Data sheet: Canon TS 35 mm f/2.8 S.S.C

Pekka Buttler, 02/2026

This lens was kindly provided for cataloguing by Vladimir at #photogears

Specifications

The table below summarises the key specifications of the sampled lens.

Brand:	Canon	Lens name	TS 35 mm 1:2.8 S.S.C.
Focal length 1	35 mm	Angle-of-view 2	63 °
Maximum Aperture	f/2.8	In Production	1973–91
Lens mount	Canon FD	Subfamily (if applicable)	FD (Black nose)
Length 3	77,3 mm	Diameter 4	66,5 mm
Filter ring diameter	58 mm	Weight	547 grams
Lens element count	9	Lens group count	8
Aperture blades (S/R/C) 5	8 S	Focus throw	210 °
Minimum focusing distance (indicated)	30 cms	Maximum magnification (indicated)	1:5,2
Has manual aperture ring	YES	Has Manual focus ring	YES
Aperture mechanism type	Manual	Aperture click stops 6	2.8•4•5.6•8•11•16•22

Further notes:
• This lens – while introduced in 1973 and being outwardly in line with other ‘black nose’ FD lenses – calls itself the Canon TS 35/2.8 (not FD). This is because while the lens is physically compatible with the breech-lock mount of the Canon FD system, it is designed purely for manual aperture use and therefore lacks all the mount-communication typical for a Canon FD lens. Therefore this lens is also fully compatible with every Canon SLR made for the Canonflex (R), Canon FL, and Canon FD mounts.
• At the time of its introduction, this was the world’s first tilt&shift lens (there had been tilt and shift lenses before, but this lens was the first to combine both features).

• The lens offers up to +/- 11 mm of shift and up to +/- 10 degrees of shift. Both tilt and shift axes can be rotated vis-a-vis the camera.
• Unlike the lens hood in these pictures (Borrowed from a Pentax K 45-125 [data sheet]), Canon offered a lens hood for this lens (the BW-58B – Bayonet-type round hood)

• Because the lens is a manual aperture lens, it was also not modernised to the newFD mount in 1979.
• When Canon launched of the EF system in 1987, they did not immediately offer a specialty lens like a Tilt&Shift lens. But in 1991 Canon launched a trio of Tilt&Shift lenses for the EF mount (24/3.5; 45/2.8 and 90/2.8) at which point the production of this lens was finally stopped.

The history of Canon FD lenses

Feel free to browse the JAPB article on the Canon FD mount for all the details. Below is an outline of the position of the Canon FD mount in Canon’s development trajectory:

• 1959–1963: R-mount. Canon’s first SLR lens mount. Breech lock-type mount with aperture semi-automation (camera is able to stop down lens for taking the shot, but lens needs to be opened up by user action) .
• 1964–1969: FL-mount. Breech-lock type mount, physically similar mount as Canon R-mount, but camera-to-lens communication linkages somewhat different. Cannot communicate selected aperture to body (stop-down-metering only).
• 1970–1978: FD-mount. Breech-lock mount. FD lenses compatible with FL-cameras and vice versa. Manual focus lenses that communicate aperture information to camera, hence opening the door for automatic exposure (both shutter priority and aperture priority possible)
• 1979–1986: new FD-mount (a.k.a. FDn). Bayonet mount, backwards compatible with FL and FD mounts. Otherwise, as FD mount.
• 1987–today: EF-mount. Electronically controlled autofocus lenses that use an internal focusing motor. Compatible with previous mount lenses only using an adapter with optics.

The era of the Canon FD mount can be characterised by a gradual shift towards the ever-increasing use of plastics and lighter materials. In the chronology of this gradual shift:
• Chrome nose FD lenses (1971–1973) are solid metal (often brass), glass and (synthetic) rubber.
• Black nose FD lenses (1973-≈1975) are also metal, glass and rubber, but often 5-10% less heavy than chrome nose lenses.
• Late FD, (≈1975–1979) rubber is replaced by plastic and heavier metals are gradually replaced by lighter alloys
(FDn lenses (1979–1987) typically make extensive use of light alloys as well as, increasingly, plastics while in the EF era (1987 onwards) plastics fully take over)

Adapting

n.B! The following DOES NOT apply to all Canon FD lenses, but applies instead only to this TS lens:

This lens cannot be used natively on any current SLR or dSLRs. To use it in its native environment, you will need a Canon FL or FD-mount film body (technically even a Canonflex-series body will work).

Thanks to being a fully manual lens (manual aperture, manual focus), the lens can be adapted to all mirrorless cameras using a suitable adapter. Moreover, a large range of special adapters (helicoid adapters and speed boosters) for using Canon FD lenses on most mirrorless systems are available.

Using Canon FD lenses on dSLRs is a possibility, but is not problem free. Thanks to the relatively short flange focal distance of the Canon FD mount (at 42,0 mm, clearly shorter than that of any full-frame dSLR mount), any adapter will necessitate some optics to achieve infinity focus.

Footnotes

1. Focal length is (unless stated otherwise) given in absolute terms, and not in Full-frame equivalent. For an understanding of whether the lens is wide/tele, see ‘Angle-of-view’. ↩︎
2. Picture angle is given in degrees and concerns the diagonal picture angle. Rule of thumb:
   > 90 ° ==> Ultra-wide-angle
   70–90 ° ==> Wide-angle
   50–70 ° ==> Moderate wide-angle
   40–50 ° ==> ‘Standard’ or ‘normal’ lens
   20–40 ° ==> Short tele lens
   10-20 ° ==> Tele lens
   5-10 ° ==> Long tele lens
   < 5 ° ==> Ultra-tele lens ↩︎
3. Length is given from the mount flange to the front of lens at infinity. ↩︎
4. Diameter excludes protrusions such as rabbit ears or stop-down levers. ↩︎
5. S=straight; R=rounded; C=(almost)circular at all apertures. ↩︎
6. Numbers equal aperture values on aperture ring; • intermediate click; – no intermediate click. ↩︎