CANON A-1 troubles -- any help ?

pentaxpete · Mar 6, 2015

I'm devastated -- my lovely 'Gift' A-1 is now letting me down when I use it with ambient light -- all exposures are about 5 times OVER-Exposed -- I did a Kodak T-max 400 and all were black on processing in ID11 1+1 -- I have de-sqeaked it about a year ago -- do you think some of the oil had got into an exposure circuit board -- no sign of oil when I took off the base-plate though ?
Today I did another test with 1991 dated Ilford FP4 film -- I set 100 ASA as it was old then did a series of 'Auto' exposures : 'P','AV,'TV, and I got 1/125 @ f6.7 on 'P' and 1/1000 @ f2.5 on the others which agreed with a Sekonic Spotmeter reading for 1/1000 -- so I took another on 'Manual' exposure with the lens OFF the Green 'A' and set 1/1000 @ f2.5 and ALL were over -exposed -- I also took a series with my Canon Speedlite 199A set to 'auto' and Red setting f5.6 first then set to 'manual 1/60 ' on shutter and they ALL were the SAME density OK -- just the daylight ones are over-exposed .
It look as if the faster speeds are running very slow as one I took on the Kodak T-max 400 with the Canon 200mm f4 SSC lens was over-exposed but also had camera-shake although I had set 1/1000 sec speed.

benjiboy · Mar 6, 2015

You can buy another body with winder with a six months warranty from Ffords for £69 Pete http://www.ffords.co.uk/product/14120812450531

Sirius Glass · Mar 6, 2015

Can you take it to a repair man to have it checked out?

eng1er · Mar 6, 2015

Certainly sounds like a slow shutter. For a more complete diagnosis, I'd take some carefully set up exposures (same subject--adjust aperture and light as necessary) at the range of shutter speeds to see if the variation is consistent or not. It may be slowing all speeds or it may be stuck on one speed. At 1/1000 it sounds slow enough to see visually: take the lens off, open the back and trip the shutter doing the same with a known working body. That will give you further confirmation that the shutter is operating too slowly.

gone · Mar 6, 2015

The A-1s are nice cameras, but old, and the electronics aren't going to last forever. If it were me I would look for a simpler camera like a FT QL or a FTb. They're much less complicated, and quite inexpensive these days. The build quality is in the "they don't make them like that anymore" category.

My FT QL was having some shutter capping issues (it's basically just a parts camera I'm attempting to resuscitate). A little web surfing located a website that explained where the adjustments were for the curtains (take 3 screws out, remove the bottom plate, and make your adjustments). Ten minutes later, everything is working just fine.

Mechanical cameras like this are something you can usually fix, electronic cameras are not in that category. You won't be bothered by Canon Squeek any more either :]

benjiboy · Mar 6, 2015

If my A1 starts malfunctioning it's going in the trash bin, I don't want to try and repair it, or pay to have it repaired I only paid £50 for it second hand and after about 27 years of use I think I've had my moneys worth.

eng1er · Mar 6, 2015

Please send trash bin-bound A-1s to me. PM for address.

Tamara · Mar 6, 2015

I love my A1, but I have to agree that unless one is deeply committed to the platform or extremely mechanically adept, eBay or KEH is probably cheaper than a professional repair.

I had an Olympus OM-PC crap the bed recently and, as I was getting ready to box it up and enquire about repairs, I realized I could probably just buy a replacement body for less than the cost of shipping.

pentaxpete · Mar 7, 2015

Thanks all -- yes -- I HAVE two FTBn bodies and they are still OK -- I took of their base-plates and very carefully lubricated the cogs and spindles with as minute touch of oil and they are all winding on sweeter -- and I even have an 'Illegal Mercury Battery' still in one of them still giving readings !! I will do some more tests with the 'Gift' A-1 -- I did look through the back at shutter action on several speeds.

benjiboy · Mar 7, 2015

I have a FTbn too Pete that needs a CLA that I've retired because like my A1 I don't want to spend any money on either of them, but my New F1's are a different kettle of fish if any of them developed a fault I would have them serviced.

CropDusterMan · Mar 7, 2015

The A1 is pretty old, and used 35's are ubiquitous on Ebay. Just get another one...check also on used websites.
I use EOS 1N's for most of my 35mm stuff, and just had a EOS 1NRS take a dump. Too much to fix, and
cheap to replace. Wish I'd bought a Leica M4...Leica still repairs everything, yet Canon and Nikon just keep
turning the page.

Tamara · Mar 7, 2015

CropDusterMan said:
Wish I'd bought a Leica M4...Leica still repairs everything...

Except Leicaflexes. I has a sad.

parkpy · Mar 7, 2015

Mine is doing the same. Been in my family since new. CLAd few years ago.

New battery last year. Will shoot manually. Can't get rid of it for sentimental reasons. Belonged to my father who passed away 3 years ago.

I will be interested in the OPs remedy or course of action.

pentaxpete · Mar 15, 2015

Just had another test with some outdated Kodak T-max P3200 dated 06/89 from my fridge : well, I tried all the shutter speeds outdoors down to 1/30 and ran out of apertures so went indoors on a different subject by window light and went down to 1/2 sec before running out of apertures at f22, then I set the Canon 199A Speedlite up again and set 'auto' and although shutter was on 1/250 it read '1/60th' in viewfinder when flash was charged, so that is OK. I rated film at 250 ASA and processed in home-made ID11 1+1 and results were better : after exercising shutter many times with , camera empty -- the 1/1000 and 1/500 are still only 'slightly denser' than the rest which indicates running slow but not as bad as before -- the flash exposures were all 'even' so no troubles there - maybe I should avoid using 1/1000 and 1/500 OR set a higher film speed if I use those two shutter speeds. I keep a lot of very 'Old' film just for tests like this.

Bill Burk · Mar 15, 2015

pentaxpete,

I thought if you set the shutter at 1000 - it would be 1000. Are you _not_ getting the shutter speeds that you choose?

pentaxpete · Mar 16, 2015

Bill : NO-- it seems 1/1000 is NOT 1/1000 and also the 1/500 is slow, but all the 'slow' speeds are OK .

Sirius Glass · Mar 16, 2015

Time for a CLA. All cameras seem to need them sooner or later. Sooner if it sat for a long time not being used.

CANON A-1 troubles -- any help ?

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