Its a rainy day here in New Jersey and since we didn’t have any shoots scheduled for today, I thought it’d be a good time to catch up on some antique camera updates. I’ve acquired 3 new models since the last post and the first one I’d like to show you is the Canon AE-1. I’m sure that I’m going to offend some people out there when I say that it is an antique, but the camera was first released in 1981. Since then, Canon has released a newer lens mount system, which introduced auto-focus. At this point, the AE-1 is definitely an antique.
I first became interested in the AE-1 when my mom got me the Kodak for my birthday. She said that she was trying to find a Canon but didn’t know what to look for. I searched my Canon EF Lens book and looked through the history of Canon and I thought that the AE-1 was just a beautiful looking body. It is historically significant because it is the first camera to have any sort sort of computer chip in it to automatically control exposure. This functionality really made it possible for the everyday person to get interested in photography. Because of this functionality and a very large advertising campaign, Canon sold record numbers of the AE-1. It should be easy to find one, right?
Well, I contacted several sellers that I found on Craigslist and no one was willing to budge from their asking price. I was telling my co-worker Chris (you may remember that he hooked me up with the Vagabond 120 box camera in an earlier post) that I couldn’t find one and sure enough, he had one sitting in his closet. He brought it in the next day and there it was, I had my Canon AE-1. There was only one downside… Chris’ AE-1 didn’t have the Canon 50mm FD lens that was standard for the body. I have a bit of an obsession with 50mm lenses. To me, they are just the perfect lens, right smack in the middle of wide angle and telephoto and they are usually fast enough to shoot great natural light portraits. I hopped onto one of my photography message boards to research 50mm FD mount lenses, and by the end of the day, I had one on its way. I have to give a big shout out to Pete Liukaitis from Canada, he sent me the 50mm FD he had. At this point, I was pretty happy. I had my AE-1 and the 50mm was on its way. I was at my dad’s house telling him about the score and wouldn’t you know, he had a Canon AE-1 in his closet with a 50mm lens. Alright, alright… enough chit chat. Let’s see the cameras.
Look at that old school logo… so nice.
Mmmm… 50mm FD goodness.
Look at those aperture blades… 
Can you say, bookends?
