Canon AE-1 trouble

[pentaxpete]

years ago a bought a second Canon AE-1 secondhand with Vivitar 283 flash etc but i found it has a fault - so thought i would ask on here -- it has a fault that the Battery cannot be left in for long periods of time or it is worn out -- eve
n when camera is 'switched OFF' the needle in viewfinder still fluctuates at the top -- power is still going through from battery --- I took it a repairer and he had it about 10 months saying there were no replacement circuits available any more so he put it back together again . My original AE-1 although more 'worn' is still switching off OK and I can leave battery in there.

 

[TheBigYin]

Personally, with all cameras of that vintage, I tend to leave them "sans battery" until I dig them out to use them, at which point I fit a battery and go shoot.

If it's a problem, maybe source a donor camera (there's plenty of AE-1's out there with a terminal case of canon-cough that you can pick up for beer-budget prices, and swap the offending circuitry.

I'd just leave the battery out until I want to use the camera for a day...