Legend is a tricky title to use, but in this context, I am referring to an iconic item whose name is instantly recognizable to anyone involved in the community surrounding it. For instance, mention the name Cyclone to any group of roller coaster enthusiasts, and they will instantly know that you are talking about the long-standing wooden coaster at Coney Island (soon to celebrate its 100th birthday). In the film photography community, after the iconic Nikon F series, one of the most commonly mentioned cameras is the Canon AE-1 Program, thanks in large part to its high level of availability and the low cost of its compatible lenses.
The Canon FT-QL is one of the main predecessors to that camera, and it is a fun mechanical SLR to shoot with. It was my first encounter with this type of camera, and using it taught me a lot about photography. Unlike a modern digital camera (and indeed, later examples of “point-and-shoot” film cameras and the camera built-in to your typical smartphone), this camera does not “hold your hand” for anything. There is no autofocus, pre-set shooting modes, exposure compensation, automatic shutter speed, vibration reduction, or any other “quality of life” features that are standard on modern cameras. The camera did feature a basic “match needle”-type light meter, but the operation of this feature relied on a mercury battery which, for safety and anti-pollution reasons, is no longer manufactured anywhere, thus I was unable to test this functionality (one of the benefits of the later AE-1 is that it uses a battery type that is still available today).
Looking at the top of the camera, we find the majority of the camera’s controls. On the left is the film-rewind knob, which features a flip-out crank used to rewind the film back into the roll after it is finished. The small post to the right of the main body of the knob would be used to check the charge of the mercury battery if one was installed. In the center, above the viewfinder, is the camera’s “cold shoe” accessory mounting point. When this camera was first produced, flash bulbs were still in widespread use, along with some of the first electronic flashes being produced, and this is where such units would be mounted, along with other accessories such as external light meters or alternative viewfinders. Since all of the power of the flash was in the unit itself, there was no need for any sort of direct connection up there, instead relying on a small “pigtail” wire to connect to a port on the front of the camera that briefly completed a circuit when the shutter fires and sends a signal to the flash unit. One quirk of this design in modern times is that modern “hot shoe” external flashes can be triggered accidentally from the bottom plate of the flash unit making contact with the camera body if the flash wobbles at all. I’ve found that a small strip of electrical tape solves this problem. On the right, there is a dial to control shutter speed, ranging from the continuously-open-until-you-release-the-shutter “bulb” mode to 1/1000th of a second. The other big piece on that side is the film-advance lever, which also “cocks” the shutter. I find this to be one of the most satisfying elements of using a mechanical camera. In between these two larger controls is the shutter button itself, which is also threaded to accept a cable release.
Opening the back of the camera reveals its main “party piece” and the source of the QL element of its name. See that little plate on the right of the camera sticking out? That is Canon’s Quick Load system, and it makes loading the camera with film very easy. Essentially, this little plate will drop down and hold the leading edge of the film in place during loading by slightly closing the back door of the camera. This prevents the leader of the film from slipping off of the sprocket during loading, where the connection is a little loose at this stage, without needing to pull out too much film and risking exposing any “live” frames.
For more details on the operations of this camera, check out the wonderful scans made of its original manual as part of the Camera Manual Library curated by Mike Butkus. https://butkus.org/chinon/canon/canon_ft/canon_ft.htm
