Canon FTb Silvernose 50mm

Canon FTb with Silvernose 50mm f1.8 Lens

A near mint and fully working early version Canon FTb complete with the rare silver nosed version 50mm f1.8. The camera dates from around 1971-73 and is in fantastic condition for its age. Maybe the best we have ever seen.

Camera and lens are in very close to mint condition and fully working. Shutter speeds and meter have been calibrated with our professional test equipment and tested with live film (see the sample). The camera was fully serviced around 5 years ago and has brand new light seals throughout.

Supplied with the camera is a Hoya UV filter to protect the lens, the original lens cap and the original Canon lens shade. The lens is spotless optically and very beautiful.

New Jon Goodman type light-seals were fitted when we acquired the camera and these will outlast normal foam seals.

This is a beautiful camera throughout and will shoot perfectly. It is from our own collection as we are now downsizing and we would want the camera to go to someone who will love it and shoot with it.

Stated faults: The lens does have a small bump in its focus throw as you approach infinity but its not bad enough to be super annoying – it is also missing a small piece of orange lettering as can be seen in the picture of the top of the camera.

Please Note: The FTb series were originally designed to use a 1.3v Mercury Battery. These are no longer available due to environmental restrictions on the use of Mercury. We recommend using a 675 Zinc-Air battery as a replacement which are cheap and plentiful – you will require an adaptor for these. Read our guide on classic film camera batteries HERE

The FTb launched in 1971 and was primarily intended to be a camera for the advanced amateur photographer, offering many of the same features and same build quality as the F-1, but without the option of interchangeable prism, focusing screens, or motor drives. The FTb used an unusual metering system which is in effect a spot meter. The metering zone is shown by a rectangle in the viewfinder and is around 10% of the viewfinder. This allows for quite accurate metering of the central area of the frame and can also be used a spot meter to get light meter readings from other aspects of the frame.

In 1973, the FTb design was revised slightly. The camera was given a plastic tipped film advance lever. The stop down lever was changed to the same style as that found on the F-1. The PC sync socket was given a spring-loaded plastic cover. The ring around the outer edge of the shutter speed dial was changed from a scalloped design to a diamond textured design. Finally, a shutter speed display was added in the lower left hand corner of the viewfinder. This model was marketed as the FTb-N, although the camera’s nameplate did not reflect this.

The camera was fully serviced around 5 years ago by an external technician. We have replaced the light-seals with Jon Goodman types which will be longer lasting than any foam type seals. Mirror bumper is fresh and the meter was recently recalibrated to work with Zinc Air batteries.

The lens was acquired from a professional studio around 5 years ago. It does have a slight bump in its focus throw as you approach infinity but we have never felt it was serious enough to do a lens rebuild on it.

Check the work we do to fully service a camera here

Mel & Claire