I have a Lithium battery in my AE-1 now and I'm quite impressed with its cold weather performance. In the past this camera used to pack it in when it got cold.
Question on Canon FD-mount SLRs
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It will work in the New F-1 (F-1N), the last version of the F-1, but not in the older ones.
I have an older F1 and it works fine with the lithium battery.
How? The original F-1 takes a 1.3v Mercury cell. I think you must have a New F1 if it takes a 6V battery.
Edit: Note that the 'New' F1 came out in 1981... so it isn't exactly recent. The original F1 came out in 1971.
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Are you sure about that? I've been eyeing a power winder for my AE-1 Program, and one or two comments I read said you could power the camera from the winder rather than the 6v. I don't know if they were plain old wrong or what, but it would be nice if this was confirmed by somebody that knew.
In regards to the AE-1 and AE-1 Program, as mentioned they won't run without a battery. That's because these were one of the first (if not *the* first) camera to be totally run by a microchip. Nothing is mechanical.
As a side note, those 6v batteries aren't exactly cheap these days. When I had my AE-1 serviced they swore up and down that the battery was dead. They wanted me to replace it. It still worked for me. It turns out they were using a battery tester geared towards modern digital cameras, which have different power requirements. The tiny 6v was triggering an alert on their electronic battery tester that was a false report. The battery was fine. Beware modern battery testers.
On the original point the F1 is a great camera but the extant ones, at least the ones I've come across, are rather expensive or very tired. If budget isn't an issue go for a mint F1, if it is a clean FTb will be much cheaper and very solidly built. I also like cameras that can fully operate without batteries, although the A-Series Canon batteries do last a remarkably long time, long enough to consider them fit and forget and totally unlike the lifespan of DSLR batteries.
As a general point the metering in older mechanical cameras, CdS or selenium cell is getting very long in the tooth and can rarely be relied on for definitive light readings. A hand held meter accesses a lot of older bodies sold at bargain prices because their metering is dead.
As a general point the metering in older mechanical cameras, CdS or selenium cell is getting very long in the tooth and can rarely be relied on for definitive light readings. A hand held meter accesses a lot of older bodies sold at bargain prices because their metering is dead.
The Canon F1-N has shutter speeds from 1/90sec to 1/2000sec without batteries only the slow speeds are battery dependant, and the reason that they are still expensive twenty odd years since they were manufactured is because they are such high quality and reliable cameras.
That's undoubtedly true but there's also a collector premium which cameras like the FTb don't attract. I also use Nikon gear and mint F and F2s are similarly expensive whereas Nikkormats are equally well built and don't have anything like the same desirability because they weren't 'system' cameras. I use F, F2 and Nikkormats and the 'Mats ranged from £20 to £50 for a mint example. I'd guess a Canon F1 in the same condition or a Nikon F2 would be about ten times that price.
My FTb is in excellent nick and cost about £30. I'd say it depends whether you want a user or a glass case specimen and what your budget runs to.
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I have an AE-1 and a Power Winder A. I've never tried it before but this morning I attached the Power Winder and took out the 6v battery to see if the camera would be powered. I'm afraid it is NOT powered by the Power Winder. But it was a worthwhile experment. The winder itself still works but the meter needle does not move and the shutter does not fire without the 6v battery in place.
Yes, for Canon at least the AE-1 was the first camera to use a microchip instead of discrete logic and gears. Earlier circuits and mechanics were much more complicated so the AE-1's part list was 300 smaller than earlier autoexposure models.
Since the 6v battery does very little, powering the silver cell meter and operating the shutter it requires less voltage than for modern cameras where it must power LCDs, memory, autofocus and power zoom, etc.
Many thanks for pulling them out for a test, hpulley!
Some people hoard film. When I heard the Mercury cells were going out of production I bought a big box of the batteries. They're still good! None have leaked that I've seen. Unfortunately all my FTb and TX bodies have issues with shutters being slow or the mirror sticking so it appears my box of batteries will outlast my current cameras. That said I can get more FTb bodies for cheap. I still wish I could pick up an F-1 for cheap but the prices are going in the wrong direction for me, same goes for the Canon Pellix with 38mm f/2.8 pancake lens, now going for $400
Edit: all the more reason to get my FTb's and TX's CLA'd I guess.Edit: by comparison I can get beautiful Kodak Instamatic 500 126 format cameras with great 38mm f/28 Schneider-Kreuzenach Xenar lenses for under $10 each... It is an even more compact camera than the Pellix with the 38mm pancake so in a way for what I want it to do, it is better anyways. Sadly the film costs more since it is nearly gone, $12-14 for Solaris 200-24. I've got some empty cases to reload now at least.
My father still has and occasionally uses his original Nikon F system including the legedary 105mm Nikkor. He keeps thinking it isn't worth anything but I tell him that it still is. He doesn't shoot much film anymore but that and his 1930's Contax come out of the basement once in a while. He has given me his darkroom equipment but not the film cameras yet. I can wait
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You're welcome. I don't use the AE-1 that much in the winter due to the 6v battery dying in the cold but I have run a bunch of Ilford film through it recently and developed it and the results, mostly with the 24mm f/2 FDn are still as sharp as ever printed to 11x14". With Delta 100 or FP4+ film, heck even HP5+ and Delta 400 look quite good unless you are really looking for the grain in thinner areas of the negative.
I don't use the two frame per second power winder much any more though. My EOS cameras are what I use when I want to waste film in a hurry... the 1N RS will load, shoot and rewind a roll in under ten seconds
We're moving off topic from what's available to what is good value but it's an interesting discussion and there are clearly different points of view. In market terms there's been a marked shift in film camera values in recent times. Not so long ago 35mm SLRs were dead in the popularity stakes and their remaining fans could make a fair case for buying the 'best', which usually meant professional systems because the difference between those cameras and mid-market models was small. In recent times professional models, especially those that avoided a professional existence have become quite costly, certainly not an impulse buy as good examples that hadn't found a glass case became ever fewer.
