Canon A-1

This summer 2018, Gilles entrusted me with a lot of cameras and lenses to be reviewed for resale. Among them, a Canon A-1 impressed me with its features.
During his summer tour of garage sales, he found this one he left me.

The mirror was broken, I had one on a wreck of AE-1 that I could install. Also with this AE-1 a small "ergonomic handle", which hides the battery door, broken as usual on the "A" series. And it works! The 1.4/50mm lens is superb, only some dust managed to pass inside.

The most famous of this series "A" of Canon is the AE-1. But the A-1 really deserves to be known, it is almost a professional camera.
The selector concentric to the shutter release button allows to choose between two positions: aperture priority (Av) and shutter speed priority (Tv).
Contrary to usual, in Av mode you do not choose the aperture on the lens, which you must leave it in "A" position, but with the wheel under the shutter button.
In Tv mode, you choose the speed (between 30s and 1 / 1000s) thanks to the same wheel, which also offers a program mode.
Finally, if in Tv you choose the diaphragm on the lens, you are in manual mode (the viewfinder displays the calculated aperture for the selected speed, not the one selected on the lens).
In summary, this camera can operate in Manual, Automatic shutter speed priority, Automatic aperture priority, and Program!

The selector concentric to the cocking lever offers: A, Lock, 2 seconds self-timer and 10 seconds self-timer.
A button below the speed/aperture selector knob allows to lock it. The film speed selector allows from 6 to 12800 ISO, with compensator 1/4 to 4x.
Beside, a switch for the display in the viewfinder, with in the center the battery control button, which turns on the self-timer diode (beside the shutter release button).
There is a small lever under the cocking lever, to allow overprints.

On the front: a depth of field tester or for auto exposure in real opening, an exposure control knob (to display speed and aperture without pressing the shutter button) and a "backlight" button (exposure memorisation).

At the back: an occular shutter lever (for shooting on a foot).

And of course the camera is motorisable (5i/s ), can receive a date back, and works automatically with dedicated flashes!