Canon FD Lens Mount

Canon FD Lens Mount

The Canon FD lens mount is a physical standard for connecting a photographic lens to a 35mm single-lens reflex camera body. The standard was developed by Canon of Japan and was introduced in March 1971 with the Canon F-1 camera. It served as the Canon SLR interchangeable lens mounting system until the 1987 introduction of the Canon EOS series cameras, which use the newer EF lens mount. The FD mount lingered through the 1990 Canon T60, the last camera introduced in the FD system, and through the end of the Canon New F-1 product cycle in 1992. The FD mount was based upon and replaced Canon's earlier FL mount (which in turn had replaced the R mount); FD-mount cameras can use FL lenses in stop-down metering mode. There is no known meaning for the notation 'FD', and Canon has never disclosed what, if anything, it stands for.

The Canon FD system enjoyed huge popularity in the 1970s and 1980s, when it established and grew a market share with professional photographers as well as having equipped over a million consumer users. Indeed, sales of the Canon AE-1 camera alone exceeded one million. Canon obsoleted the FD mount by its decision to create the all-electronic EF mount. Thus, the FD mount system, with no provision for auto-focus, is now commercially obsolete, and Canon FD cameras and lenses are available for low prices on the second-hand market. This makes the system very attractive to 35mm film photographers who demand the highest optical quality, but who do not need auto focus capability.