Canon A-1 LED display problem

[mike_sowsun]

I just picked up an A-1 really cheap ($37) and everything works as it should EXCEPT the LED display. Normally it will display shutter speed and aperture, but mine has only partial display on 2 of the 7 LEDs. I can use the camera Program, Av, or Tv modes, but I can’t see what values the camera picks. Has anyone else dealt with this? Any idea of what it would cost to repair? 
 

 

[mike_sowsun]

[gwhitegeog]

HI Mike,

I have not encountered this particular problem before but given the age of the electronics now (at least 45 years, or so), I am not surprised. I am sure a good Canon A-series technician could deal with it - but it would require cannibalizing parts from another camera and it would be a complex and expensive repair, I am sure. Is it worth it?

Gary

[BeBu Lamar]

Since you just picked it up recently there is no sentimental value to it. The best bet is to find another one to buy. It's the least expensive way. These cameras only worth having someone fix it if they have great sentimental value otherwise buying another is the best and least expensive way. 

[gwhitegeog]

Agree, a working one can be picked up at a fair priced and then you can far less for a technician to just to a CLA on it.

G

[John Seaman]

Yes, getting the LED fixed would cost a lot more than a replacement camera, even if the part could be found. And if everything else is working, and there's no Canon Squeal, why not just use use in manual mode, and invest the money saved in a hand held light meter? That's if you don't already have one.

[dave_thomas8]

I think some of the interconnections in the A-1 essentially clamp the flexible circuitry against contact pads on a circuit board. It's slightly possible some oxidation has sneaked in and it might be possible to unclamp, clean and re-clamp such joints (though certainly not fun). Those displays are usually multiplexed matrices where loss of certain connections can create all sorts of partial segment operation.

After my A-1 body got spilled out of a fanny pack and banged up a bit, I wound up buying another used A-1 body. On first receiving it the LED display was a little flaky, though nowhere near as bad as what you show. That just sort of "cleaned up with time." I can't really account for that. At some points in past history modules like LED or LCD displays were occasionally clamped against an elastomer strip that had conductive sections in it. Those were occasionally brought back to life by "smushing" them around a little to re-seat things.

All in all, another body, as suggested above, is probably the least painful approach.

[danac]

Don't give up on A-1 cameras. If something happened to my beloved (Oikawa CLA'd) A-1 I'd probably cry, stomp my feet and have to hug my teddy bear.

[mike_sowsun]

On 11/30/2023 at 9:08 AM, John Seaman said:

Yes, getting the LED fixed would cost a lot more than a replacement camera, even if the part could be found. And if everything else is working, and there's no Canon Squeal, why not just use use in manual mode, and invest the money saved in a hand held light meter? That's if you don't already have one.

I’ll  just keep using it the way it is. It actually works quire well in Tv, Av, and P modes. The LED display is nice to have but really not needed. There is even a switch to turn it off to save the battery. 

[ben_hutcherson]

If I may be permitted to ramble a bit-

Back in high school(2005) I wanted to get a "real" camera and decided that the A-1 was the camera for me. I searched Ebay for a while and finally thought I'd ended up with the "right" one, only to get it and realize that the LEDs didn't work.

This bothered me quite a bit, and honestly I should have probably returned it. At the same time, Ebay wasn't as buyer-friendly then, and I was so thrilled to have the camera in the first place that I overlooked it.

Despite not having the LED read-out, I used that camera a lot. I used it in shutter priority mode, and mostly just parked the shutter at a speed that was supposed to prevent motion blur. Back then film and processing were cheap-I'd buy a box of 5 rolls of 24 exposure film at Wal-Mart for $5 or so, and could have send-off processing with 3x5 prints done for $3 each and back two days later. I learned my way around that camera pretty quickly despite shooting it "blind".

That summer, the camera went with me on a 2 week school trip to France. I shot a grand total of 26 rolls of film(two rolls most days, albeit most of them 24 exposure rolls that I could usually get 26 or 27 on).

