A-1 and AE-1 apeture blinks in manual mode on lowest lens setting (i.e. 1.8 or 1.4) and won't change

[matthew_chagnon]

Hi,

 

I was given a Canon A1 two Christmas's ago (with some lenses, etc).

When I am in manual mode with a 50mm/1.4 lens, the LED will blink 1.4

and not change when I am turning the Ap. ring. When I put a 50mm/1.8

it does the same thing but with 1.8. My mom's AE-1 does this as well,

are we doing something wrong? (all I want is to see what apeture

setting I have with out having to look away from the viewfinder all

the time). Possibly unrelated is that when i push in the depth-of-

field-preview button (on the left) nothing happens and it

doesn't "lock".

 

any insight?

 

thanks,

-m

[gary w.]

From my A1 manual:

"The data displayed in the viewfinder will be the same as if the camera was in shutter priority AE. You will see the shutter speed you have set on the AT dial. The aperature displayed is that the camera would select on Auto."

If you have a blinking 1.4, the camera is telling you that you are underexposing (you need a larger aperature than 1.4 at your given shutter speed). Try using a slower shutter. The "M" in the viewfinder reminds you that you are in Manual mode.

 

Your depth of field button will only go in if your lens is off the "A" mark. When you push the the DOF button the camera will automatically behave as if you were in the AE mode (the camera will automatically set a relevant shutter speed)

 

Hope that fixes your problems. I got my A1 manual second hand on E**Y for under $10 (photocopy)

[timothy_fitzgerald]

Gary's response about the aperature blinking is correct; this is just an underexposure warning.

 

Unfortunately, Canon did not provide a viewfinder display of the aperature selected on the lens with the A-1 or AE-1 cameras; for that matter, the AT-1 (match-needle) is really the only "A-Series" camera that will give a viewfinder indication of the aperature selected via the lens ring, but there's no way to directly correlate that to the aperature number within the viewfinder. I suppose this may have been a matter of design philosophy with the "A-Series" cameras, or possibly there was a compelling technical reason why this information could not be "back-transmitted" to the A-1 for display (although I honestly can't see why not). I agree it would be handy to have this information displayed when the camera is in manual mode, but the viewfinder displays on the "A-Series" cameras should really only be thought of as a light meter display, not of the actual camera settings. If looking away from the viewfinder to determine the lens aperature setting is really an inconvenience, you might consider upgrading to the New F-1, which will provide that sort of information for you. The AE Finder FN provides the most comprehensive aperature information for all exposure modes, but the regular Eye-Level Finder FN will at least give you an indication of the selected lens aperature in manual (i.e., match needle) mode by superimposing the needles against the shutter-priority meter scale.

 

If the depth-of-field (DOF) preview lever fails to lock, and the lens is not set on "A," you might be inadvertently engaging the release. The DOF preview lever on the A-1 (and AE-1 Program) was a little different than the AE-1 in that it has a small, hinged piece at the end of the DOF preview lever that will swing outward about 90 degrees. When you push on that, it [theoretically] makes it easier to maniupulate the lever and engage the DOF preview. However, that hinged piece is designed also to be the release; when you fold it back down flat against the camera, it presses in the release catch and the DOF preview lever will return to its normal position. If you don't swing that small hinged piece out away from the camera, the DOF preview lever will not lock into position.