Dates:                       Introduced 1990

Type:                        35mm SLR

Lens Mount:            Canon FD

Focus:                      Manual

Exposure:                Manual or auto program

Modes:                    Av AE program, Manual

Flash:                     TTL Flash Control

Shutter:                  Electronic, vertical metal focal plane, Top Sync speed is 1/125s Top speed is 1/1000

ASA / ISO:              ISO 25 – 1600

Frame Rate:        Manual Lever Winding

Battery:                  two LR44/SR44/EPX76

Accessories:         Case “S” and Case “L”

Notes:  

The T60, the last of the Canon T series was introduced in 1990, three years after the introduction of the EOS system with the 650. It was also the last manual focus 35mm SLR brought out by Canon. (Canon did release in 1991 the EF-M, which was essentially the EOS 1000 without the auto focus capability. This is strange because it had an EF lens mount and would accept all of the EF AF lenses!)

Canon felt that a gap had developed in the camera market between the simple point and shoot cameras and the AF SLR’s. There was nothing for the beginner who wanted something a little more advanced but not too expensive. The T60 was aimed at this gap specifically.

The first thing to note is that Canon did not make this camera although it bore the Canon name. It was made by Cosina, a Japanese company that made lenses and cameras under its own name and for many other brands. The body is actually based on the Cosina’s own CT-1 SLR.

The T60 had little in common with the other members of the “T” Series. It did not have a great reputation for reliability probably as a result of quality control that fell below the Canon standard. It was never released for the home market in Japan.

The T60 was a manual SLR with an aperture-priority AE program to help with light metering. You could rely on this or go completely manual exposure. Every other function was manual.

It had, of course, an FD lens mount. It was usually sold with the FD 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5, FD 28-55 f/3.5/4.5 zoom lens or the FDn 50mm f/1.8 prime as the kit lens.

The camera shutter and exposure meter were powered by two LR44/SR44/EPX76 batteries. Two cases were sold for this camera: the case “S” for the T60 and the 50mm prime lens and case “L” for the 35-70mm lens. The letter “S” or “L” appears on the bottom of the case along with “T60”.

A Note on Cosina

Cosina Camera Company was a company founded by B. Kobayashi in 1959 to make lenses under the name Nikoh. It made a name for itself producing optical glass and glass and plastic lenses and does so to this day.

It eventually made camera bodies for other manufacturers such as Contax, Canon, Nikon, Yashika, Olympus, and Vivitar. Cosina eventually began to manufacture cameras under their own brand as well.

In the Collection I have the following example:

Collection No.:    C-47

Serial No.:           23060448

Condition:           Excellent

Accessories:      Very Good “S” case

Acquisition:        22 Feb 16  – for this I have to thank Eric in New Westminster.

The mirror on this camera is in the up position and will not fire. However, the batteries were dead and the shutter, which is a metal blind operating vertically, is operated from the battery. I will try new batteries and see if I can actually operate this camera.