my camera's film advance lever wont work, help?

The shutter jamming on these cameras is a common event...

The shutter might jam when the battery dies...it tends to jam after rewinding a film or if you don't complete the full 'wind' action when using the 'wind on' lever...

If you open the back of the camera and try gently but firmly moving the sprockets and spindles for a few turns then the shutter normally re-sets...if the shutter doesn't reset and the rewind button doesn't 'pop' out then you need to consult a local camera dealer for advice...

It's impossible to 'estimate' anything over the internet...so you need to visit a dealer.

Hi Sophia, sorry to hear that your AE-1 is giving you trouble. These are pretty tough cameras and I'm sure that after some simple servicing it will be shooting perfectly again for decades.

1--Despite the advice of fhotoace, who knows what he's talking about but has some sort of hatred for FD mount Canon's, I don't think you should just go buy a newer Canon 35mm SLR. The FD mount of this camera is obsolete but it makes buying very high quality lenses cheap. And if you enjoy the AE-1, an EOS body would be something entirely different and personally, I'd prefer to shoot on an AE-1 any day because it's made nicely and feels great in the hand. The EOS bodies are nothing more than overcomplicated, poorly made DSLR's that take film. Also, this is a simple repair on a vintage camera. It's decades old, it just needs a little attention, not to be thrown in the trash!

2--It sounds like you and your teacher have done some good troubleshooting. The rewind button, however, is not the problem. If the rewind button were stuck, the advance would move but would not engage the film. On these cameras, the rewind button will stay in the up position until you advance and fire again with film in the camera. What is more likely to have happened in my opinion, is that the camera needs a CLA, Clean Lube and Adjust. The lubricants are probably dried up, particularly with the cold weather, and the camera has probably never been serviced. So the lubricants inside just need to be replaced by a professional repair tech.

4--I would recommend sending your camera to GarrysCamera.com/or KEH.com. KEH will be more costly ($200) but the warranty on the work is much longer. Garry's can be as little as $60 I think. You will have to just call or email them to discuss though. Just tell them the issue and say you want a CLA and new light seals. This, I'm sure will solve the problem and prevent future ones but once they get the camera, they can let you know if they find a larger problem. Anyway, the cost is about what you'd have to spend on another 35mm SLR and then you'd be back to not knowing the service history of the camera so why bother doing that? Any used film camera is bound to breakdown if it hasn't been serviced.

5--Hopefully you can borrow a camera for class in the meantime. Speaking of which, KEH sells AE-1's and other Canon FD mount bodies so you could also buy a second body if you're really into photography and would like a back-up for situations like this. I am a professional 35mm photographer and I own numerous vintage cameras that I have serviced regularly so that I am never without a camera.

I hope you get this resolved and continue to enjoy 35mm photography!

METAL AND MANUAL

FILM FOREVER

You're sure you're not at the end of the roll, that will stop the lever working. If that's not the case try rewinding the film until you hear the film click off the drive sprocket. You can then remove the film and check out the mechanism. Not sure what it's like in an AE-1 I haven't owned one in years. It might just need a little cleaning. The film if the tail is still projecting from the canister can be reinstalled and you can click through to the frame you were working on, make sure you have the lens cap on when you do this or you'll get a lot of unintentional double exposures. Fixing these old cameras can run into a few buck, there are a lot of mechanical parts in there, a new camera may be a better option.

Film Advance Lever

Professional help if the camera is worth the probably $150 bill or perhaps more. Some thing has happened in the film advance equipment and it needs to be replaced or the camera trashed and replaced.

It's a job for a proper camera repair centre. Cost could be anything, depending on the problem.

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