Canon A-1 Film

Hi. i have just got this old Film camera with a few lenses and was wondering if anyone has any experience using this or a similar Film camera.

It looks like its a full frame camera if im not mistaken?

What kind of "Films" should i buy for it as i want to use it for street pic taking. cheers in advance

its this camera

http://www.mir.com.my …ces/SLRs/a1/htm​l/spec.htm

I've got one. you are correct. All 35mm film cameras are generally considered full frame. Just buy a box of Portra 400. You won't be disappointed.

The A-1 uses FD lenses so without an adapter of some sort they will not mount to a dslr. But any 35mm film will work and surprisingly 35mm is coming back so many places still process the film. A manual is available (three parts) at http://www.butkus.org …n/canon_a-1/canon_a-1.htm. I would get yourself a battery (see section 1 of the manual) and fire away!

I wish I still had mine. It was stolen in Hood River OR a few years ago.

Do you want to shoot color or black and white? If you want to have some fun pick up an old reel, canister and some chemicals and develop your own black and white and have it scanned.

The A-1 was a technical marvel when it came out, the first body to have both AV, TV, and P in one body. I still have mine, it was a part of my kit from 1979 until about 5 years ago when I went digital.

gonzogolf wrote in post #14170119
Do you want to shoot color or black and white? If you want to have some fun pick up an old reel, canister and some chemicals and develop your own black and white and have it scanned.

The A-1 was a technical marvel when it came out, the first body to have both AV, TV, and P in one body. I still have mine, it was a part of my kit from 1979 until about 5 years ago when I went digital.

god, this really brings back memories. What a great idea!

windpig wrote in post #14170172
god, this really brings back memories. What a great idea!

I cant imagine that a Craigslist ad wouldnt net him the tools for practically nothing. Getting the chemistry might take a bit of effort but you can find anything on the net these days. If the OP is anywhere near Springfield Illinois, send me a PM and I could hook you up with part of what you need.

Ektar 100 looks great, Portra too.

cheers all for the response. im quite a young lad and come from the whole DSLR background so SLR film is quite new to me but wanna give it a proper go on this camera that my mum gave me.

Good question about which one to use(colour or b/w). most of my street pics are b/w so im guessing i need to buy b/w film or something?

My mum has a wide range of FD lenses for this camera. Anyways how do u go about developing the pics on your own? and if i do, can i develope it on whatever paper size i want?

Well yeah you need B&W film, this ain't digital :P

You *can* develop on whatever size you want, but after a certain point quality suffers.

jonneymendoza wrote in post #14170370
cheers all for the response. im quite a young lad and come from the whole DSLR background so SLR film is quite new to me but wanna give it a proper go on this camera that my mum gave me.

Good question about which one to use(colour or b/w). most of my street pics are b/w so im guessing i need to buy b/w film or something?

My mum has a wide range of FD lenses for this camera. Anyways how do u go about developing the pics on your own? and if i do, can i develope it on whatever paper size i want?

Printing, using the photographic process (as opposed to ink jet printing) is a lot more involved. You would need a darkroom with a sink, at least 3 trays for chemicals, an enlarger, photo paper, a papersafe, and some red safelights so you can see to work while you print. In other words its probably not worth the investment in cash and time to go that route. But I think it would be worth the effort to develop your own negatives. You can then have the negatives scanned in and use photoshop and an ink jet printer for printing.

cool thanks. Is there some sort of ISO settings in this camera?

i read somewhere that the ISO range is based on the films i buy?

Wow - brings back a lot of memories from my old 'film' days when I used to do all my own B&W work. I found an old Yashica FR-1 the other day with 3 lenses really cheap. In the camera bag I found 3 unused rolls of film - Kodak Max 400, Kodak 200 and a roll of Kodak Elite Chrome 100 for slides.

Your camera probably has an ASA setting on it - just assume that ISO and ASA are the same thing.

For street shooting I would absolutely use a flexible 400 speed film like Fuji Neopan 400, Ilford HP5+, or Kodak Tri-X 400. I shoot at ISO 400 often even when it's very bright out for street shooting so that I can stop down to about f8-f16 and have my focus set on the hyperfocal distance. Lets you snap away without worrying about focus and worry more about the decisive moment and composition. For lower light, these two films push decently well all the way up to 1600 (gets pretty grainy at this point) so I always have a couple rolls of Neopan 400 on me. Also it's cheap.

I also usually keep a roll of Delta 1600/3200 on me for night-time stuff.

For color, I love Ektar 100. Fantastic color rendition and fine grain. Portra 400 is also great, and if you can find it, even Portra 800 is quite good for its speed.

jonneymendoza wrote in post #14170648
cool thanks. Is there some sort of ISO settings in this camera?

Film is a whole different beast than digital .

Your ISO is dependent on the films you buy (on digital it's dependent on the sensor. Film doesn't have a "sensor," it has film). So is the color tone, the color saturation, whether the film is even in color, etc.. Once you shoot film you then have to develop it. Once the film is developed you can choose to make prints from the developed film.

EDIT: Be careful with buying true B&W films. If you're not developing them yourself, you're going to have a more difficult time getting them processed.