Get back to shooting 35mm film with your Canon AE-1 camera.
Canon's AE-1 single lens reflex (SLR) camera was produced from 1976 to 1985. The camera was an advanced photographic tool for its time, offering through the lens (TTL) light metering and fully automatic exposure referred to as "Program" mode. Though the AE-1 suited many professional photographers, its intuitive design and Program mode made it desirable among beginner and amateur shutterbugs. As the AE-1 is a vintage camera, most models will need to be inspected and tested before serious use.
Instructions
Checking the Shutter
1. Open the battery chamber cover to the left of the body mount. Dispose of the old battery and clean away any corrosion in the chamber using an eraser. Insert a fresh battery and replace the chamber cover.
2. Pull up on the film rewind knob, located on the top left of the camera body, to open the film door. Blow away dust from the film chamber and take-up spool using a can of compressed air. Leave the film door open.
3. Cock the shutter by pushing the film advance lever, located on the top right of the camera body, forward until it stops.
4. Turn the shutter speed dial, located around the film advance lever, to the "B" setting. Press and hold the shutter button to check that the shutter curtain opens. Release the button to close the shutter.
5. Alternate between cocking and firing the shutter using each speed setting on the dial. The speed with which the shutter curtain opens and closes should be relative to the selected setting. For example, 1/15th of a second (represented by "15" on the dial) should sound and look much slower than 1/1000th of a second.
6. Close the film door when you have finished moving through each shutter speed.
Checking the Light Meter
7. Take the camera outside on a sunny, cloudless day. Lift the ring around the outside of the shutter speed dial until "800" appears in the small display window. This value refers to the speed of the film you're using. The higher the value, the more sensitive the film is to light.
8. Move the lens aperture ring, located near the rear of the lens barrel, so that the index mark aligns with the smallest numeric value on the ring. Set the shutter speed to 1/30th of a second.
9. Look through the viewfinder and point the lens toward a bright, reflective object such as a patch of concrete or a lightly colored sign. To the right of the frame will be a moving needle and an aperture scale.
10. Watch the exposure needle's movement. If it moves quickly all the way to the top of the scale indicating overexposure, the light meter is functioning correctly. When shooting in very dark areas, a red LED light at the bottom of the scale will blink to signal underexposure.
Checking Other Issues
11. Loosen the lens' sticky focusing ring by placing the unloaded camera on a warm, sunny windowsill for several hours. Rotate the ring back and forth to redistribute the warmed lubricant.
12. Press the lens release tab near the body mount and rotate the lens counterclockwise to remove it. Hold a can of compressed air roughly three inches from the inside of the camera and pull the trigger. This will remove any dust from the camera's retractable mirror and focusing screen, resulting in a brighter viewfinder frame.
13. Blow away any dust or dirt from the front and rear glass elements of your lens using compressed air. Moisten a lens tissue with lens cleaning solution and swab the elements using a soft, circular motion.
14. Clean the camera body and lens barrel using a microfiber cloth moistened with several drops of denatured alcohol.
Tags: shutter speed, camera body, film door, advance lever, away dust, Blow away