Balders

Canon AE1 – Program

I have my final piece of the jigsaw. My sixth, and final camera of the classic Canon “A” series collection

I purchased this camera as part of a job lot of 5 cameras that were faulty, read about that purchase here: More camera odds & sods

I’ve been working towards purchasing the entire range of Canon “A” series cameras, and this is the final piece of the jigsaw for me. I haven’t paid premium prices, I have purchased each and every one of them as damaged items and have had to effect the repairs on them to get them working. It’s a wonderful collection of old cameras, all showing their individual battle scars but each performing without fault in taking photographs. What they were designed to do, growing old gracefully and with a now extended life span.

It works out that this camera has only cost me £8:00GBP, and that is a superb price to pay for one of these cameras, even if it was only for parts it would have been a bargain, however these all have the ability to be revitalised and to be given another crack at life. I have done a very brief assessment and nothing appears to be operating as it should be. Electronically this is potentially a very unstable camera, I just need to run a final test on the electrical system. It has two parts that need replacing. There is a small power winder cover that is missing, it’s not important but I will replace it purely for aesthetic reasons. Secondly the battery cover is broken, I do have a 3D file downloaded so I will see how that prints out.

This camera is currently unloved, very dirty and will require quite a bit of work just to bring it up to usable standards. I don’t wish for it to be pristine and at display standards, I want it to be clean and capable of carrying out what it was originally purposed to do, it will be used and thoroughly loved.

Here’s a little bit about the AE1-Program:

The Canon AE-1 Program is a 35 mm single-lens reflex camera that uses Canon’s FD mount lenses manufactured by Canon Camera (today Canon Incorporated) in Japan and introduced in April 1981 as the successor to the Canon AE-1, five years after that camera’s introduction. The major difference was the addition of the Program AE mode first seen in the A-1. This mode sets both the shutter speed and aperture automatically—albeit with a slight bias towards the shutter speed setting. The user focuses the camera and then presses the shutter button. For those desiring more control, the AE-1’s shutter priority auto-exposure and full manual modes are still available.

Wikipedia

Repair

The first thing to do is to get the relevant battery in place and to see what does or doesn’t light up or function. These cameras take a standard 6v 4LR44 battery, and I have some more of these arriving later today, these cameras are reliant on that power source to pretty much do everything, so we have to have one in place to carry out an accurate assessment. Once i can see how the electrical system is working I can then make a decision on how to progress.

The battery has arrived and when it is installed, nothing happens. Electrically the camera is dead and requires attention, and that’s not good. The auto, lock, self timer switch under the winder is not moving, and hence the winder won’t wind, and the shutter won’t fire. It’s a very poorly camera. I go to remove the 6v battery and it is extremely hot, I’d suspect very close to exploding, this is not good at all. I’ve put the battery to one side, it’s now obvious that we have a short circuit somewhere causing the battery to overheat.

I have printed off a replacement door and catch. It’s not to the original standard but should do the job, until a quality one becomes available. To replace this door the top of the camera has to be removed anyway, so whilst I’m in there I will try to see if I can find the cause of the short circuit.

The pin that supports the door has to be pulled up through the mass of electronics to release the old door and the little spring that opens the door.

New replacement door installed after being printed

The printed door has cost me approximately 0.22p to print, and considering that Canon no longer produce the door, the options are limited to auction sites that charge horrendous amounts up to £30:00GBP, or the alternative is a 3D printed option of about £15:00GBP. Seeing this camera has cost me £8:00GBP, a layout of 0.22p will do for me just to get this camera up and running. I can always “tart” it up in the end if I choose to. To be honest, if it does a job, if the camera does what it should, then should I really worry about it? Probably not.

Just for the sake of it I have also 3D printed a speed grip that used to be facilitated on the “A” series cameras. These give a little more security to the battery chamber door, stop the door opening if the catch should fail, and give extra grip to the camera body. And it kind of looks nice so I have printed one out to use. I just need a black M3/8 screw to attach it.

I’ve also printed off a eye cap for the camera. Just because I can to be honest, it just finishes it off in my opinion.

I stated that the switch that puts the camera into auto mode, switches it off and operates the self timer was seized. When the top is removed and all the relevant parts are removed the area in question can then be observed. And there was a problem.

