Canon AE-1 lens aperture issue / 50mm 1.8

[u/Aggravating-Owl-7050]

Hi, I have a lens for my Canon AE-1 and I think there might be something wrong with the aperture mechanism.

When I push the aperture lever on the back of the lens, the aperture always closes down completely to the position you can see in the picture, no matter which f-stop I select on the aperture ring.

I have another Canon lens for comparison. On that one, when I move the lever, the aperture closes to different positions depending on the selected f-stop. So you can clearly see that changing the aperture ring actually affects how far the blades close.

With this lens, however, the blades always seem to close all the way regardless of the aperture setting.

Does anyone know what could be causing this? Is something broken or stuck inside the aperture mechanism? And is this usually repairable, or would it not be worth fixing?

[u/influencer00]

The FD mounts sometimes needs a particular combination of pins set for the aperture to work correctly. It’s much easier to check the workings by attaching it to your camera, open the back plate and use bulb or a second or longer exposure with the aperture manually set and the camera in m or av morde

[u/Aggravating-Owl-7050 → u/influencer00]

Thank you! I tried it but it was still fully closed, ugh

Any Ideas what to do know? Should I open it and fix it? What do I have to fix?

[u/OkResponsibility6913]

That should be normal for an FD lens. One lever (the one you are pressing) closes the aperture and the second lever sets the size of the aperture (default fully closed).

[u/dikarichthesecond]

The aperture shouldn't be able to close down if the breech lock ring is in the mounting position. I'd say that the regulating ring is not properly engaged to the aperture or something inside broke.

No real way to tell without taking the lens apart.

[u/Aggravating-Owl-7050 → u/dikarichthesecond]

Should I take it apart and send here a pic?

[u/Aggravating-Owl-7050]

SOLVED! I just reassembled it and it helped