Canon AE-1

GeorgeUK · Jan 2, 2008

Just (re)discovered my dad's old Canon SLR, an AE-1.

(ebay stolen photo!)

2 lenses:
- 50mm 1:1.8
- Zoom 70-150mm 1:4.5

Complete will all the cases.

Any idea how much this is worth?

usayit · Jan 2, 2008

Great camera... unfortunately, you won't get much for it. I say keep it and enjoy it.

Coldow91 · Jan 2, 2008

Personally I would use it if it is in working condition.

salexander867 · Jan 2, 2008

That was the camera I used in the 1980ies. I would buy it from you if you were in the US! Mine got destroyed in a flash flood a few years ago.

ewhip17 · Jan 2, 2008

That's funny - I have my dad's old AE1 in my closet. I remember going with him to buy it when I was a kid. It was a big day for him. I need to see if it's still working.....

Battou · Jan 2, 2008

That was Canons most popular camera during it's years of service, so you are not likely gonna get much monitary value from it due to it's commonality, Contrary to my personal feelings about the model it would hold great value as a peice in your gear bag.

JIP · Jan 2, 2008

That was my second camera I don't have that one anymore (stolen) but I do have 2 others now.

Sideburns · Jan 3, 2008

The body is worth about 40 maybe...the lenses maybe 50 each. hard to say...
I'd just shoot with it.

GeorgeUK · Jan 3, 2008

Thanks for all the replies.

I did a search on ebay for them, and there were a few out there, not commanding decent money to be honest.

Once I get good with the DSLR, I'll start having a play with this.

airgunr · Jan 3, 2008

You can buy refurbished AE-1's from KEH & Cameta for around $100. Selling on the open market you should expect about $50-60, be happy with anything over that.

$20 - 30 for the 50mm
Not sure on the Zoom

I would keep it. It's a very nice camera. It was also made in HUGE amounts so you should be able to get parts and service for many years to come.

I started out with the AE-1 many years ago. I eventually sold it off and went with Nikon but I still have a soft spot in my heart for the AE-1. It went all over the world with me and took some fabulous shots.

tanz1983 · Jan 17, 2008

I am in the same boat. My dad passed on his AE-1 to me with many lenses and filters and a great flash. I now own a canon xti. Yet, I have not been home to play with it yet. Does anyone know the converter that I need in order to use the AE-1 lenses with the XTI?

sabbath999 · Jan 17, 2008

Won't work, they are totally different lenses...

The AE-1 has a completely different style mount than most SLR's, in the fact that with most lenses, the lens inserts into the mount... on the AE-1 series (and all the other cameras of that line) the mounts insert into the lens.

In practice, it was an excellent design that reduced wear on the lenses... kind of a shame it was dropped.

Canon made the decision to break backwards compatibility when it went to the EOS series, and while this hurt the people with large investments in canon lenses (and hurt their early adoption) it proved to be a very wise decision because it eliminated all the legacy lens problems.

tanz1983 · Jan 17, 2008

Yes, but there are converters for this. I just can't remember what the style of connections are.

sabbath999 · Jan 17, 2008

tanz1983 said:
Yes, but there are converters for this. I just can't remember what the style of connections are.

The converters are junk, even the ones Canon made. No auto focus (obviously), and no aperture control whatever. In other words, you have to focus manually (which can range from relatively easy to extremely difficult, depending on the situation) and then stop down the lens manually (making it anywhere from no more difficult to impossible to frame), and use it that way.

Then you have the focal plane issues involved. (This is a WAY oversimplification of this, for you lens geeks, I apologize in advance)... basically, because of the introduction of the adapter between the body and lens (since one is a "innie" and one is an "outie" this means that infinity focus will only be possible on certain lens/adapter combinations... Canon EOS cameras use an extremely short flange to focal plane setup (which, by the way, makes the Nikon lens to Canon body adapters work surprisingly well). Due to the construction of the FD lenses, you have to use an adapter which has additional optics built into it, and you run into the same issues that you get with a teleconverter... a slower lens with degraded image quality.

You end up with a slower lens that can't autofocus (naturally), that can't use auto aperture and must be stopped down manually on a camera that doesn't have a ground glass focus screen that is designed for manual focus.

Technically, the converters with adaptive optics "work", but in practice they are useless.

If you want to try one, they are at least cheap:

FD to EOS adapter

Me? I wouldn't waste the money.

The ones without adaptive optics will not allow infinity focus at all, so if you get one you NEED to make sure it has the adaptive optics (be prepared to lose a couple stops and have seriously degraded image quality).

So... IMHO... forget about it, they (the FD lenses) won't work in any practical sense.

tanz1983 · Jan 18, 2008

Thanks for the info. I just need something to use beside the lens I got with the camera until I get the few hundred dollars required to buy a new lens.