Under the film winder is a small Perspex frame with a spring loaded catch. This operates the three settings “A” – auto, “L” – lock or “S” – self timer. The switch must have been forced in the past, as the metal catch had sprung under the Perspex plate and was firmly wedged between the copper contacts underneath causing the short.

The metal catch had to be coerced back into position, lifted slightly to sit comfortably back in the position it had previously occupied. A quick test confirmed that the switch was now behaving how it should, and clicking firmly throughout its range.

The selector switch under the film winder in the correct position

The original battery that overheated was now showing as severely depleted due to the earlier problem, this has had to be disposed of, and so into the battery recycling receptacle it goes.

With the camera now reassembled I can try a new battery, and the result is the polar opposite of what occurred earlier. Straight away the shutter fired, when I put the switch into auto mode, the shutter could be fired again in fact it could be fired repeatedly. The light meter inside the viewfinder is working and showing lights. When in auto mode, and the battery check button is pressed you hear an intermittent sounder showing the electrical circuit is now operational, the more frequent the sound the healthier the battery is. When in self timer mode it didn’t work, it should beep and after ten seconds should fire. Hopefully it’s just dirty contacts, but none the less it will need looking at next time I take the top off. And all the while the new battery has remained cool with no temperature change. We have found the short circuit and the basic camera operation has been restored.

One thing I noticed with the shutter working is that there is quite a “Shutter cough” often heard on these older unloved canon cameras. Not a real issue, this will mean further dismantling of the camera to get to the shutter area for a little clean and some light lubrication.

So, let’s deal with that little “Cough”….open wide now!

I’m going to approach this issue by going in through the base of the camera, here I can deal with two issues at the same time. I suspect someone has been in here before me as there is only one screw securing the base when there should in fact be three. I will get these replaced now as I do have a fairly good supply of spares in stock.

This is the magnet coil, it’s known to get dirty after time causing issues such as a continuous wind with no mirror movement.

This camera doesn’t have that issue, but because I’m in here it’s a simple case of removing two screws, the casing and then just clean the magnet and coil contacts with some IPA.

That done, the plastic case is put back on, and the two screws put back into place. Simple job done, it’s future proofing the camera against this issue ever occurring. A blow through with an air canister and a little light lubrication of moving parts in the area and then we can move onto the next issue I want to address.

I’m going to attempt a shortcut with my oiler pen to see if I can deal with the camera cough without going too deep inside the camera. With the long needle of the oiler I may be able to reach deep enough into the internal workings of the camera to oil up the offending cogs and levers. If it doesn’t work then I will have no option but to open up the camera and get inside. It’s worth seeing if I can get the shortcut to work, it’s not a permanent fix but might buy me a year or so of cough free operation.

I’ve left the camera overnight for the very limited amount of clock oil I used to get into all the nooks and crannies, and I’ve checked when I got back home from work, and I’m pleased to say it’s has worked perfectly. Have a look at this little video below that shows how it sounded with the cough, and then after treatment.

Before and after cough

Now with the cough issue sorted it’s time to go back to see if we can address the self timer issue. With the base now secure with all its screws (I’ve replaced the two missing ones) it’s time to get the top off again and have another look around.

Inside the camera just below the wind on lever is the mechanism that operates the selector lever. There are four tiny copper contacts that connect with the copper circuit just below. One of these four contacts had been crushed to a level where contact was no longer made with the circuit board below.

Copper based circuit board and copper contacts under this acrylic selector

Using a small set of tweezers, I was able to bend the delicate copper contact back into shape allowing it to once again make a connection with the contacts on the circuit board. I’ve also cleaned all points of contact with IPA to ensure all surfaces were clean. A quick test at this point proved the circuit, I was now able to reassemble the camera yet again. Prior to this though I gave a good blow through the circuitry with some compressed air before sealing the top of the camera back in place.

The self timer is now fully operational.

Self timer now working

The major issues have now been addressed. Let’s get on with the bread and butter items.

The light seals including the mirror bumper were in a very poor state and had to be removed. This took a lot of patience as the felt had broken down into dust and clumpy particles. I used IPA to soften the old adhesive and probably used about a dozen cotton buds to remove all the debris. The thing with cleaning these areas is when you think it’s clean, clean it again, and once more for luck. In theory cleanliness here is your friend as it helps you through the next stages immensely.

Once all the old felt and seals are removed, and dried, I can cut the new seals to size and get them installed. This has been completed and the new seals have gone into place without issue. Personally for me, this is the most boring but essential task in restoring old cameras. It’s one of those tasks you put off until the end as it is so fiddly and has to be just right.

