Canon A1 - as good as the F1?

I use both the T90 and the F-1N cameras. The T-90 is a joy to use, especially with the 300TL flash for full automation TTL. The spot-meter screens are a must with the F-1. I have about 10 screens, and I mostly use the spotmeter screen for ultimate control with slide film. Once one of my F-1 cameras got soaked with sea water as I stood to close to the water. It took about $125 to clean it up and remove any salt, but it came back to life as new. I also own an A-1 which I recently sold. It was like new, but it is a light weight camera that is not as rugged for hiking and other outdoor activities.

When I said cheap, I was comparing these cameras with their modern counterparts. To get anything like the features of a T90 or build of an F-1 in a new Canon camera you will probably be looking at an EOS1v which retails in the UK (body only) for £1499.90.

 

Next to this, mint used T90's, F-1's et al are CHEAP. Very very cheap!

 

Maybe I should prefer to use the term 'good value'!

 

Joe

And for all the reasons I stated, at this point, a T-90 is a risky purchase. It would be very easy to drop $300 and shortly thereafter have a camera with an LCD display that was neither useable, nor repairable. Alot of electronics-dependent older cameras are starting to hit this issue. But very few of them are as costly as a T-90.

I've owned a lot of Canon cameras over the last 20 or so years, TX, FTb, FTb-QL, AT-1, AV-1, AE-1, A-1, and F-1 (new), and having finally graduated to the F-1 I can say that I will probably never buy another model of manual focus camera. It's a tank, it's feature rich, and it has the match needle metering system I've always been fond of. Unless you get really unlucky and end up with a lemon, you'll never regret having spent the extra money for an F-1. Keep your eyes open for a while at ebay and you'll probably eventually find one in reasonable condition for under $250.

Hi,

I own two Canon T90 cameras and have not observed any problems with either. More than one person here mentioned potential problems with the T90. Could you please share with us how frequent such problems arise and what to do if they occur. Thanks.

I do know that T90's can suffer from shutter problems. This, I believe is due to the magnets sticking and is caused by lack of use. I think this is also the cause of the EEEE EEE display the T90 is famed for!!

 

I have never known a problem with displays although that is not to say it can't happen. The Canon manual states that 5 years is the expected life expectancy for these displays but all these cameras are 16 or 17 years old so I guess Canon were a little conservative in their estimates. That said though, if you did have an LCD display fail I think it would be a pretty difficult replacement item to find.

 

The only other item which may need replacing is the lithium back up battery and life on these is pretty variable. They are still available but you will need to take the camera body apart (or find someone who will) to replace it. The back up battery is only used when there is film in the camera but no AA batteries. If you have AA's in there your lithium cell could potentially last for ever. If you are storing the camera (why would you want to?) leave AA's in there but make sure you check them regularly, you don't want them leaking over the battery compartment.

 

I have also heard rumours that the lens mounts can work loose but again, this is pretty easy to sort out if you know what you are doing (or know someone who does).

 

I feel pretty strongly about the brilliance of these cameras and as I have stated previously, you can buy 8-10 (or more) T90's for the price of a new EOS-1v which makes them pretty good value for money I think!

 

I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one even if mine did fail.

 

Joe

Hi - my two cents. I am a bit of a Canon FD fan - I have a few at the moment: F1, T90, AE1-P, FTB, AL-1, FX. Had an A1 - it died - but it was a good camera that had an idiot previous owner!

 

I think that we all miss something that is quite important when we get into this kind of discussion.

 

All the Canon FD stuff was pretty good the day it left the Canon factory. Some models are prone to certain problems (A series squeak!) - other models are assumed to suffer from certain problems (T90 LCD) and most issues relate to their age - but we often assume that they have all had a "perfect" life? That they have been stored in "perfect" conditions and that the users has never abused them?

 

At this stage of the game it is important to have a very close look at the CONDITION of the camera - they were all pretty good to start, but they are all pretty old now!

 

After you have examined 30 or 50 cameras you get a really good idea of what you are looking for - what I am saying is that you actually get a "feel" for the condition rather than a really objective and teachable opinion :-) For example -

 

1. The pressure plate seldom tells you much - they are allways pretty wear free - but the re-wind shaft wear would suggest heavy use.

2. The tightness of the breech mount is a fair indicator of how many times the lens has been changed - using a lens that you know.

3. Look at the mirror - has some idiot tried to clean it with a cloth?

4. Listen to the shutter action and watch the stop down lever while you do it - listen to the 1 second shutter - then go all the way back to 1/1000. You can eventually "feel" if it is accurate?

5. Dont get too stressed about light cosmetic damage - paint wear and scratches - but do get stressed about dents!

6. Have a very close look at LCD's - if there are diffent shades apparent with the thing off then you may have a problem.

