the annoying shutter squeal (canon)

Markster said:

The part that wears out is plastic, after all. Logically it could be the age of the plastic and other factors that can make it happen.

Practically, I don't know. Just that the sources I read about this were professionals that repaired and used Canon A's for a living. Something about a bushing wearing out. They would always take an extra bushing on assignments for replacements in the field.

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I call BS at the idea of replacing bushings or gears in the field.

I do admit I could be mis-remembering what the exact details were. It was some kind of replacement part. These were solid professionals though. The context was when you had to take a camera on a trip somewhere in the world and having the camera fail to function was not an option. I've disassembled A-1 and AE-1P tops on my coffee table before (me! of all people!), so if you have a good place to do it, you can probably do any kind of repair.

It has been a while, but in 5 years of repaining A series cameras at Canon Australia I may have seen 1 camera that needed the mirror governor mechanism replaced (and I think that was the AE1 that had a very strange fault, where the first exposure after the camera had been sitting for a while produced a photo that was 1 1/2 stops underexposed. We ended up changing almost everything on it. In the end it we found it had a bent chasis, and was fixed with a large hammer and a anvil..)

There was no plastic part I can recall on any of the A series that needed regular replacing, especially a part that could have been replaced by removing just the top or bottom covers..

Actually - the only part I can recall that was a semi - common problem that could be fixed by removing the top or bottom cover only was the release magnet on the bottom of the camera, which could become sticky so your camera wouldn't fire when you pressed the shutter button. To replace one of these you only needed to remove 2 screws - and undo 2 solder contacts....


I used A's professionally to shoot motorsport for a couple of years before I replaced them with NF1's, and never had a problem with them.

I often read aboud sticky electro-magnets at different cameras. What are the causes?

Markster said:

I do admit I could be mis-remembering what the exact details were. It was some kind of replacement part. These were solid professionals though. The context was when you had to take a camera on a trip somewhere in the world and having the camera fail to function was not an option. I've disassembled A-1 and AE-1P tops on my coffee table before (me! of all people!), so if you have a good place to do it, you can probably do any kind of repair.

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Last time I did that, I brought a Nikon F.

benjiboy said:

What the uninformed refer to as a "shutter squeal" on Canon A series cameras ( it doesn't occur on the F series ) is a dry bearing on the fly wheel on the mirror braking mechanism, often results in people trying to lubricate the shutter mechanism with disastrous results.

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CANON SHUTTER SQUEAL / SQUEAK quick and dirty fix by Flavio E.

I posted on the internet, way back in 2001, the following diagram. Here i indicate the exact point where, by just spraying some drops of WD40, the squeak would be solved for years. Did it to my A-1 with no problems at all way back in 2001, the camera still works as today.

http://www.baytan.org/prak/pic/a1grease.gif

Yes, it is just caused by lack of lubrication on a specific flywheel. On the GIF above I indicate the point where the mechanism can be easily re-lubricated, using a common WD40 can, the one that comes with the straw. WD40 is a mix of kerosene -which will loosen the gummed-up lubrican, and very light lubricant.