Shutter Speeds All the Same!

<p>I've been playing around with an A-1 that I picked up on the cheap. It's very nice, except that all the shutter speeds are the same, about 1/2 second. The only way to get the shutter to close is to press the battery check button - unless I depress the stop down lever - in which case the shutter closes on its own, but still at about 1/2 second. What could the problem be?</p>

<p>Let me add to this that when looking through the viewfinder, the LED shows BULB and f/32, regardless of what setting the camera is in.</p>

<p>Pete, it sounds like your A-1 is in dire need of servicing. I'd send it in for an estimate, and, if the estimated repair cost exceeds the value of the body, I'd just pick up another one. Like you said, you picked it up "on the cheap." So perhaps it would be better if its replacement weren't quite so cheap!</p>

<p>Hi Pete,</p>

<p>That sounds to me like it might be electrical death...too many weird and unrelated symptoms. Wonder if it got wet once?</p>

<p>if, after you get an estimate per Mark's suggestion and discover that it's not what you want to pay, and if you are mechanically inclined it's rather easy to take the top cover off and check for corrosion/shorts. My A-1 was draining batts, but after I cleaned and re-soldered a few wires it's back in business. I would not work on anybody else's camera unless they view it as either old ZZ's spanner-happy little shop of horrors or the trash can now, but I routinly work on my own cameras, it's fun.</p>