Cannon AE-1:Does it have a manual mirror lock up?

[peter k.]

A friend gave me his AE-1 with a 400 MM lens on it.. have taken some shots with it, with a tripod mounted on the 400mm lens, and using a cable release, but yet to get a decent picture. After looking at the images closely, realize that they are lacking sharp focus, and wondered if its the vibration of the mirror, as the shot is taken. Is there anyway to lock it up before shooting, like my Nikon F2?

 

[benjiboy]

No there isn't, the only Canon FD models that have a mirror lock are the original F1,F1n FTb,and EF. on the subsequent models Canon omitted the mirror lock because they improved
the mirror damping to a degree they considered it unnecessary.Is it a Canon FD 400 lens or a cheap independent one ?, and how sturdy is the tripod, what shutter speed were you using ?.

 

[Les Sarile]

The AE-1 does not have mirror lockup and the self timer raises the mirror the same as it does normally and not well ahead of firing the shutter. MLU is normally reserved to Canon's higher end line of products. After further review, I am not sure what other FD/FL Canon body has MLU besides the FTB and F-1.


If the tripod is sturdy, the shutter speed is sufficiently high and you are not getting sharp pics, I would not suspect the mirror vibration as it isn't that bad to begin with if it is in good working condition.

 

[peter k.]

As I thought.. no lock up as I was not able to find anything about it for this camera.
Very sturdy tripod... Bogen that I used originally for, an with my SVHS video camera years ago, and now use it for my LF camera's.
Vivitar 1.5.6 lens.
Think I will take some more test shots, at different speeds and aperture.. of the same scene and location, it may well be the lens.

 

[benjiboy]

Also don't forget Peter that high magnification lenses tend to also magnify atmospheric haze.