Oh dear god what have I bought this time

Soldato
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Yep... I have in my hands right now a Canon AE-1.
Had a few niggles to start with... couldn't wind it, shutter wouldn't work etc etc. After a quick google I discover if the battery is dead nothing works, so I open the bottom cap to see what battery it takes and it appears to be screwed in.
A little more googling shows the battery required so I figure the bit under the screw plate is another cap, since its not a button cell. Open it back up, have a little go at unscrewing and it wont move. Back to google.
I kept seeing references to an ergonomic grip and figure they think it has a grip similar to a battery grip on a newer slr.
I gave up fiddling as I was at work and as I'm putting it down I notice that latch on the front of the camera, flick it and ping, battery compartment.
My boss, who'd been watching me fiddle with it for the best part of an hour calls me all sorts of names I cant repeat here while laughing so hard she turned purple and couldn't breathe.

I now have a battery inserted and, without seeing the pictures from it, so far I absolutely love it.
 
Soldato
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Speaking of that camera, I had an opportunity to play with one earlier today!
I actually really like the whole mechanical feel, the 'spot in the middle to get my focus in line with' for focus infinity. Pretty cool!

Only thing is I can't find an 'M' dial? I only had like 10mins to play with before I got busy with shooting the sunrise.
 
Soldato
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Awesome! Now grab yourself a developing tank and some chemicals and develop your own black and white film:) It's fun! You can scan the film once you're done and edit as per normal, or if you're feeling really adventurous get hold of an enlarger and make some prints.

What lens do you have with it? Hope it's a 50mm 1.8:) That's really all you need.

Mr Jones: I haven't used an AE-1 but it will be manual all the time. If you look through the viewfinder there's a needle to determine exposure, you have to adjust aperture (ring on lens) and shutterspeed (wheel on top) to get the needle in the middle. It's a bit tricky if you're in a hurry to get a shot! Luckily film can be pretty forgiving if you under/overexpose. Looks like it also has a program mode.
 
Soldato
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Mr Jones: I can send you the instruction booklet if you want it, emails in trust :)

Stupot, I've got a 50mm 1.8 that I originally bought to use with an EOS adapter, and a Tamron 70-210 macro.
I'm a bit stuck for film at the minute, I've only got some cheap kodak colour stuff.
 
Soldato
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Good stuff, I really only use B+W with my camera, ilford HP5 is what I usually use, but you'll have to send of the films to get prints, or develop at home:) If you want to get them processed at a high street place, buy C41 film. This can be processed in normal colour developers, i.e. ilford XP2.
 
Soldato
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I've found a place that does printing and scans the images free to a cd, and at higher quality than my local chappy who wants extra money for it.
I have been looking quite a lot at kits to develop it myself, though, since I have a loft with workspace and power :D
 
Soldato
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Cool! My dad had an AE-1 back in the day and was responsible for me first getting interested in photography. At the time I had a Ricoh KR-10 :)
 
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Mr Jones: I haven't used an AE-1 but it will be manual all the time. If you look through the viewfinder there's a needle to determine exposure, you have to adjust aperture (ring on lens) and shutterspeed (wheel on top) to get the needle in the middle. It's a bit tricky if you're in a hurry to get a shot! Luckily film can be pretty forgiving if you under/overexpose. Looks like it also has a program mode.
Obviously. because you're wrong. The AE-1 has shutter-priority automation as well as manual but not program mode. I bought one when I graduated in 1977 then moved to an A1 which I made the mistake of trading in for a T90. I then moved to Nikon....
 
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Obviously. because you're wrong. The AE-1 has shutter-priority automation as well as manual but not program mode. I bought one when I graduated in 1977 then moved to an A1 which I made the mistake of trading in for a T90. I then moved to Nikon....

Ah, I was just looking at the dials on top and comparing it to my noink.

How do you get get shutter priority? Is that the green A on the aperture ring? In which case what does 'program' do on the dial?

canonae1program9.jpg
 
Associate
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To use Tv you set the camera to the desired shutter speed. The lens set to A & the lens will do the aperture.

The model you have pictured there is the later 'program' version. Not the AE-1.
 
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That's bulb mode. Shutters open for as long as you hold it.


Right, rather than make things up, here are a couple of guides on this camera! There are two models.

AE-1
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/SLRs/ae1/basic2.htm

AE-1 Program
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/SLRs/ae1pgrm/html/index1.htm


Snapshot: perhaps I worded myself wrong. When I said 'manual all the time', I didn't mean it couldn't be anything else as I had identified a program mode. I meant that whilst you had a shutterspeed and aperture setting dialed in, it would be shooting manual. There's no button/control dial to enable manual like you get on modern SLR's.

So I was 90% right;) Just hadn't identified it had shutter priority on the AE-1 and shutter priority and program (camera determines shutterspeed and aperture) on the AE-1 Program as well.
 

rpn

rpn

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I bought one when I graduated in 1977 then moved to an A1 which I made the mistake of trading in for a T90. I then moved to Nikon....


We seem to be the same. Bought my A1 in 1976 then made the BIG mistake of trading it in for a T90. Still got it. And now I'm a Nikon D300 owner.
 
Soldato
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For some reason, the AE1P didn't seem as good as the original AE1. I don't know why as I'm pretty sure the only change was the addition of Program mode. It may just have been that it wasn't enough of a change.
 
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