Blank film in Canon A1

eng1er · Jun 22, 2014

Tom1956 said:
This is the problem with the electronic shutter cameras at this late date. Mechanical watches fail occasionally., landfills are full of electronic ones. Somebody would have to pay me to take an electronic camera off their hands. Except for a Pentax ES maybe. And even that is dependent on the circuit board under the bottom cover, regardless of the capacitor under the right front cover. Any Canon other than an FTb or F1 is junk, really (IMO).

I've put thousands of rolls through Canon A series cameras. The only time I've ever had one serviced was when my AE-1 Program developed a light leak due to a loose screw.

My main camera these days is an EOS-1 purchased new in 1989. It probably has close to 200,000 shutter cycles and still works like new. That is the only EOS body I have ever had serviced (sent it into CPS to replace the top bezel which had a hairline crack after a ten-foot fall onto concrete--report back from CPS was no other damage).

So, Canon cameras with electronic shutters work for me.

GarageBoy · Jun 23, 2014

Not that hard to diagnose- put the shutter on 1s, open the back, fire shutter, does it stay open? If yes, then probably ok.
Mechanical shutters fail too- I have a box of bad Contaflexes with gummed up and slow shutters. 1/2000s? Maybe 1/1200 on a good day after 20 years

benjiboy · Jun 23, 2014

eng1er said:
I've put thousands of rolls through Canon A series cameras. The only time I've ever had one serviced was when my AE-1 Program developed a light leak due to a loose screw.

My main camera these days is an EOS-1 purchased new in 1989. It probably has close to 200,000 shutter cycles and still works like new. That is the only EOS body I have ever had serviced (sent it into CPS to replace the top bezel which had a hairline crack after a ten-foot fall onto concrete--report back from CPS was no other damage).

So, Canon cameras with electronic shutters work for me.

I've had an A1 for more than twenty five years and because I hate it it's had little use and is practically mint, the bloody thing just keeps working and won't pack up, I tried to give it to my niece last year but she gave me it back to me because she couldn't afford the film and processing and they sell for so little on the open market it's not worth the hassle of selling it.

RalphLambrecht · Jun 23, 2014

markaudacity said:
I don't think its fair to blame this issue on the photographer. The camera didn't do what it was told to do.

I agree.He already admitted to needing help. why question his skill?We are all learning.THis is a case of a busted shutter anyway. Time to get a Nikon FM instead!

AgX · Jun 23, 2014

Well, I blamed that student of Cliveh or in general any photographer who is busy with a lot of unprocessed film and does not check his camera inbetween, not Zilali, who started this thread.

benjiboy · Jun 23, 2014

cliveh said:
I had a student who had one of these cameras, who took it on a trip abroad. When he got back all the films he took were blank. For this reason alone I would never use this type of camera.

I had a customer who bought a brand new Leica at my shop who took it on a trip of a lifetime around Africa who when he got home and had all his films processed by my store were all blank, which I didn't understand but after further investigation with the customer I found he had never taken the lens cap off !!

fstop · Jun 23, 2014

benjiboy said:
I had a customer who bought a brand new Leica at my shop who took it on a trip of a lifetime around Africa who when he got home and had all his films processed by my store were all blank, which I didn't understand but after further investigation with the customer I found he had never taken the lens cap off !!

I could never figure out how they do that, how did they focus it?

benjiboy · Jun 23, 2014

fstop said:
I could never figure out how they do that, how did they focus it?

Easy, in a rangefinder camera there's no indication in the combined rangefinder/ viewfinder window that the lens is covered.

miha · Jun 23, 2014

This is why Leica also makes reflex cameras.

benjiboy · Jun 23, 2014

miha said:
This is why Leica also makes reflex cameras.

Leica reflex cameras "for the hard of understanding"

John Koehrer · Jun 23, 2014

Just in the spirit of things people do............

A young man bought a Canon F1(!), his first 35mm camera.

The first three rolls of film were completely opaque, edge to edge, full length of the film.
None of us could figure out what happened until we gave him a roll of film to shoot outside the store. Had him bring it back inside & watched in disbelief as he opened the camera back to make sure the film was rewinding properly.

benjiboy · Jun 24, 2014

John Koehrer said:
Just in the spirit of things people do............

A young man bought a Canon F1(!), his first 35mm camera.

The first three rolls of film were completely opaque, edge to edge, full length of the film.
None of us could figure out what happened until we gave him a roll of film to shoot outside the store. Had him bring it back inside & watched in disbelief as he opened the camera back to make sure the film was rewinding properly.