With the light seals now complete, the last task now is to give the camera a thorough clean.

Result

A buff of the leatherette, and a good polish of the metal work and she is looking resplendent. A new quick grip, hot shoe cover and battery door and the look is complete. My £8:00GBP cast off, dirty, damaged and broken camera is now looking a lot healthier and is now in a good working order.

I’m awaiting a roll of XP2 black and white film to arrive, and that will be the test film for this camera. I’m probably going to feature it in my weekly 7 days and 7 photos series at some point. I will post a link to that post when it occurs.

It’s been a long time bringing this camera back to life but I’m so pleased at how it has gone. These “A” series cameras will always be my favourite because of the place they have in my photographic past. I have a few that I have been working on, but this was the one that actually completed my collection. I now need to find a suitable way to display them all, rather than leave them packed away in storage.

Thank you for passing by, as always it is very much appreciated.

Stay safe.

Like,Like,Like etc,etc

Do you actually read posts or are you a serial liker?

Are you holding a grudge? About?

It’s a wet autumn early morning in the East Midlands and once again insomnia has gotten the better of me, as once again I’ve failed in my attempt to get a good night sleep after a long run of night shifts.

Whilst i was sitting there wondering what i could do without disturbing the wife from her slumber, an idea came to me regarding a post i could write. So up i rise, and off to my room i go and the drivel you are about to endure is a result of that decision. My standards are quite low, my grammar is even worse. Please don’t hold that against me.

I turn on the iPad, and the WP daily prompt arises from the internals of the machine. How apt? “Are you holding a grudge?” Now, this wasn’t planned but I couldn’t have asked for a better prompt. Apparently it must have struck a nerve with me in the past as i have already answered it once before.

Anyone who knows me will be quite aware that i write my posts for two main reasons. One is as a wellness journal, it helps keep my overactive brain in check, it allows me to get my thoughts and activities in print, and gives me that release i sometimes require, it allows my family to check in on my piece of mind and to allow them to see what i am getting up to. Secondly, it allows me to have a permanent record of the cameras and items i have repaired. This second reason has proved to be a fantastic resource, as when on the rare occasion that i pass an item on, or sell one online i have a full record of the history of the item that i can pass onto the individual who is purchasing, giving them a full history of the item and its repair history. This has proved to be an excellent and beneficial selling point as such.

The posts are not put together in days, despite how poor my writing style can be, the whole production of that post can take many months. A post that i suspect may in fact be published later today has been in production since late December 2025, getting on for nine months now. Now that doesn’t mean that because it has taken almost 9 months that you will be presented with a 1000 page book, you wont, thats just not me. What you will get is a concise record of what i have had to do over that time to get this item back into a working condition. I currently have 22 posts in a draft format and one of those is still in draft after originally being started in May 2025, that one alone has been worked on now for 16 months, a whole year and four months and it is still a work in progress.

My way of working is that as soon as i get stuck or delayed on one subject, i move on to the next until i either obtain the parts i require (this can take months if the item is unique) or until i have a brainwave on how to complete an activity. Add to that i have a home, a wife and a job that all quite deservedly require my attention, you can now see just what the delays are in getting some of these projects to a final “Print” condition.

I can hear you all now saying, “Just get to the point lad.”

Well, my grudge point is this “like” system that WP insists on using across this platform. The way i work is that when i like a post i will genuinely like it, and if it is worthy i will also post a comment. I follow many bloggers on this platform, all of them exceptional authors with exceptionally good writing ability that i am always in awe of.

Just the other evening my phone pinged constantly for around thirty seconds as an individual touched upon my site and liked almost 20 of my past posts. This is my grudge point. Collectively those 20 posts took up probably the best part of a year of my life one way or another, and this individual read all those posts in less than 30 seconds. Obviously he didn’t.

Now, please don’t get me wrong here, i do not blog for likes, that has never been the point of all this. However i do always appreciate peoples kind words and comments, good, bad and indifferent and especially the constructive ones. It just annoys me that someone feels they can boost their activity via WP at the expense of individuals that spend an awful lot of time getting the content prepared in the first place.

I follow a lot of blogs where English is not the authors first language, i even copy some onto a worksheet and get the content translated so that i can see what has been written, its always nice to reply to these authors, and there has been many a complimentary comment comeback, often showing surprise of the lengths i have gone through to read their posts.

