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CT

CT

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Been thinking about the thorny question of back up for some time now. Apart from the 20D, my only other camera is a Rollei 35 film compact which takes great pics but is painfully slow to use - estimating focus distance, so I've been looking out for something for a while now. What I've been wanting is a truly classic SLR, but a thoughly useable one for the odd roll of film, and I had a few models in mind, to which end I've been scouring fleabay for some time. With the massive swing to digital, there are loads of film camera bargains to be had, but many have seen a hard life, and the ones which are in good condition are highly sought by collectors and bidding then tends to be savage.

Anyway, finally picked up this lot for a price I can't believe. :)

bf_3.jpg
 
It's a Canon A1 with 5fps motordrive and the other bits you see complete in holdall. The A1 was the first camera to challenge Nikon's supremacy in the pro SLR field, the first true multi mode SLR, and years ahead of it's time. I actually used a borrowed one of these for a while and it was one of the most enjoyable cameras I've ever used.

So I'm looking forward to putting the odd roll of reversal film through it and probably scanning the results. :icon_cool
 
I found this site you may be interested in then Ian.

http://www.mir.SPAM/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/SLRs/a1/
 
When i got the AE-1, the A1 was always the next on my shopping list, but things always got in the way of getting one ! :(

I am sure it will do you proud mate ! (specially as i know how much ya got it for !!!!!) :banana:
 
IanC_UK said:
(specially as i know how much ya got it for !!!!!) :banana:
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There is that! :D I actually thought I'd missed it but I beat the end of the auction by 1 second! The other guy must have been incensed! :lol:
 
Exactly my thoughts. I got an old Canon EOS50 for £30. It has AI servo focusing which even the 300D doesn't have. How cool is that!
 
This has just been delivered. Wow! It looks like it just came out of box - not a blemish anywhere. I'm a happy rabbit this morning. :D

The guy I bought it off, Pete, is off shortly on a world cruise, and he wants to buy a 20D and a couple of lenses which is why he's reluctantly sold the A1. I've given him a headsup on this forum and he'll no doubt be looking in on us when he gets back from his travels.
 
Superb piece of kit CT, if you get fed up trying to fit a CF card in it and want a little reminder of how old school works give me a shout. ;)
 
LOL. Thanks Daz, :D

It's got a shutter speed dial and apertures where they should ougta be - on the lens - and a dof scale FFS! The viewfinder is like Cinemascope! :lol:
 
I bet the motor drive sounds just amazing too. :icon_cool :icon_cool
 
It's perfect! And gent that the guy is, there were a fresh set of batteries in the motor drive, ready to go. I really didn't expect that.
 
Is it possible to get the lenses to fit your digital cam?
 
I don't think so Sammy- it's a completely different mount. When autofocus came in, Canon had no option but to change the mount as there wasn't room on the existing mount to fit all the electrical connections they knew they'd need. They incensed a lot of Canon owners with big lens collections as you can imagine, but they really had no choice.

Nikon on the other hand, were extremely lucky that their mount was wide enough to take the connections, which is why even today you can still fit the oldest Nikon lenses on the latest bodies.
 
Great that it arrived, and you got one of the "good guys" from fleabay ! :)

I may have to put me AE-1P up soon, need funds ! LOL

So if anyone wants some nostalgia, AE-1 Program, excellent nick etc ;) LOL
 
Take some decent pics and post it in Classified Ian?
 
Do they need to know that they perhaps weren't taken with that exact scamera.... ;)
 
CT said:
I don't think so Sammy- it's a completely different mount. When autofocus came in, Canon had no option but to change the mount as there wasn't room on the existing mount to fit all the electrical connections they knew they'd need. They incensed a lot of Canon owners with big lens collections as you can imagine, but they really had no choice.

Nikon on the other hand, were extremely lucky that their mount was wide enough to take the connections, which is why even today you can still fit the oldest Nikon lenses on the latest bodies.
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You may be happy to know that it IS possible to fit the FD mount lens on your Dslr, you do however need to buy the Fd to EOS adapter which can be had on ebay from around £10 upto around £30. Since the FD lenses are manual (i think), you'll only be using them the same on yr Dslr as you would on the A-1. Fortunately, as you say, Aperture setting are on the lens anyway so this doesn't matter :)
 
Thanks for that Wez, I sort of guessed there may be an adaptor available but I wasn't sure. The A1 came with a 1.8 50mm lens and a short 35 -70 macro zoom and I have those focal lengths covered with EF lenses on the 20D anyway.

The other lens I acquired with the A1 though is a lovely little Sigma 24mm macro, which is the one I suspect is going to actually get used the most, and that obviously is best on the A1. :)
 
what's the difference between the A-1 and the AE-1 program?
just a saw a lovely AE-1 on ebay this morning with no bids for £55 with 3 lenses, a flash and tripod etc
 
wez130 said:
what's the difference between the A-1 and the AE-1 program?
just a saw a lovely AE-1 on ebay this morning with no bids for £55 with 3 lenses, a flash and tripod etc
Click to expand...

Here you go Wez ...

http://www.mir.SPAM/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/SLRs/ae1pgrm/index.htm
 
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