Canon AE-1 User manual

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Udf'lil1t4trfl
fhe Basic Stepsto Picture-Taking
What's all this? War-
ranty, instructions
We don't need all this
stuff. l'm going to
throw it away.
ll, look here. Thiswarrantyca
says that it doesn't cover any
mishandling of the camera
by the
user. Besides,
we know next to
notlling about a cameralike this. I
think maybe we should look into
Hey! Wait a
minute. .
Come on. You've never read a
single instruction sheetin all the
time l've known You.
Okay. They're pretty short.
I guess
it won't takeusvery long.
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Congratulations
on your Pur-
chase
of a Canon AE-1. We
know that you are anxious
to
start taking pictures with it.
Our first hint for taking great
ones is to read these instruc-
tions. Follow the steps in
order and become well ac-
quainted with the camera.
Then, once you have a good
understanding of PART l,
moveon to PART ll. lt con-
tains a lot of informationyou
won't f
ind elsewhere. The
brief time spent in reading
these instructions is a sound
investmentin satisfaction
and
en
joyment.
Symbols
ffiSignals
animportantDO.
@ Signatsan
importantDON'T.
Copyright
o 1980
byCanon
Inc.
All rightsreserved.
Printed in Japan
2
CONTENTS
1. Attachthelens .r.. .pP.3-4
2. Setthe lens
for AE photography . . . . p.5
3. Loadthe battery . . P.6
4. Check
the battery . P.7
5. Before
loading
film, learnto operate
basiccontrols .... P.8
Set
theASA . p.9
Loadthe
film pp.10-12
Learnto holdthe
camera
correctly p.13
Oneshot
atatime pp.14-15
At the endof the roll, rewind
the
film p.16
* Dedicated
FlashPhotography . p.17
*
Self-Timer
. pp.18-19
* Carryingthe Camera p.2O
* Pre-Shooting
Checklist.. P.2"1
Camera
parts are labeledon the insidesof the foldout
flapsatthebeginningand
endof PART ll.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
t.
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1.
Attach the Lens
Remove the rear lens cap by
turning it in the directionof
the arrow until it stops and
pulling
it
out.
To reattach
the rear lens
cap,
align it with the lens as il-
lustrated. Then lightly push
it in and
turn it clockwise
until
It StOpS.
Remove
thebodycap.
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To mount the lens,first align
the rounded red positioning
point on the lenswith the red
dot abovethe camera mount
as
illustrated.
Then turn the lens in the
direction of the arrow until
it stops and the lens release
button pops out with a click.
A lf your camera
looks like
this, with a red
dot show-
ing inside the camera
mount, do not mount the
lens yet. First pressin
the small ch
rome button
as shown to release
the
stop-down slide. Then
mou
nt the lens. Leave
4 thestop-down
slide
asit is.
ffiWfren film isloaded,
make
sure
it is completely advanced to
the next f
rame before mount-
ing
the lens.
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Remove
the f
ront lens
cap.
2.Set
theLens
for AE(3:J:[?:")Photography
While pressing
in the AE lock pin, turn the aperture ring in the
directionof the arrow until "4" click-stops at the aperture
index.
"A" will be in line
with the reddot on the camera. lf you forget
to dothis,
automaticexposure
will beimpossible.
NiliT?lH
1. AE photography
is possible
only with a Canon
FD lens. See
PART ll,
p.24
for how to use
a non-FD
lens
on the AE-1
.
2. Some
Canon
FD lenseshave
a green
circle
in place
of the "
A" mark. lt
means
thesame
th
ing
asthe "A" mark.
To remove th
e lens,tu rn it in
the direction of the arrow,
while pressing
the lensrelease
button,until it stops.
anon
N
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Load the
Remove the viewfinder cover
from the accessory
shoe.
;:ii,::j::;i;iii,:ij::ijjliji:ai::i;j:::i;::i::;f:i;ii:iti::i:i:i:iiii::tii;itir:::i;:ii:::i:
Open th
e batte
rY
cover using the
cove
r.
Load one new battery so that
its polesare in the di
rections
indicated by the diagram in-
side
the battery
chamber.
chambe
r
v
iewf
inde
r
f,,E-[
Correct Batteries Examples
Silver
Oxide
6V Eveready
(UCnR) No.544,
Mallory
PX
28, JIS4G13
Al kal
ine-manganese
6V Eveready
(UCAR)
No.537
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Insert the negative
Then push down
the positive end.
chamber
cover.
Press
the battery check button
while looking through the
viewfinder. The meter needle
in the viewf inder will move.
