Canon A1 exposure problem

Hi,

I have a Canon A-1 with a 50mm f/1.8 FD lens. I have noticed that the exposure settings are significantly lower than usual (e.g outside on a sunny day, it would give me something like f/4.5 and 1/60 with 200 ISO). However when I get the film developed the photos are correctly exposed. This isn't too big of a problem but leads to me having to shoot at low shutter speeds and wide apertures often. Could there be something wrong with the lens?

 

Thank you.

The settings for sunny conditions suggest overexposure by 4 or 5 stops. Print film is pretty tolerant but I'm surprised you say the pictures are correctly exposed. Are you using colour print film? What are the negatives like?

 

Is the lens stopping down correctly? You should be able to see the lens stopping down by operating the depth of field preview (if the A1 has one, I can't remember if it has), otherwise set it to a slow speed and that watch the aperture blades are closing down snappily to what looks like the selected aperture.

Hi John,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I used C-41 film and the negatives look normal the same as all others as far as I can tell, and none of the photos are overexposed, not even the slightest bit.

I've checked the lens stopping down and it seems to be working correctly. It's a strange problem and I've never come across it with any of my other SLRs!

I can't explain your findings unfortunately. It certainly seems that the camera is delivering the correct exposure, but indicating over exposing shutter speed, aperture or both. I don't know enough (i.e anything) about the various exposure and control modes of the A1 to suggest why. If you indicate what exposure mode you were using, and give any more relevant information, perhaps someone will come in and help.

Here are a few things you could try:

* Dial in different aperture values and shutter speeds in Av and Tv mode and verify if the value displayed in the finder matches the dialed value.

* Verify if the film speed and exposure compensation dial can be moved through the entire range.

* Use another FD lens and check if that gets you significantly different exposure settings.

* Use an external light meter (or estimate exposure settings by the sunny 16 rule) for a few shots and mix with automatic exposure settings on the same roll of film.

Sometimes, all an old camera that has been on the shelf for a long time simply needs "exercise" to loosen it up.

 

With the camera empty, simply run it through manually on all settings. Often a good round or two of this is all it may need.

 

Hopeful in the Plague Year