I recently upgraded from a Canon rebelXs to Canon A2E. I had a great time with it. Now I had 8 rolls of film developed and there was nothing on them. I don't how to reset my camera to just automatic, I bought the one and only owner's manual and nowhere does it say what I did wrong to make all the rolls empty. How do I get my camera reset and maybe you can give me some simple advice on how not to do this again?

-- Sonia Bullock (Berg33@webtv.net), April 01, 1999

Answers

first off... are the negatives (or slides (but we need to know which) clear or black?

there's no "resetting" that would fix this problem. the only two things the camera could do that will cause "nothing" on film is some sort of malfunction, or being in manual mode with the shutter set really high and the aperture set really small. where is your main control dial set? (P, AV, M, green box, running guy, flower, etc.)?

it's also possible that the people who developed your film could have messed it up.

-- Sean Hester (seanh@ncfweb.net), April 01, 1999.

Do the empty rolls have frame numbers and other info printed by the sprocket holes?

-- Geoffrey S. Kane (grendel@pgh.nauticom.net), April 01, 1999.

"I had 8 rolls of film developed and there was nothing on them" - Define "nothing" - if it's clear (ie, printed as black prints), it could mean (1) the camera was set on manual with shutter at 1/8000 and aperture at the minimum f22 or 32, or (2) your shutter blades are not opening.

Assuming you took your pics on Program or some other "foolproof' mode:

Try this, put your camera on M(anual), set it to bulb, and press and hold the release. Open the camera back with other hand and see if you can see thru ( ie the shutter actually opened). If not, u might need to get it looked at.

I have an EOS 5 (twin to the A2E) and other than the damn selector dial on the top giving way, i've had no problems so far.

Good luck.

-- Raymond Ang (r_ang@pacific.net.sg), April 02, 1999.

I think there's something wrong with the shutter. If even the edges of the frames are not visible at all there is a possibility that the shutter is not opening at all. Did you try to use flash in any frame at all?

-- Alvin S. Granada (granada666@yahoo.com), June 15, 1999.