Canon A1 - what mode to use???

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Dan1984

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Hi All, really new to film, going away on a trip to Asia in a few weeks and taking my Canon A1 which I haven't used that much. I Am hoping to do some general street photography and take some portraits.

Do you think I will be best off using fully automatic, aperture priority, shutter priority or manual? I was thinking to shoot shutter priority as I don't want to end up with lots of motion blur in the street photography pictures and then maybe AV for some of the portraits to control DOF but don't k ow if I'll be better off just on automatic, the last thing I want is a ton of badly exposed images.

Any ideas on what sort of speed I should shoot at for general street scenes and markets etc to get a sharp image with no real motion blur?

Thanks

Dan
 
I use Av mode on my A-1s most of the time. I can use it to control depth of field but also to get the fastest shutter speed possible by selecting the largest aperture.

The shutter speed required for no motion blur will depend on several things including focal length, subject movement and camera technique (how still can you hold it 🙂).

Ronnie
 
It depends on your chose subject matter.

The best way to find out what the camera can / can't do is to shoot a load of film but write down the settings (not just the mode used) and analyse what works, what works best - and what doesn't work.

In my opinion, the best mode to use is "M" for manual as that's the one that will make you think and be most creative. However, if you're new to the canera (or even to photography) it's the one that has the steepest learning curve.

I had an A1 some years ago and shot weddings (including candids of the guests) on it - so not too dissimilar to what you're doing. "Av" is a useful mode. As the poster earlier said, it allows the camera to maximise the shutter speed. Programme would be my next suggestion but, whichever you choose, remember the "1 over focal length" rule to determine whether the shutter speed is likely to allow motion blur free shots.
 
Why not try them all? Full auto is quite good if you just want to focus and push the button. Then once you've got a bit of confidence with it, try aperture priority, but keep an eye on shutter speed to make sure it does not go too low. If you're shooting ISO 400 film in broad daylight, even shooting at f/16 will give you a shutter speed easily fast enough to avoid motion blur.

If you're shooting negative film, say Ilford XP2 400, or Portra 400, these are much happier when over exposed rather than underexposed. So don't be afraid to rate it at ISO 200 on your camera, not ISO 400, so you're almost guaranteed a decent exposure in auto, or aperture priority.
 
Thanks for the advice guys

I will shoot a few rolls before I leave just to get familiar with the camera and shooting film.

On a separate note any good suggestions for black and white film and colour film? I will be shooting mostly black and white but will take a few rolls of colour. What ASA should I be looking at for something that will be quite forgiving in various lighting conditions but still great quality? 200?

Thanks again

Dan
 
A few tens of rolls, if I'd be asked.

Too many unknowns before a trip. I'd take A-1, film and any other camera which I have used with success before. Trip isn't best time learning new gear, if ones goal is to take back pictures to like.

Film....they don't make bad film anymore, but it's hard to be specific without pushing my will over your. Maybe some fresh film, both color negative and B&W, classic or chromogenic, look if you can get it processed reasonably.
 
Dan1984 said:
I will shoot a few rolls before I leave just to get familiar with the camera and shooting film.
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Make detailed notes of the settings on each exposure! After all these years one of the AE modes might be more inaccurate than the other (and if any of them should be off, program mode will be affected too).
 
Make sure to meter in the right lighting and use AE lock. Since this camera actually makes it hard to meter for full manual, I've taken quite a few pictures that ended up really underexposed with blown out backgrounds because I wanted to take a picture of someone who was backlit and figured the meter would work it out for me. If you're not familiar with the AE lock, after you have an idea of how to compose and are close to being in focus, to lock the reading, hold down the top button on the left hand side of the lens mount (it's the all black button) somewhere darker, like the floor, and while keeping it held in bring the camera back up to the subject. The number in the LED should stay the same, giving your a more accurate reading for all modes. Hold this in until you've finished pushing the shutter button. Play around and shoot at least a test roll or two before you leave.
Also! in any of the auto modes, make sure to have your aperture ring set on the green circle or diamond on your lens. I've wasted a third of a roll of Ektar with this camera on a trip to Philly because I bumped the ring from A to 16, and while I thought I was taking pictures at 1.4 aperture, I ended up with terribly underexposed pictures instead. It's an easy mistake to make on this camera that I don't like.
 
I use my AE-1P in shutter priority most of the time because the shutter speed dial is easier to turn than the aperture rings on FD lenses.
Not sure what an A-1 feels like to use but if it comes down to something as simple as that, then that's the answer.
As much as the full manual mode lets you be creative, it can be slow on the street.
If any mode in particular makes shooting not fun, don't bother with that. Trust the camera's exposure, and if in any case you think it's wrong...it's probably wrong.
 
grapejohnson said:
... I bumped the ring from A to 16...It's an easy mistake to make on this camera that I don't like.
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My recollection is that with most of my FD lenses there's an interlock between A and max aperture (f22 or f16 on mine). The real problem (for me) is that in Av mode the A-1 wants you to set the aperture ring to A and adjust the aperture to be used via the finger-wheel. When switching between manual and Av (or program) you have to remember to turn the aperture ring back to the A mark. That's easy to forget, and "Bad Things(tm)" result if you don't.

