Canon 814 Autozoom for $41.00 USD?

Post by **scott** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 8:47 pm

I'd say you got a good deal on a great camera. I got a pristine 814 AZ for about the same price several years ago. I think the 814 AZ may be the super 8 camera with the most bang-for-your-buck out there. It's built like a tank, has a decent lens, 3 speeds, auto/manual exposure, remote socket, single frame release, etc. If it only had an intervalometer I could get rid of my Nikon!

As far as batteris go, don't believe the hype. Zinc air cells work as as direct replacement, are easy to get, and are cheap:

http://www.micro-tools.com/Merchant2/me ... ode=MRB625

Have Fun,

Scott

Post by **CHAS** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 10:00 pm

scott wrote:I'd say you got a good deal on a great camera. I got a pristine 814 AZ for about the same price several years ago. I think the 814 AZ may be the super 8 camera with the most bang-for-your-buck out there. It's built like a tank, has a decent lens, 3 speeds, auto/manual exposure, remote socket, single frame release, etc. If it only had an intervalometer I could get rid of my Nikon!

As far as batteris go, don't believe the hype. Zinc air cells work as as direct replacement, are easy to get, and are cheap:

http://www.micro-tools.com/Merchant2/me ... ode=MRB625

Have Fun,

Scott

Thanks for the info...glad to hear you like your 814 AZ. I have a Minolta XL-401 with a pretty cool intervalometer so I'll definitely keep that around as well.

Post by **chachi** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 10:41 pm

or, you can do what I did..

Post by **scott** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 11:17 pm

Nice. Did you build that? I thought about something similar, but it just seemed like a whole lot of work. I guess all you need is a motor and a timer, right?

Post by **Janne** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:03 am

chachi wrote:Are you talking about the black plastic 814 , That one also only shoots 18fps not 24fps.

I was comparing the AZ 814 Electronic with the older version. I have both of them. I had no idea there is another more plastic version 8O. The E-version has a plastic handle and plastic side panels. Maybe not a big deal. I just happen to like the construction of the old AZ 814 very much. Weird.

The conversion is great too. There are 2.7 V zener diodes available. Power to the meter can be feeded from the AA batteries. Anybody with little knowledge of electronics can do the conversion. I did the same for my Nizo S56.

Post by **greenplastic79** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:26 am

Janne wrote:
The conversion is great too. There are 2.7 V zener diodes available. Power to the meter can be feeded from the AA batteries. Anybody with little knowledge of electronics can do the conversion. I did the same for my Nizo S56.

Perhaps you could post a small tutorial on how to do this when you have time.

Post by **chachi** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:52 am

The intervolometer was actually built from an old sankyo EM40xl camera.

Post by **super8man** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:55 am

I think if you search the forums for chachi and the em40 you should find it...I recall his frankenstein intervalometer and thought it was quite an achievement...just don't bring that thing on an aeroplane...

Post by **Janne** » Sat Oct 29, 2005 12:28 am

greenplastic79 wrote:Perhaps you could post a small tutorial on how to do this when you have time.

The value of the resistor can be calculated if the current consumption of the exposure meter is known. I think they draw current no more than 1 mA. I'd try 500-820 ohm.

Note that the manual/auto switch on the AZ 814 is connected to the ground wire of the meter. You have to rewire the switch to the positive voltage wire of the meter.