A Don't touch the battery
poles. Wipe
them and the
camera contacts with a
clean, dry cloth before
loading to prevent poor
contact
from dirt.
lf the battery is good, the
meter needle
will restat or be-
low the battery check index.
lf there is not enough power,
it will rest above the index.
Replace
the battery.
rNilqlF
1. With normal use,
the battery
shouldlast
about one
year.
2. lt is necessary
to take special
precautions
with the
battery when you ar_eshooting in very low tempera-
tu
res
(below
Oo
C
, 32"
Fl
. See
pRRT |
|
,p.30
end f irst.
and insert
Close the
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5.Before Loading Film,Learn to Operate Basic Controls
)
Turn the shutter button lock
lever
to "A".
-g:Turn the shutter button
lock lever to t' L" to pre-
' vent accidentaI sh
utter
re
lea
se o
r battery d
rain
whenever you are not
using
the
camera.
Turn the film advance
leverin
the direction of the arrow
until it stops.
You may turn it
in one continuous
stroke
or in
several short strokes. When
f
iI
m is loaded, th
is wi|| ad-
vance
it to the next frame.
The AE-
1 has a two-step
sh
utter button. Pressit half
-
way to turn the meter on and
to get a meter reading in the
viewfinder. Gently squeeze
it
all the way down toreleasethe
shutter. You cannot release
the shutteragain
until the film
is
advanced.
@ NEVER JAB the shutter button! Pressingit gently is im-
portant for getting
sharp
pictures.
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Lift the knurled ring
alignedwith the greenaroundthe shutterspeeddial andturn it until the ASA speedof your film is
index.Thisisabsolutelynecessaryfor gettrng
correct
exposure.
lf the shutterspeed
dial
turnS
while
you aresetting
the ASA, turn it to
"8" or "1000" and then set the
ASA.
The top of the f
ilri
carton f
its in there.
That way we can re-
member what kind of
f
ilm is loaded. Wh
at
a conven ient memo
holder! uiit
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7.Loadthe Film
Pull the rewind knob u
p until
the back cover pops open.
A plastic insr
-t is attached to the
pressure
plate of a new AE-1 to
protect it in transport. Before
loadingthe first film cartridge,
it
is important to remove this insert.
It may be thrown away.
The AE-1 uses
color (negative
or slide
) or black and wh
ite
film in standard
35mm car-
tridges.
Placethe cartridgein
the f
ilm chamber as shown.
Then push the rewind knob
down,
rotating
it untilit drops
into its
normal
position.
Itiliiiriifirillliirri iiiliiiiiitii:ii,ii',i,':'.ltrii'' rlrli'..r{rxti'i,#iifiiiii:'|i:iiirliiii'itiiidii riiiii
Pull the film leaderacross
the
camera and insert it into any
slotof the take-up
spool.
Bshield thefilm from direct
sunlight
while
loading.
10
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=j'fi
Advancethe film once. Check
that the film perf
orations
are
engaged
in the teeth of the film
transport sprocket and the
take-u
p spool.
@ Wfrlteloading
the film, take
care
not to touch the shut-
ter curtain, the film rails
or the pressu
re plate (
parts
inred)
.
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The film should
be taut.
cran
k in th
e d irection of
cove
r.
lf there is
the arrow slack,
until itgently
sto
ps
.
11
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Take several
blank shots, raleasing
the shutter
and advancing
the film, until the f
rame
counter
reads
"1" (the
dot following
zero).
While
doing
this, keep an eye on the rewind knob. lf it
rotates
in the direction
of the arrow,
the f
ilm is
loaded
correctly.
Each time you advance the film, the frame
counter also
advances
to the next frame. lt can
count up to 38 frames. The numbers 20 and
36 are
in orange
to call your attention to the
f
act that rol
ls with those nu
mbers of frames
areor are
almost
finished.
12
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B.
Learn to Hold the Camera Correctly
v /x) t\/\ i{l
The slightest
movement of your body during shutter releasemay
cause
blur in the picture. To reducechances
of this, hold the
camera
as steady as possible
with you r left hand su
pporting the
camera and lens. Press
both elbows to your body and lightly
press
the camera
to your cheek
or forehead. For a vertical
shot,
steady at leastone elbow against
you
r body. Spread you
r f
eet
slightlyapart,
one foot aheadof the other, and relax. lf awall or
a
tree is
available,lean
against
it.
NF?Iil
There is,
of course,
no one
correct
way to hold the camera. Experiment
to find the
most comfortable way for you of holding it steady. lt may help to practice
in
front of a mirror.
