AT-1 needs help

[StratLou]

Hello all,

So my AT-1, which I've had as my only camera since I was 16, has finally seemingly become terminal and would like some help before pronouncing. So, after being in storage for awhile, my daughter who began getting into photography encouraged me to pull it out and start using it again. So I did...but it didn't. It was not functioning in any way. So, thinking it was the battery, after being in storage for so long, I replaced it and still nothing. Went to my camera guy in Boston who took a look at it and said he could not repair it and sent it to his local repair person who also could not fix it. He then sent it to a guy who does all his older camera work in New Jersey and 2 weeks later...I was up and running again! So thrilled! Before putting film in, I put it through it's paces and it was working swimmingly. Until I snapped of around the 10th or 15th shot and it and the shutter mechanism quit on me. The through the lens light meter was working. The self timer light would blink when trying that function...but no shutter response at all. When I opened the rear cover, usually I would hear a little click which would reset the film counter, but this time I heard nothing. I pushed the button on the bottom of the camera which allows rewinding of the film into the cartridge (still no film in the camera here. Just trying anything), but when I tried to turn the spool inside by hand, which would allow a reset to reload film, nothing worked.
So I went back to my camera guy who sent it back to the Jersey guy and they wound up sending it back to us with a refund saying they did not have the part needed to fix it (don't know what that was exactly as we didn't ask that deeply about the specifics of the problem). Does this sound familiar to anyone? Does anyone know if KEH would be a good place to try or does anyone know of a place that might be able to help me? If it wasn't a sentimental piece, I'd part ways with it and move on. My camera guy offered an AE-1 to replace it so I can get back in the game and I am considering that option. Just wasn't ready to let go yet. Thanks for reading and for any assistance.

 

[compur]

Buying another, working body would cost less and be a lot easier than trying to fix it. It's quite possible that it can't be fixed anyway because most replacement parts are no longer available.

This is how it goes these days with most older film cameras. Replacement is much cheaper than repair. There are some exceptions to this but your AT-1 isn't one of them.

 

[dxqcanada]

If it means that much to you ... buy a working AT-1 and send it back in for repair to salvage for parts.

 

[compur]

Or, unscrew the rewind knob and slip in a new AT-1.

 

[cgw]

It's just the AT-1's memento mori moment. Find another working vintage Canon. I've thrown out a number of old Nikons recently that weren't worth fixing, especially after my local Nikon guy retired. I did get into the habit of buying favorites in twos--sometimes threes--in response to dwindling repair resources. Also tried to get Mint or Mint- condition gear whenever possible. Work out your own price/quality metric but "beaters" are usually heartbreakers. It's a bit cruel of people to promote the restorative CLA when this once-basic service is now hard to locate. Find clean, working cameras and shoot 'em till they break.