The customer I referred to in my original post who bought a Leica M and left the lens cap on insisted on Leica because he had heard it was a good camera, and since he was going on a trip of a lifetime had to have the best, I could have wept for the guy he was so disappointed and felt a little responsible that I had assumed that he knew to remove it.

Xmas · Jun 24, 2014

The cap was in the instructiom manual...

benjiboy · Jun 24, 2014

Xmas said:
The cap was in the instructiom manual...

The instruction manual is what people turn to if all else fails .

Chan Tran · Jun 24, 2014

Did he ask someone for recommendation as to which camera to buy?

miha · Jun 24, 2014

People forget to take off the lens cap, to load the film,... all sort of things, not camera make/model/type related.

MattKing · Jun 24, 2014

My father has a fun story about an irate customer who was incredibly upset about the useless, out of focus photos he got from his then new Kodak Duaflex (I think) camera (looks a bit like a TLR).

All of his shots were just out of focus blurs - most likely because he was looking into the viewfinder lens at the front, rather than down on to the viewfinder screen.

Here is an image of a Duaflex

benjiboy · Jun 24, 2014

Chan Tran said:
Did he ask someone for recommendation as to which camera to buy?

No,he had heard that Leica were the best and that's what he wanted to buy.

Sent from my KFOT using Tapatalk

fstop · Jun 24, 2014

benjiboy said:
Easy, in a rangefinder camera there's no indication in the combined rangefinder/ viewfinder window that the lens is covered.

I was talking about SLRs like the AE-1

John Koehrer · Jun 24, 2014

Chan Tran said:
Did he ask someone for recommendation as to which camera to buy?

Sometimes people just can't be convinced. That's why the fellow with the Ferrari has to have the thing serviced all the time.
55mph=fouls everything up in the engine.

They come in the store and say I have to have the ___________ because it's the best. My friend says so.
Their friend can't be wrong can they?

benjiboy · Jun 25, 2014

fstop said:
I was talking about SLRs like the AE-1

I was paid to sell cameras and my store making a profit if the customer came in and insisted on buying an expensive Leica, I wasn't going to say to him "oh no what you need is a Canon AE1".

AgX · Jun 25, 2014

You are the guy with all that sales experience. You gained a fine profit (I guess) for the shop, but ended with a disappointed customer, who might blame not himself but the shop and spread that news.

The same time, in this case, I don't think selling him a AE-1 and making him bringing home all those nice photos would end up in selling him later a high-end kit.
And I undestand telling a possible buyer out of an idea he got can be tricky and might end him buying nothing at all.

fstop · Jun 25, 2014

I was commenting on how people forget to take the lens cap off slrs..I've owned range finders and yes its easy to forget on them.

The customer is always right, if they want to drop their money on something expensive so be it.

who might blame not himself but the shop and spread that news.

That's a risk you take with any customer.The buying public are fickle bunch.

benjiboy · Jun 25, 2014

AgX said:
You are the guy with all that sales experience. You gained a fine profit (I guess) for the shop, but ended with a disappointed customer, who might blame not himself but the shop and spread that news.

The same time, in this case, I don't think selling him a AE-1 and making him bringing home all those nice photos would end up in selling him later a high-end kit.
And

I undestand telling a possible buyer out of an idea he got can be tricky and might end him buying nothing at all.

Click to expand...

I worked in photographic retailing for nearly 25 years and have seen it all, if as you say a customer has decided to buy a premium product and he feels you are trying to fob him off with something cheaper and inferior for whatever reason is the quickest way I know to get him to turn round and walk out.
My conscience is clear the customer wanted to buy a Leica and I sold him what he wanted, the camera came factory sealed with a full instruction manual in the box. All this happened more than 20 years ago and is now just water under the bridge.

Chan Tran · Jun 25, 2014

benjiboy said:
I worked in photographic retailing for nearly 25 years and have seen it all, if as you say a customer has decided to buy a premium product and he feels you are trying to fob him off with something cheaper and inferior for whatever reason is the quickest way I know to get him to turn round and walk out.
My conscience is clear the customer wanted to buy a Leica and I sold him what he wanted, the camera came factory sealed with a full instruction manual in the box. All this happened more than 20 years ago and is now just water under the bridge.

I do agree to sell what the customer wanted. I would be upset if the salesperson tells me to buy a different camera than the one I ask for. I fully believe that one should do his/her own research and make his/her own decision on which to buy.

Blank film in Canon A1

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