Some of you might have noticed when I threw all my Canon film gear in the Buy/Sell forums the other night in a fit of madness. I got it stuck in my head that what I really wanted instead of my highly-automatic Elan IIe was an old A-1 body and some lenses. There is no logic behind this whatsoever, just a overwhelming sense of nogstalgia for old things.
So I found a A-1 body and 50mm lens set in excellent condition at Adorama and ordered it, along with a 135mm lens. I've been doing the ol' hit-the-UPS-update-button-every-three-minutes thing since Friday afternoon. Here's the lucky part: I'm at a garage sale with my mother this morning (you have to love garage sales, you can get anything at them) and what do I find sitting on the table? Yep, a Canon A-1 body, with a 50mm lens, a 28mm lens, and a 177A hotshoe flash! I grabbed the whole kit for $40.
The whole set was a bit dirty/dusty, so I spent the afternoon cleaning it up, and it looks great. There's a tiny bit of wear on the body, and a small ding in the bottom, but otherwise it hardly looks used! I got a battery in it, and have a single roll of film left on-hand, so I'll be out tomorrow to give it a try!
When the other one arrives, I guess I'll just keep whichever body and 50mm lens are in the best condition, and re-sell the others. The 28mm was excellent luck, as I tried to order one from Adorama, but all they had in stock was one with fungus (yuck, who wants used lens fungus?). And I've thrown some batteries in the flash, and even it works like a charm.
So anyway, I'm just really excited, and thought I'd share, even though it is all film stuff :-P
Anyone else out there have an old A-1, or similar? Or any suggestions or hints for using it?
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