Small size, good meter, ideal camera as a back-up or for a student

No, and I have owned the camera since 1981

Good camera for a beginner,

Customer Service

n/a

Similar Products Used:

Canon AE-1
Canon T90

Ergonomics are good, viewfinder is bright,'meter is very accurate. Reliable !

Uses a battery, no power, no picture. Manual Focus minor shortcomming.

Excelent value for the money, lens are still readily available at reasonable prices. Low level metering ability allows easy time exposures ! I've mostly used camera in either manual or apperature priority modes. Very pleased with the performance and ease of use.

Customer Service

Very good on the rare occasions used. For piece of mind, my cameras are serviced on a regular basis.

Similar Products Used:

Canon AE1, Canon F1, Pentax, Nikon...

Durability and reliability

Battery Dependent

This camera is my hands down favorite. I have owned two bodies, both still in occasional use. One has the Canon "squeak" the other does not. My first model is now almost totally brass and continues to be an accurate, comfortable old friend. I have not had a single malfunction with either camera despite thousands of rolls. My son (11 years old) is now starting with my first A1 and I suspect it may last yet another generation. I presently use my EOS cameras most of the time as my ability to focus critically and rapidly is waning with age. But the A1's remain first in my heart, a camera that has traveled many comfortable miles with me without a complaint.

Customer Service

Not used

Similar Products Used:

Multiple models by Minolta, Pentax and Nikon

incredible skin tones with the color right film in outdoor pictures. light meter very accurate. program mode good for beginner.

heavy. built like a bowling ball, but very durable. no battery, no picture.

this is a terrific camera. takes brilliant pictures, especially outside of people and flowers/nature. as good as the canon F1. blows away the canon ae-1 program. durable. get one. i bought mine used, in excellent condition on-line for $185. good buy.

Customer Service

never used.

Similar Products Used:

canon ae-1 program. canon F1.

Never let me down - the perfect backup camera - simple, durable (like a tank!) reliable - superb with the Canon 55mm f1.4. This camera has been around the world14 or 15 times & I've never had a problem.

quite heavy (I like to think of it as solid though)

A great backup camera. I'll carry on using it until it gets lost or stolen!

Customer Service

Never had to use it

Similar Products Used:

Canon T90, AT1

Build
Simple and quick to operate
Design

?
The one I have has never had the shutter squeake everyone talks about.

Maybe one weekness is that you cant use it without batteries- eg Outside in Europe in the middle of the night when it is -25 deg.C
but then that wont apply to most

A classic, even today a very good camera to use. Just watch out that you dont fall in love with it!! because if you do, then every time you walk past a camera store and see an A1 in the window, you'll want to buy it...
My dad bought this A1, now I've stolen it off of him...used all the time with absolutely no problems.
The best camera.
If everyone took the time to try it, modern af slr's would end up at the dump.
If you are getting serious about photography, than check this wirkhorse out!!!

Customer Service

Never used.

Similar Products Used:

Ive used several different cameras, Eos 630, Zenit 12xp, different compacts, as you can see all very different then A1.

Very reliable and easy to use. Have used the A-1 for 22 years with few difficulties until now. Lenses are superb and still readily available used but in excellent condition.

The well-known A-1 shutter squeak is not a serious problem. More serious, however, is that the pad that cushions the mirror on both of my A-1 bodies is disintegrating. Specks of black foam have gotten onto the mirror and the bottom of the prism and they can easily turn into an obscuring smear. Both bodies are currently in for service and I am hoping that the problem can be resolved.

Superb camera body design and system. I still wish new A-1 bodies were available. If you have one, keep it. Don't buy an A-1 body, however, unless it is in perfect shape.

Customer Service

Quite good if a little slow.

Similar Products Used:

Have not tried another SLR for any period of time since 1978. Have not been impressed by Canon EOS series lenses (bodies are another matter).

One of the first multi-mode cameras, with flexibility of choosing the mode you prefer, including manual. LED display is easy to read. Metering hold while reframing.

No TTL flash (I now own a T90 as well). No viewfinder display that over/under compensation in action (T90 does)

This camera was quite radical when it came out and was first of the fundamentally electronically controlled ones. Very reliable with access to hundreds of FD lenses secondhand - which is why I "upgraded" to a T90 a year ago, having decided no point in selling all my FD lenses. It's a design classic, in the same way that the T90 is

Customer Service

The viewfinder display went haywire a week before warranty expired - circuitboard fixed under waranty, no problems since

Similar Products Used:

Canon T90; Olympuc Mju as notebook

Has 5 exposure methods, Av, Tv, Full Auto, Full Manual, and flash. Rugged built. Will last many lifetimes.

Slow flash sync, but the camera IS 20+ years old.

If your after a great used manual focus SLR, I recommend the A-1. It is of quality along side any pro camera built today, without all the computerized bells and whistles. You can find deals looking in pawn shops. I paid $200 for the camera, a 28mm FD, a 50mm FD, a 70-210mm FD, and a Speedlite 199A flash. The camera shutter did not work at high speeds and squealed. A little service fixed it up at a cost of $130. If you find a deal like this grab it!!

Customer Service

Did not use Canon's service, but found a local shop that did excellent work.

Similar Products Used:

This is my first SLR.

easy to use yet yielding sophisticated images, especially with high quality canon fd lenses. strong and durable body compatible with a whole lot of canon fd lenses which actually are affordable. a multi shooting mode camera which can be used by both beginner or experienced photographers. a camera to last.

cloth shutter plane that can be at a very remote chance frozen if the battery is low or in extremely cold shooting condition. lithium batteries yield more reliable and consistent performance than alkaline ones do.

a camera to love and to last.

Customer Service

have never had to use.

Similar Products Used:

canon eos 1, canon eos a2, canon eos 1 n, canon eos 3