I think WP should have a minimum time put on the “Like” system of around a minute, hence preventing multiple likes of posts. In the case above, the individual would have had to hang around for about 20 minutes to complete that task, and i am quite sure that would have never occurred. So, how about a minimum dwell time of at least a minute, this would at least be sufficient time to get an idea of what the post is about, and this would be an awful lot more respectful for the contributing author. What do you think about that?

I respectfully went back and read the posts of the chap that did the speed liking episode, he’s selling stuff, questionable stuff along with questionable advice, so i guess he has succeeded in what he was trying to achieve, attracting attention to his own page, i fell right into that trap didn’t i?

Sorry that this has dragged on a bit, i really do appreciate you passing by and taking a short time out of your days to spend some time with me. It’s like a virtual cup of tea really, and as i have been sitting here for close on an hour now without a real cuppa, i now realise its time to make one to take up to the wife who should be stirring about now. And i might just have one myself!

Have a wonderful day. Take care.

An unexpected rainbow

Left work this morning to see this gorgeous sight filling the sky

Just leaving work this morning after a long night shift. It appeared very red outside, as I looked behind as I got to the car I saw this beautiful 180 degree double rainbow over the station at Leicester. Strange thing is it was not raining, I suspect we have some rain incoming.

Have a great day.

Seven days in seven pictures. Week two

Week two of Seven days, seven pictures

Welcome to week two of me documenting my week with one picture every day taken on an old camera that i have previously repaired.

So for week two, we are going to use a Canon Powershot S5 IS Digital Bridge Camera that I repaired back in July 2025 – Canon Powershot S5 IS

Sunday: it’s the 23rd August. It’s been a nice warm day, we’ve had numerous members of the family visit. It’s been a lovely day. It’s one of those days where I’ve taken a handful of good photos, but for the purpose of this post I have to be brutal and pic just one. So here it is, meet Barney, my nieces dog, we brought him a new toy today that was demolished within about twenty minutes. If it has a squeaker in it, it’s his dog bound duty to remove it, and the balls of stuffing surrounding him shows that this mission has been a success. He never eats the squeaker though, he always leaves that to one side. Mad, but a lovely dog.

Monday: it’s the 24th August. A bit of shopping today. But before we can go out and do any, we have to wait for the Amazon lady to arrive with more shopping. Did I mention my wife loves shopping?

Tuesday: it’s the 25th August. Working today, and whilst I was carrying out some checks in the Oakham area I couldn’t help but notice the amounts of elderberries on the bushes. I remember as a child collecting lots of these, so my father could make his elderberry wine.

Wednesday: it’s the 26th August. Another working day, and today i was carrying out barrier checks on a number of crossings in our area. This one was at Brooksby crossing just outside of Melton Mowbray.

Thursday: It’s the 27th August. The yard at work, and since I’ve never been to Blackpool tower I may as well show this lovely old, still working traction unit class 37 (37407) named “Blackpool Tower”

Friday: it’s the 28th August. No work today “Hooray” it’s one of those days of just catching up with things. I’ve had to fix an extractor fan in one bathroom and adjust the timings on two other fans, I’ve also put a new raised flower bed under the front window in preparation for the spring bulbs that will be planted in the next few weeks, just letting the soil settle for a while prior to the planting.

Saturday: it’s the 29th August. New shoes. Well for attending football at least, hence they have the club badge embossed on the rear. Heading south today to meet up with family so these will get their first outing today. The weathers still very wet, however wet is wonderful as far as I’m concerned.

You know the one

And they lived happily ever after…..or did they?

Which fictional world would be the most fun to vacation in?

It’s taken me a few days to ponder this one, then whilst sitting looking out the window on a wet and miserable, East Midlands day, it suddenly came to me, a quick roll back to my childhood where every book finished with the line:

And they lived happily ever after

That’s the place I’d like to have a vacation in…in fact, sod it, that’s the place I’d love to live full stop. 🛑

Wherever you can experience happily ever after, is the place for me. Who knows I could right now actually be living in that very place. I must admit life is relatively comfortable for me, but considering news reports of late that in themselves are very upsetting, it’s probably not where I am as this news input obviously makes me very unhappy.

Perhaps the happily ever after part is the suffix to your life? When we have no mortal ties, no worries, no control, no commitments it’s maybe the time we reach that happily ever after place?

