Canon T90

1986

The Canon T90 was marketed as the top of the line camera in the T-Series. It was also a big departure from the other bodies in that series design-wise. The T50, T70 and T80 were all very squarish with sharp angles and corners. The T90 was more rounded and smooth – a design that would ultimately be used on most of the EOS cameras, beginning with the pro EOS-1 in 1989.

It was released in 1986 – a quite chaotic period in camera manufacturing as companies were struggling to come to grips with the new autofocus camera and provide a definitive answer to Minolta’s hugely popular Maxxum 7000. Indeed, Canon was already well-invested in the development of the new AF technology. A year after the T90’s release, they launced the EOS 620/650 AF cameras with a whole new lens mount – the Canon EF.

With the T90, Canon seemed to be providing the market with one final hurrah for the manual-focus FD bodies. This camera was absolutely packed with cutting-edge technology. In Japan, it was nicknamed “Tank” due to the tough-as-nails build-quality.

The T90 featured three different metering systems – the coolest by far was the multi-spot metering which was very similar in use to the same system used by the Olympus OM-3 and OM 4. It was capable of measuring up to 8 individual points and averaging them together to provide almost fool-proof exposures. And since it averaged the readings, the photographer could actually “weight” any of them by measuring the same area more than once. If you were shooting slide film back then, this camera would have been a game-changer.

It also featured 8 different exposure modes, and a 4.5 frames-per-second motor drive. The one glaring omission was a PC socket for connecting studio flash systems. Canon would address this by offering to add one at additional cost. With today’s radio trigger systems, though, it’s a moot point.

By all accounts, the T90 was a fine professional camera. But it was mostly overlooked in favor of the heavily-marketed EOS bodies that would follow the very next year. But, in my opinion, it’s the most technologically-advanced manual focus camera body there is.

I did a full review on the T90 on my YouTube channel that you can check out below. Below the Technical Specs is a gallery of photos from a roll of slide film at an antique car show. The multi-spot metering was quite effective.

Technicals Specifications:

Original List Price (1986): $881.00
Street Price (1987): $439.00
Price in 2025 Dollars: $1219.64
Manufacturer: Canon
Model: T90
Year Introduced: 1986
Film Format: 35mm SLR
Lens: Canon FD mount
Shutter: vertical-travel
Self-timer: yes
Shutter Speeds: 30 – 1/4000
Flash Sync: 1/250
Shutter Release: on top
Built-in Meter: Center-weighted averaging, partial and spot
Film Speed/ASA Range: 6-6400
Film Advance: built-in winder / 4.5 fps
Frame Counter: Yes
Exposure Modes: manual, multi-mode AE
Finder: Full-information
Focusing Screens:
Mirror: quick-return
Battery: 4-AA