tim_foerster

<p>John, thanks for your help. However I am pretty sure that my AE-1 does not suffer from the 'Canon Cough'. The shutter sounds absolutely fine. I have looked at videos on YouTube of cameras having that problem and my camera doesn't sound like that.<br> I might try lubricating it anyway just to be sure.<br /> Any other tips?</p>

<p>Hi everyone,<br> I have posted a question regarding the AE-1 before (3/4 a year ago), but it is only now that I have fully identified the problem. The overall problem is the following: The curtain only opens when I use a shutter speed slower than 1/15. I have now realized that this happens, because there is a short <strong>delay</strong> in between the shutter release and the curtain actually opening. The delay is not a problem when I use a shutter speed of 2 sec, because the delay is only like 1/15 of a second. Obviously it is a problem when I use fast speeds like 1/60.<br> Things I have done so far:</p> <ul> <li>I have checked both electromagnets on the bottom of the camera (MG2 and MG3) and they seem to work flawlessly</li> <li>I am certain that the battery is good</li> <li>I have tested this many times</li> </ul> <p>I hope somebody will be able to help me. Couldn't really find anything on Google when looking for the delay problem.<br> Tim</p>

Hello, I got an AE-1 from ebay a while ago that was advertised as working. I've been trying to get it to work since then, but had no success. The problem is as following: When I set the camera to a really slow shutter speed like 1s everything works perfectly, but when I set it to shutter speeds 1/15 and up, the shutter doesn't open. The mirror flips up and down for the right amount of time, but the curtain doesn't open. The only working speeds are from bulb to 1/8, which are quite useless for me. Battery is new. Does somebody have any ideas? Thank you. Tim

Just in case anyone's interested: My Nikon FE finally works again! I got screwdivers small enough for opening the bottom plate, but the screws were too tight in there. I couldn't unscrew them without damaging the screw heads. So I kinda gave up on that. Today I just picked up the camera to have a look at it and tried taking a shot just for fun. It worked! I couldn't believe it. In fact I still can't. Someone in this thread suggested moving the film advance lever in and out a few times. I've done that hundreds of times now, but today it must have been enough to make it work again :) Thanks for the help everyone.

<p>Wow, I'm amazed how small those screws in the base plate are. I have not found a screwdriver yet, that is small enough... <br> I'll try cleaning up the battery compartment, but I don't think that is the problem, since the battery check light turns on.</p>

<p>Thanks for the suggestion Christopher, but I have already tried changing the batteries' orientation. They are definitely in the right way, because the battery check light actually (at least on my camera) doesn't turn on when they're put in the wrong way.</p>

<p>Thank you for your very detailed response Joe! <br /> The needle in the viewfinder does not move, neither does the "Auto" setting do anything. The shutter does not open at all when the mirror locks up. The mirror doesn't come back down if I push the lever in, only if I rotate the shutter speed dial to M90 or Bulb.</p> <p>Your explanation makes a lot of sense. All of my observations (together with your explanation) lead to the assumption that the connection in the lever wind switch is indeed bad. I have moved the lever wind many times already and nothing changed. I am going to have look in the base tomorrow, as I don't have the right tools for this right now. I will report back.</p>

<p>I have looked at the FRE problem, but it doesn't seem to have anything to do with my problem. A cracked FRE apparently leads to wrong metering, not problems with the actual shutter.</p>

<p>I have tried it with the frame counter lower than 1 and higher than 1, there's no difference., but thanks for the idea.</p>

<p>Hi guys,<br> this is my first post here. I just got a used Nikon FE from my Dad and encountered a problem with it. I've read threads on this forum with similar questions but no solution to my problem.<br> I have put fresh batteries in it, but only the two mechanical shutter speeds work. Without batteries the camera works exactly the same. When I select one of the electrical speeds, the mirror just turns up and doesn't come down anymore until I move the shutter dial back to one of the mechanical speeds.<br> Of course I thought there's a problem with the batteries or the battery chamber, but <strong>the battery check light DOES come on!</strong> Could there just be a problem with the internal electrics and is it possible to fix (except paying more than the camera's worth)?</p> <p>Thank you, Tim</p>