Maybe the kids books should have ended, “They all struggled through life suffering aches and pains, minor disagreements and argumentative periods, before succumbing to a number of minor ailments before pegging it”.

Doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as happily ever after, but hey, I did say I was looking out the window on a grey and miserable day didn’t I?

Have a peaceful day.

Seven days in seven pictures. Week one

Week one of Seven days, seven pictures

I have so many cameras hanging around the place that I have fixed over these last few years. I have therefore decided to select a few of them to do a little series entitled seven days in seven pictures. One camera for each week. I will choose a random camera, and choose one picture on each day that has a little story behind it. For me, just as my working week does, the seven days will run Sunday-Saturday.

It could be from any era of camera I have fixed, and for those who take the time to read my posts you’d realise that it could be anytime from about 1920 to the present day. With all the cameras I currently have (about 125 in storage, and growing) this series could go on longer than the soap opera Coronation street has appeared on the telly box ( That comment will be lost on anyone outside the UK).

So for week one I’m going small, with this lovely little portable camera.

A Nikon Coolpix L22, I repaired this way back in 2023, I was going to pass it on to a family member, kind of pleased I kept hold of it though. Here’s the link to the original post: Nikon Coolpix L22

Sunday: it’s the 16th August. I’ve just finished a run of night shifts and for the first time in what seems like months, the temperature has dropped to a nice cool temperature and it’s lovely. To be honest there is only one subject i can choose for today, it’s exactly two years to the day when we lost our beloved little dog Alfie. This is a little display we have on a unit in our living room, often spoken to, touched and stroked, his ashes and pictures dominate this shelf. He was a beautiful and much loved companion and confidant, who we will always miss, he was such a big part of our family. Beautiful boy ❤️

Monday: It’s the 17th August. I’ve been asked by work to do a buckshee night tonight, so the wife and I are going to go out for some lunch today. And today’s photo is from the Grange farm centre where we ate. I go to buy plants, the wife goes to fill the garden with pottery figurines. In this case a couple of sheep, a hedgehog and an Owl. No plants for me though.

Tuesday: it’s the 18th August. On the grand scale of things, this is a quite boring picture, but quite relevant. In the Uk, and especially in my location we haven’t had rain in over 50 days now due to a quite spectacular heatwave. That dry spell ended about 1 am in the morning when we had the first rains. Beautiful, the smell was gorgeous and for the first time in a long period the air was fresh and clean.

Wednesday: it’s the 19th August. Today’s been a funny kind of day where time has run away with us. However Wednesday is a day where we meet up with a couple of friends and spend an evening indoor bowling at our local bowls centre. We’re pretty new to it and are still learning the finer details of it all, however we are improving weekly and enjoying it thoroughly. It’s great company.

Thursday: it’s the 20th August. It’s a wet start, it’s been wet all day, in fact it’s been wonderful. It’s always good to see some rain especially after the bone dry heatwave period we’ve just gone through. My garden water butt went from bone dry to full in just one small rainstorm, and that butt holds just over 100 litres. I need more water butts. I had to therefore complete indoor tasks today, so I decided to get my garage sorted, stuff put up on the walls and a new set of shelves built. And that’s today’s boring picture, an uninspiring photograph of the interior of my garage using the cameras black and white setting. Still a bit to do, but it’s looking a lot tidier now.

Friday: it’s the 21st August. We’ve been busy most of the day, I had to drop my wife off to have her nails done whilst I had an appointment at the hospital about an issue I’ve had dragging on from last year. The good news is that I’m now discharged with no further treatment or appointments required, I’ve been given the all clear and now been told to just get back out there and enjoy myself. Picture wise it’s not anything exciting, once home I continued work on a camera I’ve been playing about with for a few months, with the 3d printer in the background that has been used to create replacement parts for this very camera.

Saturday: it’s the 22nd August. Back to work today for a day, as I’m covering a colleague who is unwell. It’s been a pleasant day, not too hot and I’ve been all over Leicestershire and Lincolnshire today. Ive taken a lot of pictures and to be honest it’s been hard to make a choice from them all. In the end I’ve settled on this nice picture of the signal box on the Leicester- Peterborough line at Uffington. The colours are lovely, the weather was just fine and the light was good. This little camera really does come up trumps at times.

