaw in the Canon T-70 is the flimsy plastic battery cover and latch. They are prone to breakage and are not up to the quality of earlier Canon SLRs such as the FT-QL, FTb-QL, and F-1. As you might guess, the battery cover on my T-70 is held shut by duct tape. Other than this, the T-70 is a pretty rugged camera.</p>

[michael_josefsson]

<p>@Steve: Ok, then I'll give it a go with a new pair of batteries instead of taking it apart:) Thanks for the info!</p>

[mwmcbroom]

<p>I've always viewed the T-70 as sort of an interim camera -- a place holder between the A-1/AE-1P and the T-90. Really it is a very capable camera in its own right, however. The one feature it has that by itself I feel is worth owning a T-70 is one of its metering patterns, which is called "Partial" but which is a very tight, almost spot pattern. Metering takes place only within the 12mm wide microprism ring. I have always felt that this was something of a throwback to the partial metering system found on the FTb and F-1 (the FT also? I dunno), whereby metering occurs only within a central rectangle that occupies about 12% of the viewed area. I grew to love and heavily rely on this type of metering back when I shot mostly slides because I could accurately meter a scene without having to dig out the spotmeter, even getting a decent averaging of exposure values just by positioning the rectangle in the right way. Being an A-1 owner also, I was always vaguely peeved that Canon had skipped the A-series altogether when it came to providing users with a more useful metering pattern than centerweighted, which in my view was just about useless.</p>

<p>I don't currently own a T-70, but it is on my "to-buy" list of FD gear. Can't not have one at the prices they go for these days.</p>

[william_vickers1]

<p>Michael, the FT-QL also has the selective metering as you describe for the FTb except the metering is done in stop-down mode. As you say, this selective metering in is much more useful than the less precise center-weighted patterns found in many SLRs. When I first began shooting Kodachrome with the FT-QL in the early 1970s I was delighted with the very high percentage of well-exposed slides I was able to get with the FT-QL's selective metering system.</p>

[teos]

<p>Just yesterday bought one for my FD lenses that I've used until now only on nex . But 6 bucks !!!??? WOW Hope I'll be happy with it.</p>

[robbz_fotoz]

<p>I am sure Buck Rogers would have loved this camera but I must have been living under a rock when the Canon T-70 hit the market in 1984 as I never saw one until this year! I first thought “gimmick”, as this so-called 35mm SLR was too strange looking to be legitimate. So I plunked down my 30 bucks and this is what I got: one T-70 camera body, still boxed, with all manuals, even the original warranty card. I’ve been using this bugger faithfully now for a few months and have used the “Wide” and “Tele” modes as provided on the LED window. So easy a caveman could do it. Auto film advance, rewind, and an interesting metering option belies the fact this was made in 1984, not 2012. More good news, Mr. T uses Canons’ great FD lens range. It looks different enough from Canon’s A series but still has enough of the same intuitive feel. But beware of the noisy film advance, and remember not to hold the shutter button too long (you’ll zip through a 24 exposure roll in seconds!) and you will definitely enjoy your Buck Rogers film toy, er, Canon’s T-70. For me the poly-carbonate plastic body is not an issue, as it doesn’t seem too heavy nor too light, however the battery door might be and seems prone to breakage (for some users). As long as there is film to be had, so shall the T-70 offer up some space-age fun! I still feel passionate about my A-1s but I definitely like this camera.</p>

[carl_wright2]

<p>I have scanned a sales brochure from 1984 for the T70 and put the images on my flickr account. It is quite interesting, I like the way Canon were very keen to explain the technology and try and explain how it works on pages 24 and 25, not something that is done today. Also the 'Television screen display' or LCD panel on the top plate as we would call it now.</p>

<p>http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlwright/8166572038/</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>I like the price you paid for the T70. I may have to look into that for my series of "cameras that are now worth less than a pizza".<br>

I had to pay considerably more for my T90, but honestly, I find that camera to be one of the most pleasurable cameras I have ever used.</p>

[robbz_fotoz]

<p>@JDM von Weinberg: that's quite amusing to now look at my T-70 and think "pizza". The "flavor" of film cameras will last a lot longer I believe than a pizza. But like pizza for me the T-70 is definitely a "fun" camera and very user friendly. If my ex wife was as user friendly as this camera is we'd still be married ! I rarely get to travel so I make the most of where I live. Including walking down the old track bed and looking for "puddle pictures". I can focus fast and shoot. If I take too much time I lose the feeling. Again, fun camera, fun images. I also have a T-90 which I use when I try to take serious photos (and probably fail)! While the T-70 does have more electronics than previous A or F series Canons, it doesn't have as much as the T-90 so I feel a little more comfortable using it.<br>

One thing of note with the T -70 is remember the slightly noisy shutter button. Don't intend on using it at quiet church ceremonies !<br>

So yes, JDM, find a T-70, and try it out. I am sure YOU will do the camera justice now that I've perused your wonderful photos. Here is my T-70 "pizza" including the "pizza box". The strap was another bargain, it shows people dancing ... again, another reference to "having fun".</p><div></div>

[JDMvW]

<p>Must try harder on the "Do not acquire more cameras" effort.</p>

<p>Of course, stimulated by these experiences, I bought a T70. Had to pay $14 for it with the 50mm f/1.8 lens. Shipping on top of that, of course. Still about =3 pizza total. I have both an AE-1 Program and a T90, so having another FD normal lens is handy too.<br /> If it works, I'll be back. :)</p>

<p>I meant to mention it earlier, but those Japanese ads for the T70 are awesome. Thanks Swaroop.</p>