20 Most Recent Canon EOS-AE-1 35mm SLR Camera - Page 7 Questions & Answers

The apeture is toward the back part of the lens. Shine a light down into the front of the lens and turn the apeture ring, you should see it change size.

Rob

See your other post about the power button. I described it there!

Rob

Do you have film in the camera? If so, is it an old film or you have just loaded it?
If it's an old film, could it be at the end of the roll - to check this, 'lightly' turn the rewind lever backwards and forwards. As the camera is pointing away from you, turning the rewind knob clockwise will normally rewind the film (don't press the rewind button in, we don't actually want to rewind the film yet), turning the knob clockwise should be tight and a firm stop, if the film is at the end, you will feel the same tight firm stop if you turn it counter-clockwise. Don't turn the rewind knob backwards (counter-clockwise) too hard, you'll unscrew it and it may fall apart. If turning it backwards rolls freely in a full circle, then you have film left.
Another option is that, since it's been so long since you used it, the loading of the film may have gone amis and sometimes the cassette will flip backwards, jamming the film in place so it wont advance - if you have loaded the film and not taken any pics or have not been able to advance it at all, it should be safe to open the back as the film will be in it's original loading position, if you have left the film in it from some time and don't know what stage it's up to it may be best to take it to a camera store where they will have a "Black Bag" to put the camera in and manually open and unload the film. Make sure you get an experienced person - some pimply-face teen that's never used a film camera can easily put their fingers through the shutter while it's in the black bag - I've seen it plenty of times.
OK, that's enough to get started, did this work or do we need to try more options?

**.The best way to acknowledge contribution is to rate it's relevance.**

It sounds like you have a jam.  When you have finished taking shots and have used all the film, you must press the film-rewind button on the underside of the camera; this does not rewind the film, but allows you to commence the next step.  Once you have done this, flip up the rewind-crank on the top left hand side of the camera. It is situated on top of the film speed dial. turn this clockwise until all the film is back in its cartridge.  You should now be able to open the back of the camera.
I hope you have fun with your t50!

misstigeress,
is the film being ripped along the sprocket holes? if so, the rewind button is not unlocking the drive sprocket. with film removed open the film door and push the rewind button in, the drive sprocket should turn freely. now charge the shutter with the advance lever. the rewind button should pop out and the drive sprocket should not turn freely.
if the sprocket did not turn freely with button pushed in, the camera needs repaired. there are no new parts for this model canon so any parts needed will be good used.

It likely did not catch when it was first loaded, and as such never advanced through the camera. Open the back of the camera, with no film in it, then set the shutter speed to 1, advance the film advance lever and take a shot. You should see the shutter curtains open and then close a second later. Then advance the film lever again and watch to see that the sprockets are turning. If they are, then the camera is exposing and the mechanics are working properly to advance the film. Chances are it was just loaded incorrectly.

Dear FreshEarth,
This is definately not a common problem the battery under normal use should last about a year. I beleive what is causeing this is you either have the exposure preview switch or the exposure memory switch turned on causeing the exposure meter to be taking a reading all the time and draining the battery. Those switches are located on the front of the camera to the left of the lens. If this doesn't resolve the issue I would have the camera looked at by an camera repair technician.

Sincerely,
Agent Allan
Go Ahead. Use Us.

You can just search 'Canon AE-1 manual' on google and a PDF file of the manual will come up. As long as your computer supports PDF files you can open it and print it or just read it!

This seems to be a problem with the gears, it most likely just needs to be cleaned. and I would suggest taking it to a camera repair place, or sending it to one, as it can be harmful to your camera to clean it yourself!

Not sure what your problem exactly is, but here's a link to a place where you can download the user manual for the camera

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/canon/canon_ae-1/canon_ae-1.htm

Your second answer is the correct one. The seal at the edge of the film/back door needs to be replaced. The foam fails over time, a common problem

The battery is not the problem. It is more likely the the internal switch has failed, (always stuck on self timer). The switch is a ring around the release button for the shutter. The small black tab covers the red LED in normal release mode, the self timer is on when the tab is facing forward.

fdcfd

I suggest trying a new battery 1st

There is a common problem that most A series Canon develop with age. There is a small set of gears that govern the speed of the mirror rising. One gear is brass and becomes dry, (lack of lubrication). You should have the camera serviced by a repair person or there are kits available to DIY. You can find the kits on eBay

This is in german. Look hard at the pictures. You only need to remove the bottom plate. Use a hypodermic needle loaded with just one drop of non-acidic oil. Practice first. Stick the battery back in an operate the shutter 30 times. leave the camera overnight upside down.

www.aldo-net.com/Canon/

Running the text through Babel will give you a good idea. It does work.
Bob-S

No, they are not the same at all. The F1 had a drop in screen in its own frame that you installed with the finder off the camera. The AE-1P used a single piece screen that installed from the front through the mirror area.

Usually cleaning the contacts becomes an effective solution, but if the problem continues take the camera to the service. All shutter problems requires professional care.

Shutter release magnet faulty ( your camera is cocked but since you cannot release the shutter you cannot wind the film ). Remedy : open bottom cover by removing the two screws. You will see two small electro magnets one on the left hand side and the shutter release one on the right hand side ( it is the bigger one of the two ). The very thin wires from the magnet to the small circuit board on the right hand side may be broken : inspect and resolder 10 joints you see on the p.c. board. If no joy replace the s.r.magnet.

On that camera the needle is not supposed to move when the f-stop ring is turned. It should stay on whatever number it is on and you should set the ring manually to whatever the needle points to.

That camera was really not made to be easy to use in the manual mode. I guess Canon thought everyone would just use it in Auto.

CameraRepairs