Good old Kodak

Kodak, have overtaken Fujifilm in traditional camera film sales. Not surprising seeing Fuji have ceased production….sort of

Being an ex employer of Kodak, seeing headlines like this pleases me. Shame they are about 30 years late and Fujifilm have pretty much ceased production of their mainstream analogue films anyway.

Kodak overtakes Fujifilm as the most used film brand

Better late than never, things could have been so much different if they’d only moved with the times.

Kodak, directors had never really been that good at making a good high level decision. Just ask any of the thousands of good people laid off within the UK due to their poor mismanagement.

Shame

Have a good day.

Pentax P30 35mm SLR

Another “K” mount camera, this time it’s a Pentax P30. A “Plastic fantastic” from 1985. Can I fixit? Should i fix it?

What the listing stated:

Pentax P30 35mm SLR Film Camera Body – Spares/ Repairs

The camera appears to be unresponsive upon testing.

EBay

Here’s a little bit about this camera:

The Pentax P3 (US), P30 elsewhere, is a 35mm film SLR released by Pentax in 1985. The plastic body was a departure of the lineage that produced the ME and Super A; with a more amateurish camera. The P3 was a departure of the P5/50 as it returned to a speed dial instead of buttons.

It uses the KA-mount bayonet to convey aperture information and have P mode (Av when M or K series lenses are used) and can use any manual focus lens up to the FA series.

Viewfinder covers 92% of image with 0.82x magnification. Split-image matte focusing screen (horizontal)

The P3/30 uses a classic manual film advance lever with 130° throw.

It has program, manual, X and B exposure modes on a dial with speeds of 1 to 1/1000 sec. However on P mode exposures up to 8s have been observed. The X mode provides automation with some Pentax flashes. No exposure compensation is available, but the camera has an Exposure Lock button.

The meter is a center-weighted type with a range of 1 to 18 EV. A scale of speeds is shown in the viewfinder and LEDs show the selected and recommended (blinking) speeds.

Film speeds can’t be set manually, the P3/30 uses DX Encoding film with a ISOrange of 25 to 1600. There is a plastic window in the film door.

Self timer is in the main power switch for ~12s.

DOF Preview lever is located above the bayonet lock.

It uses two 1.5v SR44 or LR44 button batteries.

The US version is all black, while in the rest of the world it was dark gray

There are two revisions of the body, early versions can’t use a cable remote release, while late versions can.

A similar improved Pentax P30n/P3n/P30t became available three years later. This camera incorporated Aperture Priority exposure, and a diagonal focusing screen (P30t)

Camera-wiki.org

Another camera from the 80s – this one was 1985 when the manufacturers went plastic and the styling of the earlier cameras was starting to decline. Cameras were starting to look decidedly cheap and nasty, and this is probably the one that single-handedly punished Pentax, with a totally amateur looking camera, horrendous feedback at the time, and previously happy photographers were deserting Pentax for other manufacturers, who were offering better packages and capabilities at the time.

However this camera did have its fan base, and a lot of amateurs learnt their trade on these units due to their cost, and relatively low price for associated add ons such as lenses and flashes.

I never had one until now. I suspect the guy I usually buy from threw this in my direction, due to knowing he’d probably have issues selling it on. I’ve paid a total of £3:75GBP for this one. I think it’s worth it.

It’s the second “K” mount camera I’ve brought in two days. And guess what? I don’t have one of those lenses. Looks like I’m going to have to purchase one for my collection and for testing purposes.

Anyway, let’s await its arrival so we can assess its issues.

Assessment:

First things first, I’ve printed out a body cap on the 3D printer for when i complete the clean, allowing me to protect the mirror, shutter and lens chamber area.

A new body cap printed to protect the lens chamber

Overall the camera looks used, it’s in one piece meaning that everything is there that needs to be there but it does show signs of being a little bruised, battered and dirty.

All seals appear ok, the mirror bumper felt is in a good condition as well, and the film chamber is clean. Shutter appears to be operating just as it should.

The only real issue I can see is a build up of dust and dirt behind the viewing lens, though this won’t affect any pictures being taken, a clean would help the photographer get a clearer view of what they are focusing on.

Repair:

The description has stated that the camera is unresponsive. Well I’ve put batteries in place, switched the camera on and it is dead. But I can see an issue. The battery cap appears tarnished. A quick attack of the tarnishing with the grinding pen and a good wipe over with a cotton bud soaked in IPA soon sees to the tarnished battery cap. Hey presto, life is restored when batteries are put back into place. The meter inside is fine, and showing lights and indicating as it should, the light that flashes when the self timer operates is also ok. To me everything is indicating just fine. That’s all that was causing the unresponsiveness, the dirty contacts.

