Blasts from our past: EOS-1D revisited and the Canon FD 35-70mm AF

Two interesting videos surfaced recently one dealing with two different eras of Canon history.

First up is the Canon FD 35-70mm F4 AF. I remember this lens and even picked one up at a camera swap sale quite a few years ago.

Canon created two such lenses, this and the AF35M. However, the two lenses had different auto focus systems. The AF 35-70 lens used what Canon called SST - or Solid State Triangulation, and Mirphotography (the go-to source of all things historical from the FD and early EF era), had this image showing how it worked.

This lens actually had a CCD image sensor with an incredible (for the time) 240pixels. It had its own dedicated microprocessor to determine the focus and worked independently of the camera.

It's actually interesting to look at Canon's foray into FD autofocus starting with the AF35M, then the AF35-70 and finally the T-80 and related three AF lenses, to see how Canon slowly learned, improved and turned into the EF mount.

How much did this lens cost? You had better sit down for this. At the time this lens cost 89,000 Yen according to Canon which is around $820 USD, but that was back in 1981. In today's dollars that would be an eyewatering $2500.

Check out the video from Kai with him using this lens on sadly........a Sony camera. It's a great video even though he should have really used an RF mount camera for this.

Next up we have less of a reach back into the past with the EOS 1D. Canon's first high-performance APS-H sports camera body with an impressive at the time 4MP CCD sensor. There are a lot of people that swear by those early CCD sensors as having the best colors - and even some of Canon's early CMOS sensors as well. I have to admit, I still have a fondness for my early Canon camera colors that just seem to pop with less effort than today's high ISO high DR marvels. These days you can pick up a 1D for around $150 off of eBay, and with the 1 series build quality, if it dies, it still can easily function as car jack stand.