AE-1, electrical or shutter issue?

Hi everyone,

 

I have looked through the FAQ here and spent the evening googling for this scenario I'm encountering and could not find a plausible answer. I'm not new to cameras in general, but definitely my first time with a film camera.

 

I bought my AE-1 (non-program) yesterday and began to mess around with the functions to familiarize myself with the camera without any film. I am able to cock the camera, but after depressing the shutter the whole way, nothing would happen. The only way i could get the shutter to release was by pressing the battery check button, then the shutter quickly. I discovered this thinking perhaps i was stuck in self-timer mode somehow.

 

As sort of a sanity check, I then purposely put the camera into the self-timer mode. Again, pressing down on the shutter the full way yielded no results. Pressing the battery check button, then the shutter button in quick succession again seemed to work as the light started blinking and the camera fired without any issue.

 

I am however discovering that doing this negates the shutter speed setting. The only discernible difference in shutter speed is when in bulb mode. Am I just somehow doing a "cancel" function by doing this? The shutter counter does go up whenever I use my method though.

 

Tried a couple new batteries, including the one already in the camera with similar results. I have not yet peered into the camera around the electromagnet. Will take a look when i can acquire some smaller screwdrivers.

 

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or criticism of my searching skills.

My theory is that at some point the speed dial was removed.

If not done with care, a tungsten wire that transfers information can break.

 

If broken, it will quickly retract under spring pressure towards the rewind side of the internal camera. In this condition

of a loose & tangled conductive wire, a short circuit can easily occur. Since there's a printed circuit board & flex in the vicinity, a short will certainly cause odd malfunctions...

Sorry to read about your AE-1's problems. Generally, these cameras have proven to be very reliable, even given their age. You can find clean, used AE-1s and AE-1Ps for not much money on sites like eBay. My only recommendation is that you just buy another and hope for better luck -- because any repair will cost more than what it would cost just to replace it with another one.