This Beautiful White Canon TLB Belongs in Your Hands Shooting Film
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Some cameras are just prettier than others. To that end, some lenses just make prettier images. It’s hard to beat Canon FD mount lenses, and luckily this gorgeous Canon TLB can use them. How often have you seen them in white? It’s rare–in fact, this one is most likely a one of a kind. But quite honestly, this Canon TLB checks all the boxes of what we want in a camera. It’s available through the Rare Camera Store right now. And trust me, you’re going to be pleased.
Welcome to the Rare Camera Store: a joint initiative of The Phoblographer and the wonderful folks at Blue Moon Camera. We work to bring you some of the coolest and rarest items for a great price.
The Blue Moon Camera listing for $175 says the following:
This Canon TLb (serial number 233370) is a Canon 35mm single lens reflex film camera designed to accept Canon FD mount lenses. This camera can also use Canon FL mount lenses with stop down metering. The Canon TLb has a mechanical focal plane shutter with a maximum shutter speed of 1/500th of a second. The camera has a built-in CdS cell light meter originally powered by a PX625 mercury battery.
This camera has been fully refurbished and powder coated in white.
So why is this ticking all the boxes for us?
- It’s got a unique color. This white is gorgeous. You’re likely to never find one like this again.
- It uses Canon FD lenses, which are beautiful. They’ve got wonderful lenses like the 85mm f1.2, 135mm f2.5, and more.
- A mechanical shutter. This is one of the biggest advantages. The shutter doesn’t need a battery, so the camera is fully operational without one.
- 1/500th shutter speed means that you’ll probably completely change the way you shoot. And that’s a good thing.
The Canon TLB was designed for the entry-level market, but it was the entry-level market of a very long time ago. Said market was far smarter than the market is today. So basically, the TLB lets you do a whole bunch of good stuff with it and is still simple to use. We strongly recommend that anyone shooting portraits or landscapes picks up this camera. If you want something for candid shooting, go for a Leica instead. But with this camera, you can load up some Kodak Portra 400 and just have fun. In fact, that could be the best thing when shooting Sunny 16 style because of the 1/500th shutter speed.
If you’re looking for lenses, you’re in luck. Last year, we wrote about some of the best Canon FD mount lenses on the market. Here’s a snippet from that article:
“If you’re really into portrait photography, the 85mm is another great focal length you should try, especially if you plan to do a lot of shooting outdoors. As the folks over at Weekly Imogen have pointed out in their comparison video, it produces less distortion, compresses bulging parts, and render a lot of the scene out of focus. All these qualities let you make the portraits really about the subject”
All of those lenses are at great prices. And they’ll work very well with this Canon TLB camera.