A key difference is between current attitudes to pro and consumer DSLR models and their equivalent thirty or forty years ago. 'Consumer' now suggests disposable, in the 60s and 70s it generally meant having fewer features and indicated little about durability. A DSLR is more likely to be superseded technologically than mechanically or electronically whereas a film camera is fixed in technology terms. As I said earlier, the advantage of FD lenses is they were out of date as soon as the EOS film bodies arrived, while retaining professional build quality that exceeded the later model at least in terms of solidity. That means a film user can still acquire mechanical F-series bodies and automated A-series bodies and the lenses to accompany them without breaking the bank and use them without kid gloves or one eye on the market place.
A key difference is between current attitudes to pro and consumer DSLR models and their equivalent thirty or forty years ago. 'Consumer' now suggests disposable, in the 60s and 70s it generally meant having fewer features and indicated little about durability. A DSLR is more likely to be superseded technologically than mechanically or electronically whereas a film camera is fixed in technology terms. As I said earlier, the advantage of FD lenses is they were out of date as soon as the EOS film bodies arrived, while retaining professional build quality that exceeded the later model at least in terms of solidity. That means a film user can still acquire mechanical F-series bodies and automated A-series bodies and the lenses to accompany them without breaking the bank and use them without kid gloves or one eye on the market place.
I hope the F-1 shutters were better made than the FTb shutters and especially the consumer TX version as I've had shutter problems with mine and I'm sure they haven't seen that many rolls of film. The F-1 was meant to be a journalist's workhorse so I would expect them to be better.
Does anyone have the original ads or catalog for the Canon F-1? The Canon museum's images are very small so I can only read the main headlines in Japanese. "for Professionals" in English is prominent and it talks about a system camera with a full set of accessories, but there are smaller paragraphs I'd love to read. Those original brochures probably cost a mint on eBay.
Does anyone have the original ads or catalog for the Canon F-1? The Canon museum's images are very small so I can only read the main headlines in Japanese. "for Professionals" in English is prominent and it talks about a system camera with a full set of accessories, but there are smaller paragraphs I'd love to read. Those original brochures probably cost a mint on eBay.
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I also like fully mechanical cameras. Normally: Canon F-1n, Nikon F, Nikon F2, Canon FTB. With a good handheld meter; who said "fear"
I was more asking about the original Canon F-1 shutter, not the F-1n though I read that the curtains on even the original F-1 are metal while the FTb's are cloth. More importantly, how is the shutter rebound stopped? With a piece of leather like the FTb or something better? I've had that go on an FTb. I had it repaired but the repair didn't last and when it went again, it was completely dead. The metal F-1 sounds like it will last longer though even the metal vertical shutters pop out after a while.
IIRC the TX was made down to a price to capture new SLR markets. I don't know of any incipient shutter problems with the FTb, unlike mirror bearing failure on A-series cameras. Lest I've given impressions to the contrary I'm not agin' the F-1, it's a fine camera but many have been thrashed so caveat emptor.
That's of course silicon cell.
The F-1 has a horizontal shutter with titanium curtains.
Yes, I was referring to the later T-90 style vertical shutter.
With the fully mechanical cameras, the light meter is the only thing the battery is used for.
With the fully electronic cameras, the battery is used for everything.
Some cameras have mechanically controlled shutter speeds for part of the range, and electronically controlled speeds for the other part of the range.
I believe that the 1980's New F-1 is one of the "hybid" ones. Things like the AE-1 and T-90 are all electronic TMK. The 1970's F-1's (There were two slightly different models.), FTbs, and the like are all mechanical.
The only one of my FD cameras that I bother to keep a battery in is my AE-1P, since...well, it wouldn't be much use without one!
With the fully electronic cameras, the battery is used for everything.
Some cameras have mechanically controlled shutter speeds for part of the range, and electronically controlled speeds for the other part of the range.
I believe that the 1980's New F-1 is one of the "hybid" ones. Things like the AE-1 and T-90 are all electronic TMK. The 1970's F-1's (There were two slightly different models.), FTbs, and the like are all mechanical.
The only one of my FD cameras that I bother to keep a battery in is my AE-1P, since...well, it wouldn't be much use without one!
Forget hoarding batteries for old F-1's and FTbs; it's unnecessary. 1.4 V #675 alkaline hearing aid batteries surrounded by a split washer work just fine with no modifications to the camera, per my repair person. These batteries burn out perhaps two or three times a year, but they are as cheap as dirt. I think they are about $2 for a six pack, or even less.
Better yet, forget your in-camera meter and get a hand held meter or trust your best judgment. Not only will you not have to worry one bit about battery issues, but you will stop having the less-than-ideal exposures that any in-camera meter suggests most of the time. The sooner one realizes that an in-camera meter is a compromise that is usually a hindrance to achieving ideal exposures, the better off one will be.
If you just cannot bring yourself to cut the chain with your in-camera meter, at least carry a 4x5 inch grey card in your pocket at all times.
Better yet, forget your in-camera meter and get a hand held meter or trust your best judgment. Not only will you not have to worry one bit about battery issues, but you will stop having the less-than-ideal exposures that any in-camera meter suggests most of the time. The sooner one realizes that an in-camera meter is a compromise that is usually a hindrance to achieving ideal exposures, the better off one will be.
If you just cannot bring yourself to cut the chain with your in-camera meter, at least carry a 4x5 inch grey card in your pocket at all times.
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