I was looking at buying a Canon A-1 camera. The guy says it is in good shape but that it eats a battery for each roll of fill. Have you heard of this problem? Is it an expensive repair? Is the camera worth $100. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks, Jim Kuras

-- Jim Kuras (jkuras423@aol.com), February 26, 2002

Answers

I've used a total of three A1s for the past 20 years: in all that time I've only ever bought a handful of batteries. So if the camera 'eats batteries' there's something wrong with it. A battery per film seems well out-of-order.

Given that it's an all-electronic camera (ie you can't revert to manual operation in an emergency) I'd be reluctant to buy it.

-- Mark Mitchell (mjcmitchell@hotmail.com), February 27, 2002.

Agree with Kuras! I have several A-series cameras. Theyr only need is a little 6V battery that usually last for years. If everything is all right, the camera will only draw elctric power from the moment you push the button half way down to measure light until the picture is shot.

-- Jomar Haktorson (jomarh@online.no), February 27, 2002.

That guy who is selling you the A-1 is feeding you a bunch of tripe. He probably wants to sell you lots of batteries, too. The A-1 does not eat up batteries any faster than any other manual focus camera from the same time frame. For me, with heavy use of my A- 1, I will go through around two batteries per year.

-- Barry Sharpnack (barstewsha@hotmail.com), March 20, 2002.

I gree with all of the above. I have 2 A's and I switch back and forth. I shoot a lot of film and the batteries last about a year.

-- Charlie Richards (cdsdata@msn.com), March 20, 2002.

Jim - I have 2 A-1's (great camera!) and the only time it eats batteries is when I forget to turn it off... It seems to drain the battery if the power is left on for extended time (weeks). Just remember to turn it off. I can't believe that there is a short- circuit draining the battery because it would overheat and fry the electronics. Seems like $100 bucks is a very fair price if all works OK (look on ebay for comparisons) - ask to try it out and put in a new battery and shoot a roll and see if the battery check LED flash slows down (you shouldn't see a difference if all is OK)... Only other thing I can think of is to check for corrosion in the battery contact areas. Good luck! -TC

-- TC Stamos (tstamos@texas.net), March 27, 2002.

Actually, I have heard of cameras eating batteries due to short circuits. The problem, as I understand, is difficult to fix and may cost quite a bit. $100 is a good price but not for a broken camera. I would keep looking if I were you. You may have to spend a bit more but you will save on aggravation.

-- Ric Walker (mr_rictoo@hotmail.com), March 30, 2002.

I have a battery drain problem with my A-1. When I first bought it, it worked fine on one battery for a year or more, and then some where along the line it just started sucking them dry in a matter of hours. I tried cleaning the battery connectors and that seemed to help for a while. Right now I'm just making sure I turn the camera off when I'm not using it and that seems to be doing the trick. Other than that it's a great camera.

-- Rob Miller (robalecia@adelphia.net), April 18, 2002.