Canon AE-1 lens question

[rdnzl]

I picked up this AE-1 yesterday. I have not seen a Canon lens like this one before. There is no button on it for the lens release. I just line up the red dots and then the silver portion just screws clockwise until it is snug. But there is no click.

My other 50mm Canon lens that's on my AE-1 Program has a chrome button on it that I push to take the lens off. This lens just "unscrews". Is this the way its supposed to attach? Or am I missing something?

Everything seems to function properly. the meter works, etc.

 

[webestang64]

It's the first FD mount......

Canon's first iteration of the FD breech-lock, extended forward from the earlier R- and FL-series lenses, utilized a rotating mounting ring at the rear of the lens; the lens body itself did not rotate for mounting. Its minor disadvantage was a somewhat slower lens change than a bayonet.

Second-generation FD lenses, first marketed in 1981, are mounted like bayonet-mount lenses in that the photographer twists the entire lens body to mount and dismount, though the actual mating surfaces still remain fixed. This retained the advantages of the breech-lock mount while enabling the convenience of a bayonet.

 

[rdnzl]

Thanks. So I take it there is no CLICK when the earlier lens is mounted? It just goes snug and that it? To unmount this lens I just unscrew the ring?

And I am guessing that this is not the "original" 50mm for the AE-1?

 

[compur]

^ Correct, there is no click with the original FD mount lenses.

The first AE-1s were produced in the late 1970s and included lenses with the original FD mount so your lens is probably original to the camera. The "New FD" mount came out in the early 1980s so most or all the later AE-1 Program cameras (which replaced the original AE-1) had the New FD lenses.

But, both mounts fit all the same cameras. They just mount differently.

 

[rdnzl]

Thanks very much. I am just getting back into 35mm after going digital for many years. I'm 64and took many many photos with my 35mm cameras back in the 60's and 70's. But I never had a Canon film camera until now. I have an AE-1 and an AE-1 Program that I picked up locally for cheap. It's funny how I couldn't afford them when they were new, and now I own two of them for less than fifty bucks.

 

[compur]

Yes, I still find them cheap at local yard sales. Canon sold a zillion of them back in the day so they are plentiful. In fact I just found an AE-1P cheap this past weekend with a nice Canon zoom and I am refurbishing it.

 

[cabledawg]

I have an AE-1P and two AE-1's (one with the infamous stuck shutter). Well I actually have the entire A series, but the AE-1 is my go-to camera. It's what my mentor used and I learned on over 20 years ago. I was given an Olympus OM1 as a wedding present; it was stolen years back so I started fresh with Canon products.

It's great that you got both for so cheap and with lenses to boot. Around here they are going for a solid Benjamin because the local community colleges recommend them for the advanced film photography classes. I like that they are holding value but it makes it expensive for me to add to my collection

 

[rdnzl]

In the Seattle area, the prices are all over the board. Some folks just think they are outdated old paperweights, and some folks know what they are and charge a hundred or even more. Its fortunate when you can find the paperweight folks selling them. Those for sale ads don't last long. I snagged the AE-1 eight minutes after it was posted.

I can remember back in the late 70's wishing I could afford one, while I was using my old Mamiya Sekor 1000 DTL

 

[compur]

I only deal with the paperweight folks.

 

[dxqcanada]

Hmmmm ....

 

[rdnzl]

I also collect antique radios. Paperweight folks are a MUST with that hobby.

 

[Derrel]

SNIP>>>> I just line up the red dots and then the silver portion just screws clockwise until it is snug. But there is no click.

Right...there is no "click" noise because what you have there is a Canon FD mount lens that uses Canon's breech lock mounting system., which was at one time touted as being pretty much wear-proof...the idea being that the lens is aligned with the camera, and then the silver ring turns, and pulls the lens tightly against the camera's mount, eliminating rotational wear. BOOM! Lens automatically keyed and coupled to the meter. (Remember, this mount dates to a time when lens mounting and meter-coupling was a mechanically kind of kludgy thing!) It's a good, strong, reliable system, but it never really seemed to resonate enough for Canon to keep using it. Personally, I think it it/was a (mostly) good system for use with very heavy,long lenses, ones that might possibly put a pretty substantial amount of force on the mount, such as their old 300mm f/2.8 lens, and of course, it was a very robust mounting method. But there was a drawback too...

As I recall, Canon used the breech lock system in their earlier lens series, the R and FL series. They stayed with the breech lock when they intro'd the FD lens series.

As you _might_ find out...and I know thus from actual 1979-81 experience...when you mount a breech lock Canon lens, you gotta' hold the lens firmly in position while turning that danged silver ring, or...the lens can fall off and hit the ground. The breech lock system was, in my opinion, a solution in search of an actual problem.

 

[webestang64]

I also collect antique radios.

Me too. Do you have them on display? I just set mine p in a corner of my apartment.

 

[cabledawg]

In the Seattle area, the prices are all over the board. Some folks just think they are outdated old paperweights, and some folks know what they are and charge a hundred or even more. Its fortunate when you can find the paperweight folks selling them. Those for sale ads don't last long. I snagged the AE-1 eight minutes after it was posted.

I can remember back in the late 70's wishing I could afford one, while I was using my old Mamiya Sekor 1000 DTL

I wasnt alive in the 70's so by the time I got old enough to use SLR cameras, the EOS/autofocus systems were already out but many folks still had the old manual focus cameras. As for paperweights, I've scored a few over the years with a M/S 1000 DTL being one of them! Came with four lenses and a non-working flash. I've also been given a Canon T70, Elan IIe and Rebel II, all in good working order. Friends know I collect the old cameras so often times I get closet finds for cheap or free, especially if it's from the 60's or 70's.

Speaking of old cameras, I need to call a girl about a rare Kalimar SR100 with a couple lenses I found on CL.............