Canon AE-1 + Canon FD 50mm F1.8 S.C.

The camera that made 35mm photography a mass-market product. The Canon AE-1 arrived in 1976 as the first SLR built around a microprocessor, and Canon sold it on television — over five million of them — to people who had never owned a real camera before. Shutter-priority automation meant you picked a speed and the camera found the aperture, and that one idea took the SLR out of the enthusiast's hands and into everyone's. Paired here with the Canon FD 50mm f/1.8 S.C., the standard lens it shipped with and still one of the best-value fast fifties in film photography.

Specifications

• Body: Canon AE-1 — shutter-priority AE and full manual 35mm SLR, 1976
• Shutter: Horizontal cloth focal plane, 2s to 1/1000 + Bulb
• Flash sync: 1/60 sec, hot shoe
• Metering: TTL centre-weighted at full aperture, needle display in the viewfinder
• Exposure modes: Shutter priority AE and full manual
• Mount: Canon FD breech-lock
• Lens: Canon FD 50mm f/1.8 S.C., Super Coating, 6 elements in 4 groups
• Filter thread: 55mm
• Power: One 6V 4LR44 / PX28 battery

Condition

• Cosmetic: Excellent+ with very minimal signs of age and use. The lens is clean, with no fungus, haze or separation.
• Functional: Fully working, including the light meter. Shutter accurate across the range, shutter-priority automation responds correctly, aperture blades clean and snappy, focus smooth.

Included

• Canon AE-1 body
• Canon FD 50mm f/1.8 S.C. lens
• UV filter
• Lens cap
• Strap

A clean, complete, fully working AE-1 kit — excellent+ cosmetics, working meter and automation, clean glass, and a strap and filter already fitted. The AE-1 remains one of the easiest cameras to recommend to someone starting on film: automation when you want it, full manual when you are ready, and an FD lens system that is still cheap and plentiful.