,ft
'!.+'i,i
13
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9. One Shot at a Time
Set a shutter
speed
bY turning
the shutter speed dial until
a number from 60 to 1000 is
aligned
with the index.
Then look into the view'
f
inder and press the shutter
button HALFWAY. The meter
needlewill move to tell You
whether the sh
utter sPeed
You
have set will give correct ex-
posu
re.
lf the meter needle Points
to the red zone at the top of
the scale or if the red LED
(Light-Emitting
Diode) Utinks
below the scale,
turn the shut-
ter speed
dialas
shown. Other-
wise, exposure
will be correct
at the shutter sPeed
You have
set.
A Do not set the shutter speed
dial between
the click-stop
set-
tings. Note
that it does
not turn past
"1000" or "8" .
Nriql!
See PART Il, p.14, if you must set the shutter speed
dial to a number
below "60". lf action is
a particularly
important element
in the shot,
you
may wish to refer to PART ll, p.13, for more information
on choosing
a
shutter
speed.
500 |
000
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Composethe
possible.
Turnp
icture
. Ce
nter
the
f
ocusing
ring your subjectin the viewfinder
if
until
the
main
subjectis
sharp. Press
the shutter
button all
the
way down to take the picture.
Nifi?Er
lf there islight,
such
asthe sunor
a window, behind your subiect,
press
the backlight control switch
as you press th
e sh utter button .
See
PART ll, p.2O.
Must be Eyecup45. I tried attach-
ing it to the eyepiece
and it made
viewing
lots
morecomfortable.
15
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Roll,
',.i:it'i,;:,;;:i!'iir,iri":itji:i:ri;,it'it,l
@:
You cantell you havereached
the e
nd of the film by the
frame counter and the film
advance
lever. Either
the film
advance I
ever wi
|| n
of tu
rn
at all
or it will not tu
rn all the
way. F
irst press
in the rewind
button. You may immediately
let
goof it.
Then turn the rewindcrank in
the d
i
rection
of the arrow untiI
the frame cou
nter, wh ich
counts backwards as you re-
wind, reaches
"S".
Then open the back cover, re-
move the film cartridge,
place
it back in its canister and have
it developed as soon as pos-
si
ble.
Nh?EI
The rewind button rotatesas you
rewind the film. When the film
is completely rewound, it stops
rotating.
A DO NOT open
the back
coveruntil you have
rewoundthe film
back into the cartridge. lf you do, light fallingon the film
may
ruinall of the pictures.
16
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* Dedicated
Flash
Load the
and slide
accesso
ry
locknut.
flash with batteries
it into the AE-1's
shoe. Tighten the
Turn the Speedlite's
ASA film
speed
dial to the correct ASA
speed and push the aperture
selection switch to tire green
or red
't
A" position.
Tu
rn the Speed Iite's mai
n
switch oN. After the pilot
lamp glows, press
the shutter
button to takethe picture.
EUE
Can
on offers f
ou
rSpeed
I
ites
(
133A,
155A, 177A, 199A) for the AE-1
.
With slight differences,
all four are
used in almost the same
way. See
PART ll, p.33,and the Speedlite's
instructions
for moredetails.
g Make
sure
the
AE-1's
shut-
ter speed
dial is not on
"8". Any other setting
is
okay.
For correct exposure,
the subject must be within a certain
range of distances
from the camera. The requireddistance
rangeis shown on the flash by the curve which is
the same
color asthe setting
of the aperture
selection
switch. After you
focus,
check
the lens'distance
scale
to make
surethe focused
distance
iswithin the range
shown
by the curve.
'g
aDo not shoot before
the pilot lamp
rncorrect. glows
or exposure
may be
17
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*Self-Timer
Advance
the film to the next
frame.
lg Use the viewfinder cover
to cover the eyepiece
wheneveryour eye is not
to it at the moment You
take a shot. lf it is un-
covered,stray light enter-
ing from th
e rear may
cause
underexposu
re.
18
Push the self-timer lever for-
ward to uncover
the self-timer
lamp.
@ fne AE-1 sets the ex-
posu
re the moment You
press the sh
utter button.
Do not stand in front of
the lenswhile pressing
the
button or exposu
re may
beincorrect.
To start the self
-timer, Press
the shutter button. The self-
timer lampwill begin
to blink.
When it stops blinking ten
seconds
later, the shutter will
be
releasedautomatically.
Nif!{?t
Following exposure, unless you
want to use the self-timerfor the
next frame, reset the self-timer
lgvgr
to "A" or "L" .
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*Pre-
Shooting Checklist
Lens
Setting?
ASA
Setting?
Bbtter'y?
F
ilm Adrrance?
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