Canon FD Lens Mount - 35mm Film SLR Camera Lens Mount

The Canon FD lens mount was used by Canon on 35mm film SLR cameras from 1971 until 1987. The FD mount was based off of the earlier Canon FL lens mount. It was replaced by the Canon EF lens mount, which was designed for auto focus.

The Canon FD lens mount uses a breech lock system to mount to a camera. This is a less common method than the most used solution, the bayonet mount.

Changes from the FL Mount

In addition to automatic diaphragm function, the FD-mount supported full-aperture metering and a linkage to control the lens diaphragm allowing automatic exposure.

Breech Lock

I’m not a fan of the breech lock system. The design makes it difficult to clean dust and debris that gets into the breech lock.

The later “new FD” lenses made mounting and len removal easier. Earlier versions could be mounted incorrectly, causing lenses to get stuck.

Overtightening or changes in temperature can cause lenses to be difficult to remove.

Fluorite ‘L’ Lenses

The highest quality FD lenses the Canon produced were ‘L’ series lenses. These lenses contained optical technologies that were more expensive to produce. This included aspherical optices and flourite lens elements.

These lenses can be visually identified by the red rings around the front of the lens.

Specialty Lenses

Canon produced a full linenup of camera lenses. This includeds, tilt-shift, soft focus, reflex, fisheyes, macro, and bellows adapters.

Tilt-Shift Lens

The only OEM option is the Canon TS 35mm f2.8 S.S.C lens. At the time of writing, copies can be found on eBay for $500 or more.

One of the reasons the lenses are so expesnive is that they can be adapted onto mirrorless camera bodies. The manual controls are easy to use with liveview.

Flange Distance

The Canon FD mount has a 42mm flange focal distance.

The 42mm flange distance on the Canon FD mount is shorter than the 44mm flange distance on the Canon EF lens mount. The longer distance means that Canon FD lenses cannot be easily adapted to Canon cameras that use the EF mount.

The 4 FD Autofocusing Lenss

Three of the autofocusing FD lenses will only work with the Canon T80. The lenses can be identified by their AC designation.

The FD 35-70mm f/4 AF, is the only FD lens that will autofocus on all camera bodies.

This list of what camera use Canon FD lenses goes into more detail about the specific models listed below.

List of Cameras that Use the Canon FD Len Mount

• Canon F-1 (1971)
• Canon FTb (1971)
• Canon FTbn (1973)
• Canon EF (1973)
• Canon TLb (1974)
• Canon TX (1975)
• Canon F-1n (1976) (revision)
• Canon AE-1 (1976)
• Canon AT-1 (1976)
• Canon A-1 (1978)
• Canon AV-1 (1979)
• Canon New F-1 (1981) (new design)
• Canon AE-1 Program (1981)
• Canon AL-1 (1982)
• Canon T50 (1983)
• Canon T70 (1984)
• Canon T80 (1985)
• Canon T90 (1986)
• Canon T60 (1990)

Other Canon Lens Mounts

• Canon EF
• Canon EF-S
• Canon RF
• Canon EF-M
• Canon R (35mm film SLRs)
• Canon FL