Canon T60 [1990]

Let’s just get this one out of the way… I don’t see myself ever using this camera.

Officially this is the last Canon branded manual camera based on the FD lens mount, although it came out 3 years after the incompatible EF lens mount still used today. This camera seems to exist only to allow a low cost camera for entry level users who want to use older FD lenses around 1990 when it came out. The camera body itself was manufactured by Cosina, and not by Canon themselves. Cosina was known to manufacture lower end cameras for most of the leading camera manufacturers. It is the only Canon T series body to have fully manual film winding, rewinding, etc. The resemblance to other Canon T series cameras is only superficial – remove the logo and it looks almost nothing like a T. It does not support T series flashes, has nothing motorized, and only works in aperture priority mode.

The plastic body is probably the cheapest feeling body in a Canon branded SLR, other than perhaps some of the later film Rebels. The rubber like grip on my copy hasn’t stood the test of time well, and shows every mark.

That said, it’s still better than the camera this guy bought.

Mine came from eBay. I recall I splurged and paid about $20 for it including shipping. The pains of being a completist – it was the only T I didn’t already have. No lens, so I paired it with a recent FDn 50/1.8, one of the two lenses it would have been originally sold with. If you can sense that I consider this camera less than impressive you’d be correct. It fulfills no interesting spot in the evolution of the Canon SLR – if anything it is an aberration for marketing purposes, to hit a buyer segment Canon would not address until perhaps 3 years later with the Rebel X S (EF mount) in 1993.

What’s So Special?

Technically the last Canon FD mount camera, thought the fantastic T90 can still claim the spot as the last FD mount camera which Canon made themselves. It’s cheap. It’s light. It works with great FD mount lenses. It’s the only Canon branded FD mount camera – actually – the only Canon SLR I’m aware of which was not manufactured by Canon.

Pros

FD mount manual camera
Relatively light – possibly the lightest FD body
As a “step child” of the T series, these can often be picked up extremely inexpensively