Early Canon Speedlites for my FX and FTb?

PentaxBronica · Mar 11, 2015

As the title really! I've just finished recommissioning a very clean FX with 50mm f1.8 (and matching hood) and was wondering if anyone could advise on early electronic flashguns which would suit it?

Also trying to make sense of the FTb hotshoe. Are the two extra contacts for a flashgun (if so, which?) or the meter booster?

I know I could just stick any flashgun on (with a sync to hotshoe cable for the FX) but I like assembling vintage camera outfits.

AgX · Mar 11, 2015

Those two contacts at the hot-shoe are to make electrical contact via the flash between the flash-ring to be mounted at the specific lens and the camera meter.

Thus via the lens extention the object distance can be fed into the exposure meter, allowing matching needles adjustment by switching the aperture setting.

John Koehrer · Mar 11, 2015

One early Canon gadget had an unusual setup. A ring that fit on the front of the lens with a connecting cable to the shoe. I believe the flash was the 133(?) When the lens was focused, I think the ring changed resistance to the shoe, changing exposure. Pretty sure they only worked properly with 50mm lenses.

Pretty sure that;s what AGX is refering to.

There's a Canon site with history of these things.

AgX · Mar 11, 2015

Yes, I was refering to their "CAT" system. (I thought that those rings and the basic idea behind them are known.)

There were 4 dedicated rings for 2 focal lenghts and 4 lenses.

Oren Grad · Mar 11, 2015

IIRC the CAT system was promoted with the F-1 and FTb. You'll need to check whether it was also functional with the FX.

AgX · Mar 11, 2015

The dedicated flash for the FTb was the Speedlite 103A.

But I guess the 133D (for the F-1 that also employed the CAT System) would work too if one adjusted the film-speed setting (in case both flashes have different GNs.)

PentaxBronica · Mar 11, 2015

Yep, I'd read about the CAT system elsewhere. Neat bit of engineering when you consider the constraints they had to work with.

The FX is much earlier, it just has a cold shoe and a standard synch socket on the front. I was wondering if there was a Canon equivalent to the Asahi Pentax Super-Lite (which was their first electronic flashgun and roughly contemporary with the Spotmatic, so about the same age as the FX).

Looking around it seems that the 133D was their first electronic flash, as the manual shows an F1 and an FTb on the cover I'll assume they're contemporary. Need to get an FD 50 or 35mm first if I want to be able to use the CAT system though.

AgX · Mar 11, 2015

Keep in mind that only early models of lenses had that locating pin for the "flash-ring".
(My 50mm 1.4 that came with the AE-1 in the mid-70s still got it.)

PentaxBronica · Mar 12, 2015

I'll be looking for a breechlock FD lens rather than New FD, presumably all of these have the pin?

Think a 35mm f3.5 may well be my choice, I like that focal length and there's no point buying an FD 50mm when I already have a near-perfect FL one which came on the FX.

AgX · Mar 12, 2015

PentaxBronica said:
I'll be looking for a breechlock FD lens rather than New FD, presumably all of these have the pin?

You could be right, that all lenses apt for CAT had that pin in all upgrades until the end of the breech-lock era. But I'm not sure.

You need the right "flash-ring" (there are 4) too.

PentaxBronica · Mar 12, 2015

Yep, I found a table of which rings fit which lenses on another site (comes up amongst the first results if you search "Canon CAT System").

Annoyingly the 35mm breechlock I've spotted is angled in such a way as to hide the pin. I can see the glass is good and the body looks tidy, but not that crucial couple of millimetres of the front end of the focusing ring!

It would have been logical for the pin to be dropped with the New FD lenses, certainly it would have made writing instruction manuals simpler.

Edit, a breechlock 50mm f1.4 just dropped into my lap. No scratches but needs a clean, according to the listing, and I could see the indexing pin for the flash ring. £25 including postage. That'll do!

Early Canon Speedlites for my FX and FTb?

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