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chunky71

chunky71

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Dave
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Okay, okay, so I've gone and bought a camera off ebay (yes, i know) and i knew before hand that it was damaged. The seller had mentioned that the battery door on this Canon AE-1 was damaged. It is, but is easily fixed. However, what he didn't mention was, that the whole battery compartment was damaged and the film winder was jammed. I'm assuming that that's because there's no battery, but it could be something else.
Anyway, i've reached a dead end with it, so i'm throwing the towel in and seeing if there's anyone out there that fixes film cameras.
Any info is much appreciated. Otherwise it goes back on ebay spares and repairs.
Cheers
Dave
 
Yeah, that's what i was thinking too. But as the pin that the bottom of the battery sits on has dropped down into the camera (or fallen off completely), i can't get a battery to work.
 
Kevin Allan said:
I have sometimes used aluminium foil as a spacer in a battery compartment - might be worth a try to pack out the emtpy area.
Click to expand...

I tried that, but i hadn't cleaned out the only part of the contact i could see, so i'll give it ago again in the morning. Like i said, the pin contact has dropped so i can only see a little of it.
 
Depending on how much you paid for it you might be better off cutting your losses. Most repair shops I've contacted have a minimum charge of around £40; you could end up paying more than the price of another (working) one to get it fixed.
 
Might be worth getting the top cover off to check for damaged rivets. According to this video it's a common fault on the AE-1 causing the winde gears to jam;

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vonx87C1zvU


For the battery terminal, the bottom cover is probably just held on with 3/4 screws like most similar SLRs. If you remove those, the cover should lift off and you should be able to fish out the battery terminal wire from inside the camera.
 
chunky71 said:
Yeah, that's what i was thinking too. But as the pin that the bottom of the battery sits on has dropped down into the camera (or fallen off completely), i can't get a battery to work.
Click to expand...

stevelmx5 said:
For the battery terminal, the bottom cover is probably just held on with 3/4 screws like most similar SLRs. If you remove those, the cover should lift off and you should be able to fish out the battery terminal wire from inside the camera.
Click to expand...

That pin is a pillar about 3 or 4mm wide and the spring pushing it upward is quite beefy; it will have taken some force or messed up tinkering to displace it. If you take the bottom cover off, you will be confronted by the gears and levers of the shutter advance and triggering mechanism. To get to the floor of the battery compartment or even to find the wire that connects to it, would be a non-trivial bit of disassembly.

I'm sorry to say it but I think your camera is beyond economic repair. I say that as a tight-fisted inveterate tinkerer and that would be a job I wouldn't undertake.
 
Nick, that hurts my soul to read that. But i think you are right. I only paid £18 for it, but It looks like it's going to either go on my camera shelf to look pretty, or the bin.
:(
 
maarten.dhaese said:
Try contacting Miles Whitehead; he has just serviced a Canon A-1 for me for a reasonable price - although it was more than what you paid for the AE-1.

Even if you get it working it might have "shutter cough" and might need a service anyway.
Click to expand...

..but the Canon A-1 is a better camera compared to the AE-1, although if my A-1 broke down it would be dismantled for spares screws as I have a better Canon (no names o_O ;))
 
I think i'll give it a tidy up and stick it on ebay for spares and repair. Notch this one up as experience

Thanks for all your comments, it's much appreciated.
 
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