Bell & Howell FD35 / Canon TX
The Bell & Howell FD35 is a solid, all mechanical SLR camera brought mainly to the North American market in 1973. It was aimed at the advanced consumer audience - cashing in on the rising popularity of 35mm SLR cameras. Bell & Howell had Canon produce a camera specifically for the Bell & Howell brand name and they essentially took their TLb and made a few tweaks and passed it along to Bell & Howell for branding and marketing. It is a bit difficult to talk about the Bell & Howell FD35 as a unique camera. It sort of is and sort of isn't. But here goes.
While the Bell & Howell might suffer a bit with today's market of camera enthusiasts gravitating toward the more familiar brand names, the FD35 is a solid choice for a 35mm SLR. It features a mechanical shutter with speeds ranging from 1 second up to 1/500, plus Bulb mode. It makes use of Canon's new-at-the-time FD lens mount and is still backwards compatible with the Canon FL mount. It is a bit of a bare bones kind of camera, as in it doesn't boast many features. There isn't a self-timer for example, nor the quick load system that Canon sported on many of their other cameras at the time. But the Bell & Howell FD35 does have a couple useful tools. There is a match needle metering system that for the time was quite convenient and is still an easy metering system to learn and use. The FD35 also has a depth-of-field preview feature. This is something that is easy to overlook or forget about, but when you need it (like with landscape photography) it can be super helpful. The FD35 also added a hotshoe for quick and easy use of on-camera flash.
Strangely enough, Canon introduced this camera under their own brand name as the Canon TX in 1975. It is the exact same camera, just with Canon on the nameplate instead of Bell & Howell. Could you say that the TX is a rebranded FD35? Perhaps...
By the way, if you want a slightly deeper explanation of the history behind this camera, be sure to "Explore this exhibit" and see the post we researched explaining more regarding the origins of the FD35.
Blue Moon Camera and Machine llc
- sales@bluemooncamera.com
- (503) 978-0333
- (503) 978-0370
-
8417 North Lombard Street
Portland, OR 97203
All rights reserved ©2024, Blue Moon Camera and Machine llc