Recently bought a canon ae-1 and had a terrible experience with it. The bottom screws loosened by itself and the whole bottom fell out. Brought it to a europe trip and used two rolls of portra 400 to find that everh photo has some artefacts from light leak due to the light seals being either not there or worn out. Just wanted to get the opinions of someone experienced to find out if this is a very common issue and unavoidable or did I just buy from a store with really poor work ethics Is it common practice to check and repair light seals before selling it? Are there even legitimate repairs or just diy ones (the store used yarn to stuff the spaces) Should they have tested the camera on a roll first to make sure everything worked as per normal? They just told me the light seal thing is a 50/50 chance making seem like they were not at fault.
I'm a bit late here but just in case you are still around ..... I have been using my AE-1 since new in the late 1970's and have replaced the light seals once in that time so I am sorry to hear about yours. These cameras ceased production in 1984 so it is quite old and the foam that was used for light seals in cameras of this age will have deteriorated to a gooey stick mess unless they have been replaced. The loose screws holding the bottom plate on indicate that they have been removed recently, most likely because someone has had a problem with either the shutter release magnets or to cure the infamous 'Canon Squeal'. Deteriorated light seals will cause light leaks and also possibly release bits of the 'goo' into the camera - particularly from the mirror buffer in the mirror box while bodged attempts at curing the 'squeal' often results in oil being sprayed around the inside of the camera, both of which can ruin films. Black yarn is a method used to replace the light seals in camera backs but it can be a messy job, most repairers use modern foam strips to do the job. I don't know where you are based but a full service of the camera will cost well in excess of £150.00 .so unless you feel competant enough to fix these problems yourself I would return the camera and get a refund.
jkcy, if you look at the age of the camera, the the levers and their pivot point become sluggish due to the lubricant drying up, this would have caused the mirror to be stuck in the up position. It would seems that someone has lubricated and cleaned and cleaned the camera but failed to tightened the screw or possibly striped the threads. I have the same camera and needed to do the same maintenance, my camera works fine. Replacing the light seals is not a difficult task, the ones to normally replace are the one on the film door, the mirror buffer pad and the seal around the film door, check out You Tube to see how it is done.
@jkcy The light seals are a messy and fiddly but fairly easy fix. Try emailing Jon Goodman jgood21967@aol.com, I believe he is still supplying light seal kits at a very good price and they come with instructions.
