Non working Canon AE-1 camera

I have a Canon AE-1 and a Canon AE-1 Program and both are non-functioning. One, I had looked at by a repair man, and he said it was beyond his scope to fix and suggested selling it to a better mechanic that knows Canon cameras. Is there such a person or place that would buy these cameras for parts?
What would be a fair price including shipping?

Or do I turn it over and use it as a planter?

Thank you!

You could check this list of repair shops: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/repair-shops-in-and-out-of-business.210509/unread
However, the odds are that the cost of a repair exceed your willingness to save these cameras.

It might help to know what the defects of these cameras are.

In general, I'd expect the going rate for these cameras in non-working state to be maybe $10-25 or so, and it might take a while to sell them.

pamphoto said:

Is there such a person or place that would buy these cameras for parts?

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Sure, there's always people looking for cameras like these (1) in the hopes of an easy fix and a sweet deal as a result or (2) as a donor camera for parts. If you don't want to bother trying to get them fixed yourself, I'd recommend putting them up for sale somewhere. This could also be here on the forum, but if you want to sell (as opposed to give away), we do require a paid Subscriber account (even if you only subscribe for e.g. one month). If you decide to give these cameras away for free, we will happily support that and also allow you to list them here in the Classifieds section for free. See the first post in this thread, towards the end of the post: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/how-the-classifieds-section-works-read-this-first.204146/

pamphoto said:

Or do I turn it over and use it as a planter?

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Hey, they're yours, so feel free to decide what you want to do, but (1) I feel these make relatively poor planters and (2) I'm sure many here would lament them being lost forever, so in this case, I'd consider just giving them away.

pamphoto said:

non-functioning

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When you say they're both non-functioning, do you mean neither do anything when you put in a battery? I find that Canon AE1 cameras need very new, high quality batteries to start up. So, Duracell or Energizer straight out of the package.

If they truly don't work, they're hard to sell and possibly not worth the headache. Someone would pay shipping to get them, though.

koraks said:

You could check this list of repair shops:

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Thanks. I didn't know this was here.

koraks said:

It might help to know what the defects of these cameras are.

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The AE-1 program does nothing with a brand new battery.
The AE-1 does light up with a battery
Here is what the repair man said:

"There seems to be a disconnect between the shutter release and the magnet assembly that actually triggers the curtain. Depending on where the short is, this can be a pretty fixable problem. However, even when actuated manually, the shutter doesn't have the curtain tension to complete the cycle. Once the cycle is completed by physically moving the shutter curtain to its intended final position, the winding sequence is revealed to be out of adjustment, resulting in several turns of the winding lever to get the shutter back into position, at which point it again doesn't fire.

I think the best future for this body is to be a donor to a better repair prospect and get you a working camera that way."

koraks said:

In general, I'd expect the going rate for these cameras in non-working state to be maybe $10-25 or so, and it might take a while to sell them.

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I've been sitting on the program one for a couple years. Someone recently gifting me the other body with lenses, so I looked into getting it fixed since I have canon lenses now. I have since bought a used AE-1 from the store i work at, so I really don't want to sink any money into repairing the broken one. Besides, my repair man is fixing a Minolta XD-11 currently for me that was also gifted to me.

koraks said:

Hey, they're yours, so feel free to decide what you want to do, but (1) I feel these make relatively poor planters and (2) I'm sure many here would lament them being lost forever, so in this case, I'd consider just giving them away.

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That statement was a bit tongue in check. I won't use it as a planter for an air plant, I promise.

There are a few camera repair shops online that offer AE-1/AE-1 program service and repairs.

An example. Offers free estimates as well.

pamphoto said:

There seems to be a disconnect between the shutter release and the magnet assembly that actually triggers the curtain. Depending on where the short is, this can be a pretty fixable problem. However, even when actuated manually, the shutter doesn't have the curtain tension to complete the cycle. Once the cycle is completed by physically moving the shutter curtain to its intended final position, the winding sequence is revealed to be out of adjustment, resulting in several turns of the winding lever to get the shutter back into position, at which point it again doesn't fire.

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Sounds way too involved a repair to be worthwhile. It would be too expensive. That sounds like complete disassembly would be needed.