The next step didn’t really need to be done, however me being me I just couldn’t let it go. There is quite a bit of build up of dirt behind the viewing glass and I will have to get into the camera to access this. There is no other way.

Removal of the top of the camera requires the removal of six screws, the winder handle and a couple of securing bolts, you can then carefully lift the top clear being careful not to damage the two hot-shoe cables in the prism area.

With the top off, a couple of more screws holding the viewer in place require removing to detach the viewer from the prism area. This then reveals a very dirty filtered triangular prism that has collected over forty years of airborne detritus. A simple clean with a swab is sufficient, followed by a good air blast to finish off. The small viewing lens has a similar clean and then the camera can be reassembled.

I’ve printed an eye cup to cover up that damages around the eyepiece, again it’s not really needed but just tidies the area up a bit.

Just print a hotshoe cover for the top and that’s it all done.

Finally it’s time for a good cleanup.

Result:

For an outlay of £3:75GBP this is a period and usable camera. Will I use it though? Probably not, I’ll probably pass this on to the hospice to get some money from, as to be quite honest I doubt I’ll be able to sell it on.

It’s a nice little learning camera, looks smart after a clean up, and has now had its life expectancy extended due to the easiest of repairs. I’ve said it before, how many similar units have just been disposed of due to only requiring a quick clean? Scandalous really.

Anyway, this one lives on. Someone will have a nice little camera what with the resurgence of film stock currently enjoying a second coming.

One more saved from landfill, small goals, small results.

Thanks for passing by, as always it is always very much appreciated.

What atrocity teaches us

A fellow blogger has taken the words from my mouth. So why should I waste my time writing, when she speaks so eloquently.

If you could erase one event from history, what would it be?

I’m firmly with a fellow blogger: Audhdapparently on what she has posted earlier today regarding this subject. There is no point in me posting my feelings when they mirror exactly what she has quite eloquently posted on her own site, so here is a link to that very post:

What atrocity teaches us

Enjoy.

Chinon CE-4 35mm SLR

I was a snob back in my teenage years and wouldn’t buy anything without a Canon or Nikon name tag. How wrong was I? I now have one needing some TLC, so let’s get it working again.

What the listing stated:

Chinon CE-4 35mm SLR Film Camera Body – Faulty – See Details

I tried testing the camera with batteries and initially it seemed to function and the camera fired at accurate speeds but after a couple of times firing it, it stopped responding and now I can’t get it to function at all.

Please note batteries aren’t included.

EBay

Here’s a little bit about this camera:

The Chinon CE-4 was the model which transitioned away from the 42mm screw mount used in the Chinon CE-3 to the Pentax K-mount. It’s an automatic 35mm SLR compact camera with aperture priority exposure system (AE).

Maker: Chinon

Dates: circa. 1980

Variants: black, CE-4s

Camera Type: 35mm SLR

Focusing: manual

Lens mount: Chinon Universal Bayonet Mount (Pentax K-mount)

Shutter: Seiko MFC electromagnetic focal plane, vertical, metal
from 8s to 1/1000

Exposure meter: TTL, open aperture,
center weighted by two silicon blue photo cells. EV -2-19

Exposure modes: aperture priority, manual, Bulb

ASA/ISO range: 25 to 3200 ISO

Finder screen: fixed split-screen

Flash shoe: fixed hot shoe, contact for dedicated flash

Flash speed: 1/60

TTL Flash: no

Motor drive: Chinon Power Winder S

Battery: 3 ×1.5V Alkaline (LR44, A76) or
3 ×1.5V silver oxide (SR44, S76, G-13)

Dimensions: 135.5x85x50.5 mm

Weight: 485g

Camera- wiki.org

A previous seller approached me offering this camera and we settled for a price of £5:00GBP. A fair price for a camera born around 1980 and readily available at nationwide electronic stores around the time. I always avoided them, because as a teenager I had been infected by the snobbery of people around me, if it wasn’t Canon or Nikon it was crap.

I was a snob back then. Now I’ll buy anything, and I like the look of this so I brought it.

My reasoning in a nutshell. If it takes photographs, it’s good. Buy it. Sold!

Let’s await its arrival, and get it assessed.