The Canon T60 was the last manual focus FD-mount

Canon FD

The Canon FD lens mount is a physical standard for connecting a photographic lens to a 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 was the primary Canon SLR lens mounting system until 1987 when the...

 35 mm

135 film

The term 135 was introduced by Kodak in 1934 as a designation for cartridge film wide, specifically for still photography. It quickly grew in popularity, surpassing 120 film by the late 1960s to become the most popular photographic film format...

 single-lens reflex

Single-lens reflex camera

A single-lens reflex camera is a camera that typically uses a semi-automatic moving mirror system that permits the photographer to see exactly what will be captured by the film or digital imaging system, as opposed to pre-SLR cameras where the view through the viewfinder could be significantly...

 (SLR) camera

Camera

A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...

 sold by Canon

Canon Inc.

is a Japanese multinational corporation that specialises in the manufacture of imaging and optical products, including cameras, camcorders, photocopiers, steppers and computer printers. Its headquarters are located in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan.-Origins:...

; it was introduced in 1990, three years after the introduction of Canon's incompatible EOS

Canon EOS

The Canon EOS autofocus 35 mm film and digital SLR camera system was introduced in 1987 with the Canon EOS 650 and is still in production as Canon's current DSLR system...

 system of autofocus SLRs and their EF lenses

Canon EF lens mount

Introduced in 1987, the EF lens mount is the standard lens mount on the Canon EOS family of SLR film and digital cameras. EF stands for "Electro-Focus": automatic focusing on EF lenses is handled by a dedicated electric motor built into the lens...

. It was the final camera in Canon's T series

Canon T series

Canon's T series is Canon's final series of manual focus 35 mm single lens reflex cameras. The first camera, the T50, was introduced in March 1983 while the final camera, the T60, was released in April 1990. All have a Canon FD lens mount compatible with Canon's extensive range of manual-focus...

.

It was introduced solely as a cheap SLR system for export. It was never sold in Canon's home Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese market. In some foreign markets, the higher price of the EOS cameras was a problem, while in others, there was demand for a cheap, largely manual camera for photography students and the like.

The T60 shared little with the other T-series models except for a superficial styling resemblance. Unlike them, it had only manual film loading, advance and rewind. Film speed and shutter speed were set with traditional dials.

The only auto-exposure mode supported was aperture priority

Aperture priority

Aperture priority, often abbreviated A or Av on a camera mode dial, is a setting on some cameras that allows the user to choose a specific aperture value while the camera selects a shutter speed to match. The camera will ensure proper exposure...

 AE. The camera would choose an appropriate shutter speed. Also supported, of course, was full manual exposure, aided by the camera's built-in meter. Shutter speed range was 1/1000 second to 1 second, plus bulb

Bulb (photography)

Bulb, abbreviated B, is a shutter speed setting on an adjustable camera that allows for long exposure times under the direct control of the photographer. With this setting, the shutter simply stays open as long as the shutter release button remains depressed...

.

Canon did not manufacture the T60. Like a number of other low-end bodies sold by major camera companies (such as the Nikon FM10

Nikon FM10

The Nikon FM10 is a manual focus 35 mm film camera sold by Nikon Corporation. It is of SLR design and was first available in 1995. It is normally sold in a kit that includes a Zoom Nikkor 35–70 mm f/3.5-4.8 zoom lens, although a Zoom Nikkor 70–210 mm f/4.5-5.6 zoom lens is also available...

 and Olympus OM2000), it was both built by Cosina

Cosina

is a designer and manufacturer of cameras and lenses, and a glassmaker, based in Nakano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.-History:Cosina is the successor to Nikō , a company set up as a manufacturer oflenses in 1959...

, and based upon Cosina's own CT-1

Cosina CT-1

The Cosina CT-1 is a 35mm film SLR camera from Cosina Co..In addition to being sold in its own right, the CT-1 chassis also forms the basis of several SLR bodies including the Nikon FM10, the Canon T60, the Olympus OM-2000 and others...

chassis. (Cosina subcontracted work for many other Japanese photographic firms as well as producing cameras to their own design.)