Yaniv Berman

קנון AE-1

After 10 years of digital cameras, I felt the urge to go back in time and shot pictures with real film. I can describe in details how much I love the feel of celluloid and raw materials, but I know a lot of you think the same. What I intend to do here is to review a few cameras from the old time, and show you the results I've got. I hope it will give you the extra push to search the closet for that old camera you stored back then in the days when it took a few long hours between pushing the button and looking at the final result.

I just finished the first roll of my old/new Canon AE-1. This camera, manufactured between 1976 and 1984 is a great fun and not so difficult to handle. It took me some time to find her a 6V 28-PX battery, which is essential for operating, but once I got it powered up, it was as good as new.

In fact, one of the things that made this camera such a big success in the early 80' is it's automatic exposure when using FD Lenses. The rest of the job is been done with a very easy to learn light detector, which indicate which shutter speed is best.

When I were scheduled for a production in Kibbutz Ein-Gedi by the Dead Sea, I took it as an opportunity for some testing. I used FD 50mm 1:1.8 and a FD 75-200mm 1:4.5 lenses, and 200 ASA Kodak film. 

Here are the results:

.Keren, the dresser, use her IPad with the Judea mountains as background
In conclusion I find this camera surprisingly easy to use and the results are well focused and exposed. The only downside I can find with it, is that the camera requires a 6v battery, which is not so common.