AE-1 acting up

[lttletimmy]

Hey everyone,

I've had my Canon AE-1 for some time now, but it's taken up a bad habit of leaving the shutter open when I take a picture. If I push the battery test button the shutter will close again, but that's about the only way to do it. I just replaced the battery so that's not the problem, and everything else seems to be working properly. I just had the camera overhauled about a year and a half ago so I'm a bit perturbed at this recent occurrence. Any suggestions?

Oh and I'm new so hello

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome.

Maybe your shutter speed knob is out of whack. Maybe you have goo on the shutter blades, this can be a problem on older EOS cameras but I don't know about the AE-1.

You might consider purchasing another Canon manual focus camera, if you have some FD glass. These cameras are plentiful and can usually be found for quite a good price.

 

[lttletimmy]

I've already got an FTB as well, it would just be nice to have a backup. Thanks for the speculation, if it's too out of whack I might just take it apart and see what I can do. thanks again.

 

[Mitica100]

Hey everyone,

I've had my Canon AE-1 for some time now, but it's taken up a bad habit of leaving the shutter open when I take a picture. If I push the battery test button the shutter will close again, but that's about the only way to do it. I just replaced the battery so that's not the problem, and everything else seems to be working properly. I just had the camera overhauled about a year and a half ago so I'm a bit perturbed at this recent occurrence. Any suggestions?

Oh and I'm new so hello

First of all, welcome!

What you are describing is not something I'm used to hear about, that's a new one. Couple of questions for ya:

-at what speeds does it act like that?
-have you tried the selftimer and does that work?

I can't advise you to take it apart unless you know how to do it but if you do, after taking the casing off try to blow some compressed air into the shutter assembly but make sure the air does not hit the shutter blades (focal plane). It could be there is some junk making contact with something else, hence the strange behavior. The process of disassembly is a long and involved one, take your time and take notes as to what part comes from where, for easier re-assembly.

Good luck.

 

[lttletimmy]

Hey everyone,

I've had my Canon AE-1 for some time now, but it's taken up a bad habit of leaving the shutter open when I take a picture. If I push the battery test button the shutter will close again, but that's about the only way to do it. I just replaced the battery so that's not the problem, and everything else seems to be working properly. I just had the camera overhauled about a year and a half ago so I'm a bit perturbed at this recent occurrence. Any suggestions?

Oh and I'm new so hello

First of all, welcome!

What you are describing is not something I'm used to hear about, that's a new one. Couple of questions for ya:

-at what speeds does it act like that?
-have you tried the selftimer and does that work?

I can't advise you to take it apart unless you know how to do it but if you do, after taking the casing off try to blow some compressed air into the shutter assembly but make sure the air does not hit the shutter blades (focal plane). It could be there is some junk making contact with something else, hence the strange behavior. The process of disassembly is a long and involved one, take your time and take notes as to what part comes from where, for easier re-assembly.

Good luck.

I'm afraid it acts like this at all speeds, and does the same with the self-timer. I'm still a bit confounded by the fact that pushing the battery check button closes the shutter. And don't worry, before I take it apart I would A.) Make sure it was the very last resort and B.) Do extensive research, but I guess we'll see how things work out! Thanks for the welcome and for the help.

 

[Mitica100]

I'm afraid it acts like this at all speeds, and does the same with the self-timer. I'm still a bit confounded by the fact that pushing the battery check button closes the shutter. And don't worry, before I take it apart I would A.) Make sure it was the very last resort and B.) Do extensive research, but I guess we'll see how things work out! Thanks for the welcome and for the help.

Here is a link, you might want to check before dismantling the AE1.

http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/forum/

 

[lttletimmy]

thanks