Handmade Genuine Real Leather Half Camera Case Bag Cover for Canon AE-1 Yellow Brown

Product Information

In fairness though, there’s nothing wrong with the AE-1, the differences are very slight and they don’t make any difference to your final image. The AE-1 and A1 take the same brilliant lenses and this levels the playing field. Also, functionally, there isn’t much difference in the way you use these two cameras. If you want to know how this camera compares to others, how much you should be paying, some of its common issues and much more then read on! Canon AE-1 Specs The AE-1 is a great SLR camera and it was popular for a good reason. In this day and age though, i think there are much better and more reliable alternatives for a better price, something like the Nikon FM surpasses the AE-1 in my opinion and it’s a very similar price. That being said, it’s still a very good camera that will help you to learn more and more about shooting film professionally. This camera is ideal for someone that is trying to learn film photography, the shutter priority mode makes it a lot easier for amateurs to take better shots without having to worry about the rest of the settings. This camera really lends itself to a beginner. Is The Canon AE-1 Fully Manual?

So why is the Canon AE-1, a light-tight box of room temperature mayonnaise, so popular? It’s part of the depressing truth about film photography in the 21st century that we’re attaching value to those that are prone to break the least (the X-Pan notwithstanding) . Essentially, this camera is popular because a lot of it can break and you can still use it to take photos. And they made a lot of them. It’s in the same boat as the Pentax K1000, a camera that’s the result of a company taking a good camera, the Pentax KX, and taking out all the features of interest. So I enrolled in a summer darkroom photography course at the local community college. And much to my excitement, a fully-manual camera was at the top of the list for course materials.

Why Is This Popular?

It is perhaps underappreciated that because new 35mm cameras aren’t being made (or at least not produced in volume), we have changed how we evaluate these cameras as a community. When cameras were being produced like any other consumer electronic device, the longevity of a camera was less of a concern. But now, as we see once state of the art electronics fail over the decades, we’ve placed a priority on simplicity. This consideration makes once humble cameras into valuable objects in the film world. Damage to the battery door is also quite common for an AE-1, usually the bottom corner of the battery door can end up damaged and in some instances, the door may be missing completely. This is not the end of the world as the battery does sit in position quite nicely. You can replace the door but you would obviously have to find another door in good condition, you would be able to find out how to replace the door on youtube. The Canon AE-1 was one of the most popular SLR cameras ever produced, it was advertised so heavily that Canon has sold an incredible 5.7 million units since its release in 1976. The AE-1 was the first microprocessor-equipped SLR so it can be shot in shutter priority as well as fully manual. This camera is recognizable the world over, but how does it perform in 2022? And how much should you be paying for it?

There are some things to like about the Canon AE-1. It uses FD glass, which is both relatively cheap and abundant. If you want to save money, it’s a good idea to use out of date film, which can still provide some very good shots. How To Use The AE-1 The Canon AE-1 shutter speed dial is a fantastic piece of design, if you want to feel like you’re fondling a gear from a reject version of Mouse Trap while also slowing you down as you shoot. It’s made from cassette case grade plastic, and gives all the satisfaction of reheated oatmeal made with too much soy milk when used. And because it’s integrated into the film advance lever, you can’t adjust the dial with your thumb. Meaning you always have to take your finger off the shutter to change the shutter speed. Cool. By my second year in college I'd acquired a shiny new D300 and all things film photography became an afterthought. My AE-1 would remain untouched for many years to come. To Control The Shutter Speeds you simply have to use the dial on the right handside which has the numbers 2 – 1000 on it. Simply rotate the dial to choose your desired shutter speed.

At its most basic, a viewfinder on a SLR should allow you to compose your shot and obtain critical focus. With a split prism, the Canon AE-1 is able to do that with aplomb, so bravo on covering the basics. However in every other way, using the AE-1’s viewfinder is an act of frustration.

Unfortunately, because the AE-1 is quite old and it is quite an electrical camera, there are a few common faults for you to look out for to ensure you’re getting a quality camera. To Change the ASA/ISO, you’ll see that on the same dial as the shutter speed, there is a small window with green numbers inside, these numbers are your ISO. To change the ISO, you must pull upwards on the silver outer ring of the dial, then rotate it to choose the correct shutter speed. For me, film is a more intimate medium to work with than digital. From a personal project titled Analog 3086.

The Positives

Changing the ISO on the Canon AE-1 also requires using this dial. One the one hand, hats off to Canon for integrating three critical functions into minimal camera real estate. On the other hand, changing ISO often requiring asking for the assistance of a small child to use their slight and delicate hands to perform the tactile gymnastics needed to achieve this feat. It’s like no one was actually asked to use it before someone signed off on the design. I’ve worked with many Canon AE-1s and over the years I’ve discovered the pros and cons of this brilliant SLR.

The design of the Canon AE-1 can be described as typical of a Japanese SLR made in the mid-70s, which is a polite way to say almost completely unremarkable. The greatest design triumph on the body is the inclusion of the old-school skinny Canon logo, which is an act of typographic perfection so complete that the company was forced to change it to a bloated mess of a logo to cause people to buy more gear to fill the empty void in their hearts. We weren’t worthy Otherwise, you have to look out for fungus or dust in your lenses as you do with all SLR cameras, fungus and dust are very common, they don’t always make your lens too bad to use, but after a certain point, it’s far too much! I'd spent the next couple years working on personal project, part self-documentation, part observation, called " Analog 3086." The sole purpose of the project was to foster a stronger relationship between myself and photography. You’ll also probably need to replace your light seals which is very common in old SLR cameras. If you are getting light leaks in your images then you definitely need to replace your light seals which is very easy to do as you can see here. Final WordBoring, all this “hate” about cameras, in particular if it is about a Canon product (I am no fanboy!). Nobody would write such a review about a Nikon. My main SLR for many years was a Nikon FM-2. Let me cite one passage and swap brand/camera names: “…the design of the Nikon FM-2 can be described as typical of a Japanese SLR made in the mid-70s, which is a polite way to say almost completely unremarkable. The greatest design triumph on the body is the inclusion of the old-school skinny Nikon logo”. Well, you can easily recognize that this and other passages in this review would apply perfectly to an FM-2 or many other cameras made by different brands during that period of classic industrial design. The Canon AE-1 is best for all kinds of photography, it’s suited for street photography, documentary photography, portrait, travel, editorial and much more. Since it has a hot shoe you can use a flash, so this camera is suited to all sorts. Obviously, from a client perception point of view, this camera doesn’t really have a ‘wow factor’, so that’s something to bear in mind if you were to use it for anything client facing like portrait or editorial work. If you want to buy some film and you’re not sure what to buy or where then this article will solve all of your problems.