That's a piece of "user interface design" I wish they hadn't done, because it allows me to make mistakes, so I make 'em. Nonetheless I like my A-1. It's not the heavyweight monster my New F-1 is (though that has it's own attractions) and allows me to use some of the nice FD lenses I've accumulated (mostly quite inexpensively). I tend to use mine in Av mode only, and leave it at that. Less chance of getting myself in trouble that way (though I suppose that means I'm not taking advantage of all the multi-mode features used to sell the product back in the day).

...Mike
 
Dan1984 said:
Thanks for the advice guys

I will shoot a few rolls before I leave just to get familiar with the camera and shooting film.

On a separate note any good suggestions for black and white film and colour film? I will be shooting mostly black and white but will take a few rolls of colour. What ASA should I be looking at for something that will be quite forgiving in various lighting conditions but still great quality? 200?

Thanks again

Dan
Click to expand...

Dan,
You'll get a lot of people recommend "real" black and white film, and that is great, but personally I find the best "all round" B&W film are the two C41 films: Ilford XP2 Super, or Kodak BW400CN. I find them both more forgiving for under/over exposure than the "real" B&W film like Tri-X. Also, they're easier to scan, as you can use ICE. You can also give them to any high street lab to process, as they just process like colour film.

For colour, I think the best of the bunch is easy Portra 400, as an all rounder. Very forgiving, and has grain more like an ISO 100 film. If you want ultimate colour though, you could try Velvia, which is slower, more finicky about exposure, but if you get it right, you can get it *really* right.

Cheers

Garry
 
grapejohnson said:
Also! in any of the auto modes, make sure to have your aperture ring set on the green circle or diamond on your lens. I've wasted a third of a roll of Ektar with this camera on a trip to Philly because I bumped the ring from A to 16, and while I thought I was taking pictures at 1.4 aperture, I ended up with terribly underexposed pictures instead. It's an easy mistake to make on this camera that I don't like.
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But the A-1 tells you you've done this with a big M in the viewfinder. 🙄

Unless you've switched the display off.:bang:

Ronnie
 
ronnies said:
But the A-1 tells you you've done this with a big M in the viewfinder. 🙄

Unless you've switched the display off.:bang:

Ronnie
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It's always hard to see that M since it's on the right hand corner. May have just done this last night while taking some pictures 😱 It's not a perfect camera, but I've used ones that were worse. When it does work for me it's always great, it's just those weird workarounds. I wish it had a shutter dial with an A mode and just let you use the aperture ring for aperture priority mode! And would meter according to how you changed those two dials instead of just suggesting.
 
grapejohnson said:
It's always hard to see that M since it's on the right hand corner. May have just done this last night while taking some pictures 😱 It's not a perfect camera, but I've used ones that were worse. When it does work for me it's always great, it's just those weird workarounds. I wish it had a shutter dial with an A mode and just let you use the aperture ring for aperture priority mode! And would meter according to how you changed those two dials instead of just suggesting.
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This is my biggest bugbear with the A1: the manual mode is not well implemented.
 
wakarimasen said:
This is my biggest bugbear with the A1: the manual mode is not well implemented.
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It's like they figured that since it's all electronic that who on earth would acutally want to use it full manual, as if it's an afterthought. I'm also spoiled by the Bessa's metering. It's like you're always in shutter and aperture priority mode at all times. What's the AE-1p like? it has no aperture priority mode, right? Does the metering change along with the aperture ring movement? I've never used one, but might consider it since I have two FD lenses
 
grapejohnson said:
It's like they figured that since it's all electronic that who on earth would acutally want to use it full manual, as if it's an afterthought. I'm also spoiled by the Bessa's metering. It's like you're always in shutter and aperture priority mode at all times. What's the AE-1p like? it has no aperture priority mode, right? Does the metering change along with the aperture ring movement? I've never used one, but might consider it since I have two FD lenses
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The AE-1p works like the AE-1, except that it has an LED readout instead of a needle and of course a program mode. Both are automatic-centered; manual operation is treated as an override of the camera automatics, so it's not really designed with manual operation in mind. The readout shows the aperture that the AE system would select at the current shutter speed. You need to transfer that to the lens yourself. This is not very convenient, in fact it's one of the main shortcomings of the system. The FD system was my first SLR system and the AE-1p my first camera, and I never missed things like in-viewfinder display of the selected aperture, but when I discovered them on Nikons and Leicas I soon sorely missed them on the FD cameras.

If you want a body just for the FD lenses and you shoot manual a lot, the question is how much you want to invest. A good choice pricewise and a solid camera is the old mechanical FTb (get one modified for modern batteries), which has old school match-needle metering. The high-end choice would be a new F-1 or a T90, depending on whether you want your cameras mechanical or powerful.

Personally I strongly recommend the T90, it's the most powerful camera by far in the FD system, doesn't cost that much anymore (I got mine for around 50 EUR) and it has outstanding ergonomics as soon as you learn to think beyond the one-dial-for-every-function logic of classic SLRs.
 
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