gavin_mckenzie

<p>Thanks everyone for their input.<br> Mark: Thank you for describing that your A1 works in the way I would expect.<br> Sven: Interesting. That sounds exactly like what I'm experiencing. At the same time, my battery testing button and LED don't work.<br> Now I have to decide whether this issue is significant enough to find someone who can service it. I know some would say "Just get another A-1", but that feels wasteful for a camera that that is operating just fine otherwise. I've read threads where people swear by Ken Oikawa's services. And I've seen a couple of sites that list service for the AE-1, but when it comes to the A-1 they say "call us". I assume servicing the A-1 is a bit more difficult given its digital circuitry compared to the AE-1.</p>

<p>I'm trying to diagnose a battery drain issue with my first Canon A-1 camera.<br> I've read tons of threads on the symptom and possible causes, but I have a specific question which I wonder might be related to battery drain.<br> When the A-1 is "On" (the A/L/2/10 switch is in position "A") and I look through the viewfinder, I see the exposure readout immediately, without having to half-depress the shutter button. The readout is faint, but clear. And it is a true reading, because it changes when I point the camera at different light sources. When I half-depress the shutter button, the readout doubles in brightness.<br> My expectation, from reading the manual, is that the camera would only display the exposure reading while the shutter button was half-depressed. In other words, I expected the camera to not be evaluating exposure until I half-depress the shutter button.<br> I've seem some threads that suggest the camera is always evaluating exposure when turned on, and other threads that suggest the opposite.<br> I'm hoping that someone who owns an A-1 can test this and let me know what the behaviour is of their own camera.</p>