Canon AE-1 User manual

INSTRUCTIONS
English Edition

Nomenclature
Shutter Speed Selector UI<II ---____,
"A" Mark --------------.,
Frame Counter -------~
Finger Rest ---- -.,.,&
Main Switch -- -- -j
Shutter Button (with
Cable Release Socket)
AE Lock Pin -----I !!od'
Action Grip --- - -j
Battery
Cover
Index ------ --
Focusing Ring -- - -----<
Aperture Ring -- -- ---
Bayonet for Hood - - ------
.------------ -Shutter Speed Selector
Dial Guard
,----------- Accessory Shoe
r------ B"ttp.rv Check/Self-timer
Cancelation Button
/, ---- -Film Plane Indicator
r--- ---- Lock Release Button
- ' ~ h- -- Film Rewind Knob with
Crank
Film Speed Setting
Lever
PC Socket
AE Lock Switch
Exposure Preview
Switch
Stop-down Lever
-. ..... =::!::==:¥- -- Mount Positioning
Point
'---------- Lens Release Button
'- ____ ____ ____ ___ Filter Thread
3

Thank you for purchasing the AE-1 PROGRAM.
Designed with the most advanced ele ctroni cs
technology available, this high performance SLR
camera offers you creative freedom through its
many innovative features. Your AE-1 PROGRAM
can be used in three automatic exposure ( AE )
modes: programmed
AE, shutter-speed priority
AE, or AE flash; manual override is possible, too.
We know that you are anxious to begin using this
camera. Thus, these instructions have been wri
t-
ten so you can begin taking pictures alm os t
immediately. For initial picture-taking, " Basic
Steps" will provide the necessary information.
Once you have a good understanding of these
operations, move
on to "Making the Most of
your AE-1 PROGRAM." It contains information
to assist you now and in the future, as your inter-
est and skill
in photography grow .
Unfold the front and back flaps of this
booklet for easy reference to camera
parts while you read the instructions.
4

Contents
Basic Steps
1. Attaching the Lens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2. Setting the Lens
for AE Photography . . . 10 '
3. Loading the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4. Checking the Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5. Learning to Operate Basic Controls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6. Setting the Film Speed . . . 15
7. Loading the Film . . . . . . . . . .
.. . . . . . . . . . . 16
8. Learning to Hold the Camera Correctly. . ........... . ... 19
9. AE Photography . . . 20
1. Programmed AE Photography. . . . . . . . . . . . . •. . .. 20
2. Shutter -s peed Priority AE Photography . . . 22
10. One Shot at a Time . . . 23
11 . Rewinding the Film. . ...... 24
Self-Timer . . . 25
Dedicated Flash Photography with the Speedlite 188A . . .. 27
Carrying the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
29
Pre-shooting Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 30
Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 31
Making the Most of Your AE-1 PROGRAM
12 . Battery. ....................... ........ ...... . . . .. 32
13 . Viewfinder. .... .. .. ... . . . . ... 34
Viewfinder Information . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . 34
Focusing. . 36
Expo s ure Warning s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ... . •. ... 39
14 . Exposure. . . . .. .. .. . ... 41
15 . How to Choose a Shutter Speed. . . ... 43
16 . Shooting at Shutter Speeds Slower than 1/ 60 sec. . .... . ... .. . 45
17. Aperture, Exposure's Other Half . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
How the Aperture Affects the P ic ture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 49
5

Contents
18 .
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26 .
27.
28.
Checking the Depth
of Field .. .. ... .. ... .. . ., . . . . . . .
51
Shooting with Light Behind Your Subject
(and Other Unusual Lighting Situations) ... . . • , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Shooting with a Non-FD Lens. . . . .... 57
Shooting with Close-up Accessories . . .. . 59
Film Plane Indicator. . . . . . ... 61
Manual Diaphragm Control . . . . . . • .. . . 62
Flash Photography . . . 63
Display Information in AE Flash Photography. . . ... 63
Auto-exposure Flash Confirmation Signal . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Automatic Flash (with Ordinary Electronic Computer Flash Un its) . . . . 65
Manual Flash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . 66
Shooting with Infrared Film . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .. . .. .. . .. . . . 67
Shooting in Very Low Temperatures. .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . . ... .... ... 68
Shooting at Night. . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . •.. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . 69
Interchangeable Focusing Screens. . . . .. . 70
Caring for Your Camera . . . 72
Optional Accessories. .
.. 74
Canon Power Winder A2 . .. 74
Canon Motor Drive MA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .••. . . . . ... ... '. .. 75
Canon Wireless Controller LC-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . • . . . . .. 75
Data Back A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • • . . . . . . . 76
Angle Finders A2 and B . . . . . . . 76
Lens Hoods. ....... . .. . .. ... ...... . . .. . . , . . . . .. 77
Dioptric Adjustment Lenses S . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Magnifier S ' ' .. 78
Filters , . 78
Speedlites . , . . , ., . . . 79
Specifications . : . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 82
6

