Update on canon AE1

[majicman]

After cleaning out the battery compartment and still not having any luck I took the top off and wow was there a lot of corrosion. At this point I figured I had a pretty neat paperweight. But being the kind of guy that can't pass up a challenge I started scraping the corrosion off. It actually looked like aluminum oxidation and like to much moisture had entered the camera. I'm not sure were all the corrosion came from in the mirror compartment. unless that also was due to excessive moisture. After cleaning it pretty well I put the battery back in pushed the shutter button and it fired. I surprised myself something happened! although the mirror went up it didn't go down, the film advanced lever was now also working. After advancing and firing about two dozen times the mirror was now going up and down like it should. So now I maybe able to put some film in it soon. Not bad with a 200mm lens for $15.00.

[kiev4a]

Whoa! There's has been some serious chemical reaction in there!

[herron]

Ouch! Nasty business. I hate it when I find one that way. Of course, if you're able to make it work again for only a few bucks and some time, then it's a different story.

Let us see some of it after the clean-up, too!

[Just Plain Curt]

Usually there's only two ways this much corrosion occurs: left out in the rain/mist or fell into the water. Salt spray from too many beach episodes will do it too. Since the corrosion seems mainly limited to under the top, I'll guess rain or salt spray especially in Florida. Most buys I've gotten from there were corroded cameras (my Edixa looked similar but works great and for $1) or lenses that have plenty of fungus. It's an ocean/humidity situation. Keep up the good work and glad to see you got the camera working again.

[John Parry]

Interesting!! Yes, you've definitely got reaction between dissimilar metals there - which means an electrolyte. Probably salt water. My FT QL looks like it could be the same (although I think mine may have been dropped in the sea! Working on it with Ronsonol, and I've got the back open. Shutters are pristine. Will keep trying to get to the point where I could open it up!

Regards - John

[doubs43]

Ouch..... that's as nasty as I've seen in any camera and I'm surprised you were able to get it to do anything at all. Good for you, not giving us so easily and I hope it turns out to be a camera that gives you a lot of service.

Walker

[PeterW]

OOH, Nasty! Good for you for at least getting it working. Methinks you might have quite a long cleaning up operation in store. I don't know of anything that will remove that amount of corrosion without a complete strip-down afterwards. Stick with it! Look forward to hearing the final episode and seeing pix of a pristine camera, inside and out.

Here are the before and after pictures of the most 'hopeless' restoration I ever tackled, but it was a little less complex than an AE1 to strip down.

Good Luck!

PeterW

[casualcollector]

Looks like quite a project, MajicMan. I've been giving some thought to how to preserve my collection now that I've moved to Florida. Any suggestions?

Bill