Canon a1

Or do the right thing and buy a new Nikon F6. 2yr warranty. Awesome camera. It's dead proper.
 
How hard is it to fix the canon squeak yourself? I watched a couple of videos and it doesn’t seem too tricky. I was going to take it for a service at some point otherwise
 
How hard is it to fix the canon squeak yourself? I watched a couple of videos and it doesn’t seem too tricky. I was going to take it for a service at some point otherwise

Fairly easy if you are careful and there are several ways of doing it...I chose to take the bottom plate off the camera and with a long needle and a drop of something like sewing m\c oil, on the mirror damping mechanism, cured my Canon A1 as per instructions. You can't ignore the Canon cough as it can get so bad the mirror returns slowly, which happened to me.
The hardest bit is getting the needle at the right angle onto the damping mechanism and not to use too much oil...just one or two drops
https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/s...=4af60882281759d4a8a485b66a3636e3&action=view

forgot to say:- While I was in the mood also did my AV1 even though it didn't have a cough...well it might have had a small one but with my bad hearing couldn't hear it :rolleyes:
 
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How hard is it to fix the canon squeak yourself? I watched a couple of videos and it doesn’t seem too tricky. I was going to take it for a service at some point otherwise

I did it on my A1, and I'm a sausage fingered idiot. Works a treat now.

I, like Brian, went through the bottom plate, used a spare syringe and long needle I got when I ordered some Rodinal a while back.
As Brian says, you've gotta be a bit careful to only use a small amount of oil, you don't want that flying round the interior of your body.
 
No it was a local place in Billericay, seems a lot to me lol

Miles Whitehead is not too far from you at West Malling Kent about 38 miles......you could send an email for cost, but even if he charged £30 to £40 I'd still do it myself. Anyway I think Miles is not interested in "one off" small jobs and would rather give the camera a complete service which probably be about £50-£60.
 
Miles Whitehead is not too far from you at West Malling Kent about 38 miles......you could send an email for cost, but even if he charged £30 to £40 I'd still do it myself. Anyway I think Miles is not interested in "one off" small jobs and would rather give the camera a complete service which probably be about £50-£60.
I’ll see what he says. Might be worth doing a service, never know how the previous owner treated it, there was a half shot roll of old Konica slide film in it when I got it lol. It appears to be very clean though so might not be worth servicing it yet
 
Just my opinion of course, but if you're going to go to the effort of getting a certain issue solved, it's likely cheaper in the long run to get it serviced at the same time. Further, clean cosmetics does not imply faultless mechanics: one does not stave off annual services on their car by keeping the pain clean :D

I'm playing devils advocate of course, and indeed this should all normalised against the cost of the camera and the availability of good condition replacements. If a CLA is going to cost as much as, or more than the camera, stick that money aside and plan on buying a replacement instead.
 
Just my opinion of course, but if you're going to go to the effort of getting a certain issue solved, it's likely cheaper in the long run to get it serviced at the same time. Further, clean cosmetics does not imply faultless mechanics: one does not stave off annual services on their car by keeping the pain clean :D

I'm playing devils advocate of course, and indeed this should all normalised against the cost of the camera and the availability of good condition replacements. If a CLA is going to cost as much as, or more than the camera, stick that money aside and plan on buying a replacement instead.
No it doesn’t but it looks like it was looked after.
Might be worth doing then if I can get for around £40-£50, £75 for a service seems a bit much lol
 
No it doesn’t but it looks like it was looked after.
Might be worth doing then if I can get for around £40-£50, £75 for a service seems a bit much lol

Well I wouldn't pay for any of my 35mm cameras to be serviced as if one breaks down I'll just use another as I have so many ;) And if you know the shutter firing is a bit slow e.g. 1/500 instead of 1/1000 or the meter is a bit out, you can adjust the ASA to compensate.... and the backup is the latitude of film.
But I was a bit annoyed with Miles as one of my RB67 lens has a firing delay after pressing the shutter button before the iris works..I know exactly what's wrong and is the initial sliding linkage, under an easy to get to cover plate, that needs cleaning and would do it myself if I knew springs or what ever wouldn't fly out when I took the plate off :eek:..why I am annoyed? well I only wanted that done as the lenses (elements) are perfect and the iris has no problem but Miles would service the lens for £60 erm well I only wanted one thing sorted. :(
 
