Canon T-70

[zakslm]

There isn't much discussion or nostalgia out there for the T-70.  I traded up from an original AE-1 to the T-70 in the mid 80's.  The A Series cameras seem to get a lot of "love" and I did like my AE-1, but I liked the T-70 as well.  I found it to be a pretty significant upgrade vs. the AE-1.  It was rugged, reliable, easy to use, and ran forever on 2 AA alkaline batteries.  It served me will until I switched to EOS. 

Additionally, it was backwardly compatible with A Series Speedlites and the high trigger voltage of a Vivitar 283 didn't seem to bother (or fry) the T-70's electronics.  

Ken Rockwell has a glowing reivew of the camera on his site, but other than that, I haven't seen much.  

I don't think I'll use film again, but if I choose to do so, I'd try and find a nice T-70 and a couple of nice FD lenses - possibly replicate 2 of the lenses I had way back and find a 50mm f1.8 and a 135mm f3.5.  I under-appreciated the breech lock 135mm back then (came with a beautiful Canon leather case where it was stored most of the time) but wished I would have used it more often. 

Are there any other T-70 fans still around?

Edited April 21, 2023 by zakslm

[mickeysimpson]

Ironic that I have an old T70 and my immediate goal is to play with film again. I always liked my T70. I may also borrow my granddaughter's F1-N. I have the following lenses:

50mm f1.4; 24-35mm f3.5; 35-105mm f3.5; 70-210mm f4; and a 2X extender.

It's been a long time since I played with film but I'm anxious to play. I think I'll get some color as well as some black and white film.

Any specific film recommendations? 

[jim_bielecki1]

For B&W, you can't go wrong with Tri-X.  I really like Ferrania P30, but the inherent high contrast can be a challenge (tip: shoot it at EI 25, not 80).  As for color, the Porta's are all good, if you can find them.  Color C41 film is in short supply it seems.  

[mickeysimpson]

10 hours ago, jim_bielecki1 said:

For B&W, you can't go wrong with Tri-X.  I really like Ferrania P30, but the inherent high contrast can be a challenge (tip: shoot it at EI 25, not 80).  As for color, the Porta's are all good, if you can find them.  Color C41 film is in short supply it seems.  

Thank you! It's been decades since I used film and this is very helpful.

[gwhitegeog]

T-70 was a fine camera and under-rated. Before I bought the T-90, I used it a lot. It's real boon was partial metering, which was ideal as I shot almost 100% Kodachrome and Fujichrome at the time.

[gwhitegeog]

Further... It was also quite light and compact with a build in autowinder. Otherwise quite minimalist - no dof check, no mirror lock, no shutter blind, etc but it was a decent amateur camera and did well with the partial metering, which at the time was rare. I think I had mine from 1985 to about 1989. Didn't go wrong and I probably put 200 rolls of film through it.

[dominik_m]

Very noisy when winding. But lightweight. I also struggle to press rewind release button at the bottom once film is done and that puts me off of this camera

 

[gwhitegeog]

The T-70 is one of the few A / T / F series cameras of that era that I do not own in my collection, or have desired to own. I had very fond memories of it and as I said above, it was a very useful camera at the time. But unlike the T-90, it's appeal has faded. I agree about the winding too.

[glen_h]

Not so many years ago, I was buying (way too many) cameras from Goodwill auctions.

(Both shopgoodwill and eBay.)

I once had a T70, but returned it as defective.  (I picked it up, and brought it back, so no shipping charges.)

 

But then I got a T80 and stopped trying for a good T70.

There seems much less discussion of the T80.

[gwhitegeog]

The T-80 was a bit of a dead end (like the Nikon F3AF) until they sorted out the new autofocus system. The camera itself had limitations too - was it program only as I recall?

G

[jim_bielecki1]

Sure was a dead end.  If you wanted automatic focus, you had to use the special AC lenses.  Terrible timing too.  Canon brought out this camera just as Minolta brought its automatic-focusing Maxxum series.  Maxxum won, the T80 died an early death.

[gwhitegeog]

I think it was doubly-doomed as Canon were trying to retain the FD mount at that point.

 

[hapien]

In mid nineties when I was buying a camera, I had like three serious options, Canon T70 (manual focus), Minolta Dynax *00si autofocus camera and some Nikon that was too expensive and can not even remember exact model. I did get Minolta with kit lens, shot some rolls and later sold the gear. 

I remember Canon Fd lenses had letters like C. coated, S.C. spectral coated and S.S.C super spectral coated.

[JDMvW]

just for fun

 

[25asa]

My second T70 which I bought a couple years ago, I never ended up using. The battery metal contact on the door, fell off, and its kept me from using the camera. Im sure it can be repaired, but Im neglecting it, because I have other cameras I can use. The post above me here was my post in the linked thread. Yes the T70 is more reliable, but I did eventually get two T-90 cameras, though both of them were dead for a short while, till playing with them coaxed them back to life. They both work now.