Basic Steps

1. Attaching the Lens
Turn the rear lens cap in the
direction
of the arrow until it
stops and pull it off the lens.
Rernove the body cap.
The instructions in this section
concerning the lens
are for an
FD lens without a chrome mount
ring.
If your lens looks like this
one
with a chrome mount ring,
read its instructions
for handling
the rear cap and mounting it on
the camera.
8
To reattach the rear lens cap,
align
it with the lens as illus-
trated. Then lightly push it in
and turn it clockwise until it
stops.

To mount the lens, first align
the red positioning point on
the lens
with the red dot above
the camera
mount as illus-
trated.
If your camera looks like this, with
a red
dot showing inside the
camera mount, do not mount the
lens yet; correct exposure cannot
be ensured
if you do. To release
the
stop-down lever, unfold and
lightly press it down so
it pops
out. Then mount the lens. Leave
the
stop-down lever as it is .
Then turn the lens in the di-
rection of the arrow until it
stops and the lens release
but-
ton pops out with a click.
9
Make sure the lens release
button has popped out. Other-
wise, the lens will not work
properly. DO NOT press the
lens release button while
mounting or it may not pop
out.
When film is loaded, make sure
it is completely advanced to the
ne xt frame before mounting the
lens.

2. Setting the Lens for AE ( ~~~~~u~~c) Photography
------~~----~ ~~ ~~-----------------
o '" Ql tll 'ft1f1l 1
11 r'lT' I "I.'
" .'''.I f
With the exception of the Canon
Fish-eye 7. 5mm f/5.6 lens,
be sure to place the lens with
its front end down (as illus-
trated) to avoid damaging the
protruding pins.
Remove the front lens cap.
To remove the lens, turn it in the
direction of the arrow , while
pressing the lens release button,
until it stops.
10
While pressing in the AE lock
pin, turn the aperture ring in
the direction of the arrow until
"A" click-stops at the dis-
tance index. "
A" will be in line
with the red dot on the
camera. If you
forget to do
this, automatic exposure will
be impossible. Note that both
shutter-speed priority
AE and
programmed
AE require this
setting.

Notes
1. AE photography is po ss ible
only
with a Canon FD lens.
See p. 57
for how to use a
non-FD lens on the AE-1
PROGRAM.
2. Some Canon FD lenses have a
green circle
in place of the
"A'! mark. It means the sa me
thing
as the "A" mark.
3. Loading the Battery
Remove the viewfinder cover
from the accessory shoe.
Correct Batteries
Alkaline-manganese,
6V
Silver Oxide, 6V
Lithium, 6V
"
Remove the action grip by
means
of a coin or similar
object
Examples
Eveready (UCAR) No. A544
IEC 4LR44
Eveready (UCAR) No. 544
Duracell PX 28 , IEC 4SR44
Duracell PX 28 L

Open the battery chamber
cover using the viewfinder
cover.
Load a
new battery so that its
terminals are in the directions
indicated by the diagram in-
side the battery chamber.
The camera will
not function if
the battery
is loaded incor-
rectly.
The AE-1 PROGRAM will not
work without a battery. We re-
commend carrying a spa re bat-
tery.
12
Insert the negative end first.
Then push
down and insert
the positive end. Close the
chamber cover.
Do not touch the battery ter-
minals. Wipe them and the
camera contacts with a clean,
dry cloth before loading to pre-
vent
poor conta ct from dirt .

4. Checking the Battery
Turn the main switch to " A." Press the battery check but-
ton. Shooting is possible
if you
hear about six or more
"beeps" per second. If the
camera beeps slowly (about
three
or fewer "beeps" per
second), there
is not enough
power . In this case, replace the
battery.
13
Notes
1. With normal use, the battery
should last about one year.
2. It is necessary to take special
precautions with the battery
when you
are shooting in
temperaWres below Qoe (32°
F) . See p. 68 .
3. Remove the battery
if you do
not expect
to use the camera
for about three weeks or
longer.