Well I wouldn't pay for any of my 35mm cameras to be serviced as if one breaks down I'll just use another as I have so many ;) And if you know the shutter firing is a bit slow e.g. 1/500 instead of 1/1000 or the meter is a bit out, you can adjust the ASA to compensate.... and the backup is the latitude of film.
But I was a bit annoyed with Miles as one of my RB67 lens has a firing delay after pressing the shutter button before the iris works..I know exactly what's wrong and is the initial sliding linkage, under an easy to get to cover plate, that needs cleaning and would do it myself if I knew springs or what ever wouldn't fly out when I took the plate off :eek:..why I am annoyed? well I only wanted that done as the lenses (elements) are perfect and the iris has no problem but Miles would service the lens for £60 erm well I only wanted one thing sorted. :(
As far as I can tell the shutters are good, the meter matches my Sony and the roll I put through it came out correctly exposed so their at least close enough. I only have 2, I bought the a1 in case something ever happened to the at-1.
Yea that’s a bit annoying, have to see what he says, don’t know what the going rate for all that stuff is so have to ask a few places
 
As far as I can tell the shutters are good, the meter matches my Sony and the roll I put through it came out correctly exposed so their at least close enough. I only have 2, I bought the a1 in case something ever happened to the at-1.
Yea that’s a bit annoying, have to see what he says, don’t know what the going rate for all that stuff is so have to ask a few places

Well as shown on youtube some one who knew what that were doing could fix your camera cough in about 10min, allowing for undoing your parcel and re-parceling say another 20 mins @ £50 per hour would be £25.....but no one wants the bother just for £25 ? o_O
 
Well that miles just estimated £55 for a service/calibration, not too bad
 
Well that miles just estimated £55 for a service/calibration, not too bad

OR you might be lucky to get this for £55 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/minolta-...507983?hash=item1ca6433a4f:g:k5QAAOSwLh5avN4n this camera has what you want i.e. shows the f-no that you have set, in the viewfinder. I have the Minolta x-300, X-700 and Xd-11 and are nice cameras with top lenses although the A1 can do more IIRC...the only possible problem with X-300, X-500 and X-700 is a capacitor can stop working, but easily fixed following instruction with a small soldering iron and new capacitor on the net.. Anyway I've had no problems so might be a certain batch in production.
 
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Well that miles just estimated £55 for a service/calibration, not too bad
If you're going to send it in, it will probably be worthwhile replacing the light seals and mirror buffer foam while it's there, if they've not already been done. He did the ones on my A1 and made a very neat job of it (y)
 
i think im going to see how much i can get the bits to fix the squeak myself and see how it goes. the seals look fine at the moment, had no leaks on the roll i put through it anyway.
 
i think im going to see how much i can get the bits to fix the squeak myself and see how it goes. the seals look fine at the moment, had no leaks on the roll i put through it anyway.

Why not, just don't use engine oil :eek: :D I had some 50 year old sewing m\c oil but the handy oil in tins or plastic containers you get in the stores (one use is for bicycles) looks thin (but not sure if it is thin enough or doesn't make any difference anyway)...I didn't have a syringe but had a long needle with a eye and that held about a drop.
Good luck but it is really easy.
 
Why not, just don't use engine oil :eek: :D I had some 50 year old sewing m\c oil but the handy oil in tins or plastic containers you get in the stores (one use is for bicycles) looks thin (but not sure if it is thin enough or doesn't make any difference anyway)...I didn't have a syringe but had a long needle with a eye and that held about a drop.
Good luck but it is really easy.
Just water it down :)
 
i think im going to see how much i can get the bits to fix the squeak myself and see how it goes. the seals look fine at the moment, had no leaks on the roll i put through it anyway.

It might be worthwhile checking to see if the mirror buffer foam is tacky. If it is, change it before you lubricate.
 
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