1978 Canon A1 camera

Helping my brother tidy out his garage today and he came across his 1978 Canon A1 camera. What a great looking camera it is. He also has several macro lenses to go with it. Sigma 1.5-00m. Tokina 70-29. Unmarked 50mm lens. A lens which is just marked 1:4x (made in Korea). There are also some Hoya filters.

He origiinally bought the camera years ago in a house clearance sale at a time when he was interested in photography. It is still in mint condition.

My question is can this camera still be used? Can you still get the film for it? If not, are the lenses compatible with today's Canon SLR's?

Seems a shame to have all this kit and not use it.

Yup, it can still be used. You can get film for it in tons of places...no, it wouldn't be compatible with most current-gen lenses, but oldskool lenses are dirt cheap in local thrift shops and on craigslist...happy shooting!

Yup, I still have my trusty A1. It's a tank of a camera and it has been all over the place with me. It's a standard 35mm camera so you can get film just about anywhere and there are still plenty of places that process film as well, drug stores, Costco, Sams, photo shops, just about anyone.

If your "find" included an external flash (like my AE-1 does), don't be tempted to use the old generation external flash with the ned DSLRs. I've read that the voltages were much higher back then, and could damage modern DSLR electronics. I can't verify this, but i did research before using my old flash on my new camera, and was glad I did. I have never done it.

Might want to verify battery compartment is ok = sometimes batteries will leak and cause damage if left there for years.

Thanks. The A1 has four different lenses, filters and an external flash. I'll get some film and try it out.

Sabbah wrote in post #7275488
Helping my brother tidy out his garage today and he came across his 1978 Canon A1 camera. What a great looking camera it is. He also has several macro lenses to go with it. Sigma 1.5-00m. Tokina 70-29. Unmarked 50mm lens. A lens which is just marked 1:4x (made in Korea). There are also some Hoya filters.

He origiinally bought the camera years ago in a house clearance sale at a time when he was interested in photography. It is still in mint condition.

My question is can this camera still be used? Can you still get the film for it? If not, are the lenses compatible with today's Canon SLR's?

Seems a shame to have all this kit and not use it.

There's a nice Wiki article on this camera at:

http://en.wikipedia.or​g/wiki/Canon_A-1

Since I am new to Canon (40D) it was fun to read the article.

Yes, it should still be very usable. Film is standard 35mm so very easy to find and get processed. You may find that the tricky thing to get hold of is replacement batteries, they aren't used in anything modern and so nobody around here stocks them (and they aren't rechargeable, so need replacing when they go flat). On the bright side the life of a battery is quite long, except on my A-1 which must have a short in it somewhere - it works perfectly but leave a battery in it overnight and it's dead the next day.

You should have no problem getting more lenses for it cheaply, you are looking for Canon FD mount. For aftermarket lenses, I can recommend Vivitar 'series-1' or Tokina AT-X lenses. Series 1 and AT-X being the higher quality ranges produced by the two manufacturers (in effect, the same as Canon 'L' lenses).

I would recommend that you run a short roll of film through first, just to check that the shutter is working at full speed, if they get left unused for a long period they can start to 'seize' slightly and so stay open a bit longer than they should. It will probably be alright, but worth checking.

You have a great camera there, enjoy it.

Just to comment on something above...

I've been using all sorts of flashes, including a Nikon SB28 and an ancient Pentax 1600 on my Canon DSLRs for years without any problems...not saying it's something you should run with...but some flashes work just fine

weather_wrangler wrote in post #7275714
There's a nice Wiki article on this camera at:

http://en.wikipedia.or​g/wiki/Canon_A-1

Since I am new to Canon (40D) it was fun to read the article.

Excellent article - have printed it off for my brother. As long as we can get the batteries - we'll try it out.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

I just bought one of these off of ebay in awesome condition. Still on my first roll of film. 36 pictures is alot when you are paying real close attention to what you shoot! I'm totally guilty of the pray-and-spray technique on my 40D.

You can get accessories and lenses for it really cheap. I got an outfit roughly equivalent to my ~$3000 digital setup for about $200.

Sabbah wrote in post #7276374
Excellent article - have printed it off for my brother. As long as we can get the batteries - we'll try it out.

I still have mine, but haven't used it since last summer. Pretty much stays in storage now (along with an F1). When it was released, it was considered the most sophisticated "computerized" camera available.