7. Check the electrics - after putting in a new battery and cleaning the contacts. See how fast everything reacts to different light levels - does it "feel" right?

8. Take a magnifying glass and look at all the screw heads - has it ever been taken apart. If it has then be very wary - who took it apart? Why? I often pass up "bargains" for this reason if I am not absolutly thrilled with everything else.

9. Get your friend's A?? or F?? and fire it a few times - you would be surprised how distinctive a AE1-P at 1/60 is! It does not sound the same as an FTB or Minolta XD11. This is probably the most subjective test of all - but at this stage I either want it or I dont!

10 Load film and feel how it winds (bit difficult with a T90!) - this too is pretty distinctive - after you have done this to a couple of Canons you will know what is "right"

11. Dont stress about tarred foam - it is a fact of life now.

12. Have a close look at the closed shutter - it has got to look perfect - any flaw here will cause me to forget about it. No stains, crinkles, cracks or marks of any kind. This is the heart of the machine - you dont want a machine with heart problems. Have a close look for pinholes burned into the shutter.

12. Look for lots of dust - in the mirror chamber or under the switches etc. Dust inside is not a good sign.

13. Look for corrosion outside - green or white - maybe it lived at the sea side - not a good sign! Ideally it spent all its life at 5000ft ASL!

14. The mercury battery issue - problem with the F1,FTb and FX!

 

In conclusion - they were all good (with some problems) but it is more important now to check out where they came from and how they feel!

All this gibber-gabber about how the T90 is destine to fail has got me thinking. How hard would it be for a Camera technician to screw an FD mount on an EOS-1? Configured to not loose infinity focus of course. I'd guess stop-down metering only. Or would it be cost prohibitive. $400 camera, $20 parts camera for mount pieces, $200 Camera tech's labor. $600ish total or is this too much for what you'd get?

Simply put, take a look at the book at http://www.canonfd.com/newf1world/f1worldind1.html

The second part of the book tells of all of the advancements made from the A1 to the new F1. The biggie for me is that it works in the extreme cold (I've had my A1 fail a lot in the winter doing nature photography) and that it's moisture proofed out the wazoo.

I own an A1 for some years, I’ve bought it together with an MA motor drive because I wanted the portrait mode grip and second release button together with the aperture priority.

When it started to drain the batteries when I did not switch it off within a day, I tried to get another one, which had the EE EEEE error.

Also both A1s have broken battery doors.

To be fair, I must say that the first A was a bit beaten up, the brass coating came out underneath the black paint, but on the other side this to me is a sign that the camera did not hum up through missing use.

 

So now I got an New F1 together with the power winder, so again I got aperture priority and the vertical grip.

Of course the f1 is much better build and even though mine saw heavy use (even the paint on the lever is off) everything feels accurate and works fine.

One big advantage is that the Power winder only uses 4 AA batteries so it is much lighter than the A1 with MA motor drive and it’s 12 AA batteries (of course only 2 frames per second but I never shoot in continuous mode).

One big disadvantage of the F1 is, that if you are shooting in aperture priority mode you can not illuminate the match needle in the finder. Since I am shooting a lot indoors and at night I am thinking of installing a little led light on top of the viewfinder which shines on the light window which illuminates the match needle of the finder.

Anyway I believe that you will hardly find a more rugged 35 mm camera than the New F1 and I am sure that it will still work and be serviceable in the next 40 years.

On the F1 when you're in manual mode you can watch the meter the same time you adjust the exposure. It's a common feature with most cameras but you will be surprised that you can't do that with the A-1 or the AE-1.

Picture quality wise, no difference. Reliability? Big difference. F1 - dead battery or some other electronic problem, not the best situation, but keep shooting (Newest F1 some limitations). A1? you're SOL.

discussion of some points at issue above:

 

Canon A-1 - A-series "professional camera"

 

The A-1 was a "pro-am" aimed at those who wanted the ease of use of the A-series

The A-1 was my first "real" camera, and I shot the snot out of it, but always in shutter priority or aperture priority.

 

Manual mode is such a pain on it and the T90 that I never used them as such.

 

By contrast, the New F-1 at least has AE that integrates seamless when you need/want it, but otherwise manual metering works beautifully. I still prefer the manual meter read-out on the New F-1 to any other camera I've used. That included nearly every Nikon film SLR, plus most of the other major Japanese brands at some point or another(mostly Olympus, but others). The only thing that comes close is the 3 LED read-out of the F2SB/F2AS/FM/FM2, but the New F-1 still gives a lot more information at a glance while also being easy to read in all light and unobtrusive.

+1 for the A-1. I love mine!