Canon FD Lenses & Lens Hoods: An Overview

With Canon FD, the filter thread alone won’t tell you which lens hood fits: for the same thread size there’s one hood for wide-angle lenses and a different one for telephotos. The table below lists both the filter thread and the original hood for almost every Canon FD lens. The hood’s name tells you which one is meant. The New FD 85mm f/1.2L (at Canon, L stands for Luxury) takes the BT-72: B for the bayonet fitting, T for tele, and the number for the filter thread in millimetres. Before you look at the thread, though, check the generation. The 50mm f/1.4 exists as an original FD with a silver locking ring and as a New FD from 1979 onwards, where the whole lens twists into the mount. Each version takes a different hood. So first work out which generation you’re holding.

What to know before you use the table

How the mount versions differ:

• FD (until 1979): Original breech-lock mount. The lens itself doesn’t turn; instead, a silver locking ring tightens it onto the camera.
• New FD (nFD, from 1979): Twist-lock bayonet. The whole lens is turned until it clicks into place. There’s a square release button at the camera end of the lens.

How Canon names its lens hoods:

Canon’s original lens hoods have names like BW-52A, and these follow a simple system:

• First letter (B): Bayonet. The hood fits onto the front of the lens and twists to lock in place. It doesn’t screw into the filter thread.
• Second letter (W/S/T): Wide (wide-angle), Standard, Tele
• Number: usually the filter thread diameter in millimetres (e.g. 52, 55, 72). Exceptions, such as the BW-58C on lenses with a 52 mm filter thread, are listed in the table.

Lens abbreviations at a glance:

• S.S.C. = Super Spectra Coating (modern multi-coating)
• S.C. = Spectra Coating (single-layer coating)
• L = Luxury (contains aspherical elements, fluorite elements or UD glass)
• AL = Aspherical Lens
• TS = Tilt/Shift

The table below is meant as a reference and covers almost every Canon FD lens. Alongside technical data such as optical construction and minimum focusing distance, it lists the filter thread and the matching lens hood, so you can see which accessories fit your lens.

Disclaimer: We sell some of the products mentioned here. Even so, this article is meant first and foremost as a helpful guide, not as a sales pitch.

Notes:

1. Built-in SKY, Y3, O1, R1, CCA4 and CCB4 filters
2. Built-in SKY, Y3, O1 and R1 filters
3. Built-in lens hood
4. Built-in filter holder
5. Coupling pin for Canon’s CAT flash system
6. Tilt/shift (79° angle of view when shifted)
7. Autofocus on the T-80 body only
8. Drop-in filter
9. Removable tripod mount
10. Built-in tripod mount
11. Autofocus
12. For prime lenses of 300 mm and longer
13. For prime lenses of 300 mm and longer, and zoom lenses whose focal length range includes 300 mm
14. For prime lenses shorter than 300 mm, and zoom lenses whose longest focal length is under 300 mm
15. On the New FD 300mm f/2.8L, use the Extender FD 2X-B
16. On the New FD 200mm f/4 Macro, use the Extender FD 2X-A

This table was originally compiled in 1997 by Dennis Baron of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). We translated it into German and keep a copy here in case the original ever disappears.

The English version is on Dennis Baron’s page at MIT.

Further reading

Some of the lens names in the table link to that lens’s page in the Canon Camera Museum, where you’ll find its release date and Canon’s own specifications. If you want to dig deeper, these two collections have more data sheets and Canon’s instruction manuals.

• Canon FD Resources at MIR, individual pages on FD lenses with a spec box, often including the lens hood
• Canon FD manuals at butkus.org, three original Canon manuals for FD and New FD lenses as PDFs

Can’t find your lens hood?
If we don’t stock the hood for your Canon FD lens, the easiest way is to drop us a line through our contact page. We can often help at short notice.

You’ll find more accessories for Canon cameras in our Canon accessories category.