Unless you started right out the bat with an SLR or a DSLR, you know how it feels to upgrade from a point and shoot to a "grown-up camera" (mind you, I have nothing but love for point and shoot cameras). And my first SLR was none other than this baby, Canon FTB QL.
But before I talk about my story or history with the camera, ill talk about the camera itself. It was released in 1971, alongside the mythical F-1. the FTB being the Simpler of the too, aimed at the mass market and not the professional market. Nonetheless, it has one accolade that stood the test of time, its SMS (Shockless Mirror System), which grants this machine a very smooth, albeit quick shutter movement, having little to no vibration, making it ideal in Long exposures. Furthermore, using a needle light meter on the side of the viewfinder makes the process of shooting somewhat intuitive. It is built like a tank and body, and a 50mm lens weighs around 1 kg. Although its sheer size makes it a bit difficult to fit in some bags, it still is light enough to carry all day, and fortunately, I was able to travel quite a bit with it.
The age of the camera also makes it a good teacher for those who aren't used to controlling manually. Wich was my case...
When I got the camera, I was living in Arnhem, Netherlands, and in a spur of the moment decision, I decided to visit the cap table. Armed with my Olympus trip 35, I was a delighted boy, but after walking around for hours on end, I turned and saw a used camera store. "It wouldn't hurt to enter". Doomed from t e start, I know.
At this point, I had no preference between Canon nor Nikon, but on a side window, there she was, old, massive, in the iconic aluminium and black look. I was love at first sight...I had to have it. And well, I did.
The clerk showed me the QL system (that stands for quick load), taught me the basics .... and off I went. This was the most significant jump I had in photography until I got into the Mirrorless cameras later. Naively I thought I knew the rules of the game, d I thought I knew how everything worked....until I jumped into Manual mode, using the rudimentary lightmeter and the aperture and speed rings...It...It was a journey. Even though I ended up taking some incredible photographs that weekend, I now know I was flying by the seat of my pants and flying in blind. But as I said before, it turned out to be an excellent teacher. I like to believe it was thanks to this machine that i began to understand the Photography triangle. And to this day is the camera where i prefer to test new films with, as got to know its in and outs quite well
Unfortunately, I'm currently far away from this camera, as it is in my parent's home, but can´t wait to hold it again!