5. Learning to Operate Basic Controls
Make sure the main switch is
on "A."
Turn the main switch to "L" to
prevent accidental s hutter re-
lease or battery drain whenever
you are
not using the camera
Turn the film advance lever in
the direction of the arrow until
it stops. You may turn it in one
continuous stroke or
in several
short strokes. When film is
loaded, this will advance it to
the next frame.
14
The AE-l PROGRAM has a
two-step shutter button. Press
it halfway to turn the meter on
and to get a display in the
viewfinder. Gently squeeze it
all the way down to release the
shutter. You cannot release
the shutter again until the film
is advanced.
Never jab the shutter button!
Pressing it gently
is important
for gett ing sharp pictures.

6. Setting the Film Speed
While pressing the lock re-
lease button , slide the film
speed setting lever until the
film speed of your film is align-
ed with the green index. This
is necessary for getting correct
exposure.
Film Speed Scale
15

7. Loading the Film
Pull up the rewind knob until
the back cover pops open. The AE-1 PROGRAM uses color (negative or slide) or
black-and-white film in stan-
dard
35mm cartridges. Place
the cartridge in the film cham-
ber
as shown . Then push the
rewind knob down, turning it
until it drops into its normal
position.
A plastic insert is attached to L- ____ _ _______ _ ~
the pressure plate of a new
AE-l PROGRAM to protect it in
transport. Before loading the
first film cartridge, remove this
insert and
throw it away.
16
Pull the film leader across the
camera and insert
it into any
slot of the take-up spool.
Sh ield the film from direct sun-
lig ht wh il e loading.

Advance the film once. Make
sure the
film perforations are
engaged
in the teeth of the
film transport sprocket and
the take-up spool.
The film should be taut. If
there is slack. gently turn the
rewind crank
in the direction
of the arrow until it stops.
Close the back cover.
17
While loading the film. take care
not
to touch the shutter curtain.
the film rails
or the pressure
plate (shown in red).. ..

Take several blank shots,
releasing the shutter and
advancing the film, until the
frame counter reads
"1."
While doing this, keep an eye
on the rewind knob. If it
rotates
in the direction of the
arrow, the film is loaded cor-
rectly.
Each time you advance the
film, the frame counter also
advances to the next frame. It
can count up to 38 frames.
The numbers
20 and 36 are in
orange to call your attention to
the fact that rolls with those
numbers
of frames are or are
almost finished.
Note
~
I
I
...
I
0 IC1350
36'
0
The back cover of this camera
has a memo holder. It conve-
niently holds the end of the
film box as a reminder of the
type
of film in use and the
number
of exposures.
For film loading, in particular, do not set the shutter speed selector dial to
"PROGRAM" if you have a lens cap attached to the lens or you are in
dim light. We recommend setting the dial to any shutter speed from
1/ 125 to 1/ 1000 sec.
18

8. Learning to Hold the Camera Correctly
The slightest movement of
your body during shutter
release may cause blur in the
picture. The best way
to pre-
vent camera movement is
to
hold the camera as steady as
possible, with your left hand
supporting the camera and
lens. Press your left elbow to
your body and lightly press the
camera against your cheek
or
forehead. For a vertical shot,
steady at least one elbow
against your body. Spread
your feet slightly apart, one
/
foot ahead of the other, and
relax. Lean against a steady
support
if one is available.
Note
There is, of course, no one cor-
rect way
to hold the camera.
Experiment
to find the most
suitable way for you. Select a
method
that provides comfort in
addition to stability. It may help
to practice in front of a mirror.
19

9. AE Photography
The AE-1 PROGRAM offers
the following two AE modes,
either
of which you can
choose according
to the
shooting situation
or personal
preference.
(1) Programmed
AE for those
who prefer the camera sets
both the shutter speed and
aperture settings. The advan-
tage
of this exposure mode is
that it allows you to concen-
trate fully on your subject.
(2) Shutter-speed priority AE
for controlling the subject's
movement. Faster shutter
speeds can
be used to freeze
subject motion, and slower
shutter speeds can provide
artistic blur
effects .
20
1. Programmed AE Photography
Tum the shutter speed selec-
tor dial until "PROGRAM" is
aligned with the index.
Do not set t he shutter speed
selector dial between the click-
stop settings. Note that it does
not turn past
"PROGRAM " or
"B."