Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Canon FTb

Canon · Canon FD mount · 24×36mm on 35mm film, hinged back · 1971

single source, unconfirmed

Also known as: Canon FTb · FTb QL · Canon FTbn · FTb-N · FTb N · Canon FT b · キヤノンFTb · キャノン FTb

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
FTb (1971) Canon FD 1971–1973 — —
FTb-N (FTbn, 1973) Canon FD 1973–1976 — —
  1. "Production reached one million units within three years" is Canon's own history page and nothing else; no final total has been published for either version, and the page carries the single-source flag for that figure.
  2. English Wikipedia gives a United States price of $99 for the body, with a citation. That is below the yen price at any exchange rate of the period and is not adopted here; the yen prices are Canon's.
  3. Kosmo Foto's guide says the meter handles film speeds to 3200. Canon's specification for both versions says ISO 25 to 2000, and the maker's figure is the one used here.
  4. The end date of 1976 is Wikipedia's. Canon's museum gives no discontinuation date for either version. The AT-1 and AE-1 of 1976 and 1977 took the FTb's place in the catalogue.
  5. Reviewers' recurring faults: dead meters, shutters that cap at 1/500 and 1/1000, and the mercury cell, for which Wein cells and hearing-aid batteries are the usual substitutes.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • FTb QL on the front plate; the QL quick-loading flap inside the back, which the FT QL also has
  • FD mount with full-aperture metering; the FT QL before it is FL-mount and stop-down only
  • Fixed pentaprism, no interchangeable screens, no motor coupling: the F-1's meter and shutter in a sealed body
  • A plastic-tipped lever and a speed readout in the finder make it a 1973 FTb-N

FTb (1971):

  • All-metal film advance lever with no plastic tip
  • No shutter speed shown in the finder
  • Scalloped outer ring on the shutter speed dial
  • Combined self-timer and stop-down lever of the earlier, thicker pattern; open PC socket

FTb-N (FTbn, 1973):

  • Plastic tip on the film advance lever
  • Selected shutter speed shown at the lower left of the finder on a transparent rotating disc
  • Larger shutter release button; diamond-textured outer ring on the speed dial
  • Slimmer combined self-timer and stop-down lever, in the F-1 style; spring-loaded plastic cover on the PC socket

Specifications

Format
24×36mm on 35mm film, hinged back
Finder
Fixed eye-level pentaprism, microprism rangefinder, match-needle display; the metered 12% area is marked as a faintly darkened rectangle at the centre. Shutter speed readout added at lower left on the FTb-N. · 0.85× magnification · 94% coverage · no rangefinder image
Shutter
two-axis horizontal-travel focal plane, cloth curtains, mechanical throughout · 1s – 1/1000 and B · flash sync FP and X with automatic switching; X at 1/60 (camera-wiki); hot shoe on the FTb-N · self-timer
Film advance
single-stroke lever, 174°, with the QL quick-loading system
Back
hinged
Meter
CdS cell, TTL match-needle partial metering over 12% of the frame at the centre; full aperture with FD lenses, stopped down with FL lenses. EV 2.5 to 18 at ISO 100 with an f/1.4 lens; film speeds ISO 25 to 2000. One 1.3V mercury cell (PX625 type) runs the meter only; the shutter needs no battery.
Motor drive
Not compatible
Weight
750 g
Dimensions
144 × 93 × 43 mm
Country
Japan
Original price
35,000 yen body only, 49,800 yen with the FD 50mm f/1.8, 57,000 yen with the FD 50mm f/1.4, 74,000 yen with the FD 55mm f/1.2, March 1971 (Canon Camera Museum). FTb-N 39,000 yen body only, July 1973. (today ¥115,000)
Accessories
Canon Speedlite and flash coupler; hot shoe on the FTb-N · Booster for low-light metering

Where sources disagree

Meter film speed range
  • ISO 25 to 2000 (Canon Camera Museum, both versions)
  • up to 3200 (Kosmo Foto)

Better supported: ISO 25 to 2000

The maker's specification against a buying guide.

What reviewers say

History

The FTb went on sale in March 1971 in the same month as the F-1, at 35,000 yen for the body against the F-1’s 78,000, and it was the camera that actually carried the new FD mount into people’s hands. Canon’s own history calls it the mainstay product of the period and says it passed a million units within three years. It replaced the FT QL, which had the same body shape and the same quick-loading flap but an FL mount and stop-down metering only.

What the money bought was the F-1’s metering in a sealed body. The CdS cell reads 12% of the frame at the centre, at full aperture with FD lenses and stopped down with FL, over EV 2.5 to 18, and the metered patch is marked in the finder as a faintly darker rectangle. The shutter is cloth and two-axis rather than the F-1’s metal four-axis, and it stops at 1/1000. The prism is fixed at 0.85x and 94%, the screen does not come out, and there is no motor coupling. The single mercury cell runs the meter and nothing else. QL, on the front plate, means the loading flap: lay the leader across the sprocket, close the back, wind.

In July 1973 came the FTb-N at 39,000 yen. The nameplate did not change, so the version is read from the details: a plastic tip on the advance lever, the selected shutter speed shown at the lower left of the finder on a transparent rotating disc, a larger release button, a diamond-textured ring on the speed dial, the slimmer F-1-style self-timer and stop-down lever, and a spring-loaded cover on the PC socket. Weight, dimensions, shutter and meter are unchanged at 750 grams and 144 by 93 by 43 millimetres. Wikipedia ends production in 1976; Canon gives no end date, and the AT-1 and AE-1 took the slot.

The reviewers agree on what it is for. Stephen Dowling puts it first among beginner SLRs and prefers it to the AE-1, Gary Smith bought his new in the early seventies and it still works, and Robert Guanci keeps one as the body he trusts with a test roll. The faults they and the forums repeat are the same three: a dead meter, a shutter that caps at the top two speeds, and the mercury cell, which is gone and is replaced by a Wein cell or a hearing-aid battery with the meter reading a little off. The million figure is Canon’s alone, and no final total has been published for either version.

Expand Collapse

This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

Canon FTb
Canon FTb with the FD 50mm f/1.8 — FlanellKamerasFilm, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0)
Canon FTb
Canon FTb QL body — ElHeineken (Lars Heineken), via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
Canon FTb
Canon FTb-N with the FD 50mm f/1.8 S.C. — Quercus acuta, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $56 across 15 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-18 (middle half $18–$85). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

Show 46 more listings

Buying from Yahoo! Auctions outside Japan. It is a domestic marketplace: sellers ship within Japan, and most will not register an overseas buyer. A proxy service bids on your behalf, receives the item and forwards it, for a fee and a wait. Buyee, Jauce and ZenMarket each accept a Yahoo auction number directly. Listed alphabetically for information — none is recommended over another, and none of these is an affiliate link.

Listings updated 2026-09-18. Links go to the shop or marketplace that carries the item.

Related: Canon AE-1 · Canon AT-1 · Canon EF · Canon F-1

Lenses for this body: FD 24mm f/2.8 · FD 35mm f/2 · FD 50mm f/1.4 · FD 50mm f/1.8 · FD 55mm f/1.2 · FD 85mm f/1.8

Sources (9)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.