Canon AE-1 Light Meter

<p>Lately i've been using a friends SLR (Canon AE-1) which is a great little camera. However, the light meter is unlike anything i've used before. All i see is a gauge showing me the prefered aperture, and ocasionally a flashing red dot. But there is no indication of a prefered shutter speed whatsoever. its been sugested to me that the flashing red dot indicates when i'm using the <em>wrong</em> shutter speed. but i'm still getting a lot of poor exposures why trying this method.</p>

<p>Does anyone have some suggestions? or better yet, is there anyway to find an instruction manual on the internet? Any help would be appreciated.</p>

<p>Mathieu, I'm going to move this question over to the Canon FD Forum. I haven't touched an AE-1 in more than 10 years and don't remember much about it.</p>

<p>http://www.butkus.org/chinon/canon/canon_ae-1/canon_ae-1.htm</p>

<p>Please send Mr. Butkus a $3 donation. His online manuals have been a great help to many of us.</p>

<p>Hi Mathieu<br /> I think you are asking about the Canon AE1 program 1981 not the canon AE1 1975<br /> You can find very good info on both cameras at the link below</p>

<p>http://mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/SLRs/ae1pgrm/index.htm</p>

<p>Mathieu, in a nutshell, the AE-1's metering system assumes that you're going to use it in shutter priority automatic exposure mode. You pick the shutter speed you want, the camera picks the aperture to go along with it. <em>Preferred</em> shutter speed is your decision based on the results you want to achieve, the camera will pick the aperture to give correct exposure at whatever speed you chose (subject to the camera's metering range and the range of apertures available on the lens -- the red light blinks when you're outside these limits). If you don't like the aperture the camera will use, change the shutter speed until the camera indicates the aperture you want.</p>

<p>Also, make sure the aperture ring on the lens is set to the A position. Since you didn't mention a blinking M in the finder, I'm assuming this is already set.</p>

<p>It's been a long time since I used an AE-1. I did own one for over 20 years, though. IIRC, when you're in manual mode, the little rectangular mark on the meter scale corresponds to f/5.6. So you set the aperture to f/5.6, then adjust the shutter speed until the needle meets the mark. You have to meter at f/5.6, then adjust shutter and aperture to the desired values. I think. Consult the book.</p>