There were a few occasions on that trip, though, where the display randomly started working. It would generally work for a few hours then quit again. There was no rhyme or reason to it, and it's not worked since then.

At times, I've spent long periods of time aimlessly working the viewfinder on-off switch back and forth. I've never been brave enough to actually go into and look, but old cameras are sometimes susceptible to corrosion on electrical contacts and in a lot of other situations I've found the mechanical "scrubbing" of the switch contacts that working it provides can at least provide a temporary fix. I've never seen it make a difference on my A-1.

Still, though, I continued using that camera A LOT. I did get a T90 for Christmas that year and bought a T70 somewhere along the way, but continued to use the A-1 frequently. Over the next few years I built up a much larger kit and came to like the New F-1 best of all of the FD bodies(and I owned most of them at various points) but the A-1 was still there, and still without its display. I would guess in what's now closing in on two decades of ownership of the camera(which is hard to believe considering that I'm in my mid-30s and at this point may have well owned it longer than its original owner, or if I haven't yet will have in a few years) I've shot several hundred rolls of film in it, and just accepted the non-working display.

I always said I'd have it fixed. Mr. Ken Oikawa serviced a few F-1s for me in that time(does anyone know if he is still working on cameras, or even still alive? I'd love to have him service my F-1s again, especially considering that it's now been nearly a decade and a half since he did them). I never thought about even asking Mr. Oikawa if he would work on A-series cameras. There's enough of a...communication gap...to put it lightly anyway that I've never broached the topic.

More recently, I decided that I wanted an A-1 with a working viewfinder display, so I bought one. I figured it was the easiest way there, and honestly I ended up buying a nice kit for less than the likely cost of an overhaul. I actually ended up with two of them so sold kept the nicer and sold the other, plus started building out all the other A series cameras(I've found I really like the often-ignored AT-1, and still don't have an AV-1 but am not in too much of a hurry to get one).

I still wouldn't mind getting my old faithful A-1 fixed and treating it to what is probably a much-deserved overhaul. It has always had a broken battery door(the loose piece is just now familar under my fingers when I pick it up-enough so that an A-1 without a broken door feels strange to me)and of course the mirror has always squealed. Maybe I'll do that one of these days, and if Mr. Oikawa is still in the business and works on the A-1, maybe now is the time to do it.

[jim_bielecki1]

1 hour ago, ben_hutcherson said:

.......I always said I'd have it fixed. Mr. Ken Oikawa serviced a few F-1s for me in that time(does anyone know if he is still working on cameras, or even still alive? I'd love to have him service my F-1s again, especially considering that it's now been nearly a decade and a half since he did them). I never thought about even asking Mr. Oikawa if he would work on A-series cameras. There's enough of a...communication gap...to put it lightly anyway that I've never broached the topic.......

Nice post.

Ken Oikawa officially retired about a year ago.  There's a thread on that someplace if you go back far enough.  When he retired, he recommended Steve at the Camera Clinic USA for FD work.  I understand that Steve does top-notch work.

[Bettendorf]

2 hours ago, ben_hutcherson said:

I always said I'd have it fixed. Mr. Ken Oikawa serviced a few F-1s for me in that time(does anyone know if he is still working on cameras, or even still alive? I'd love to have him service my F-1s again, especially considering that it's now been nearly a decade and a half since he did them). I never thought about even asking Mr. Oikawa if he would work on A-series cameras. There's enough of a...communication gap...to put it lightly anyway that I've never broached the topic.

 

I don't know if he is still alive or not, but he has retired from camera repair for sure.  And yes he did "A" series also.  I had a AE-1P and a A-1 done by him several years ago, along with three F series bodies before that.

Edited December 2, 2023 by Bettendorf

[gwhitegeog]

I am British but now a Portuguese citizen. If any one is interested, I know good repairers in London and Lisbon that I can recommend.