I have a 35mm AE-1 Canon film camera… and a ton of questions!?
Alright, I have the manual… but I just don't understand it. :[
I know that it is fully manual and has automatic settings, but the manual that it came with is just comics on how to use it which consist of "Turn the focusing ring to focus until the circle in the middle is a complete circle!"
Like what are the f/stops and apertures?
How can I find out what type of Focusing Screen I have?
Where do I find the shutter speed setting/set it?
How do I know if my Light Meter is center weighted?
How do I find out if my camera has a depth of filed preview button on it?
What is a leaf shutter?
How do I know if my camera has a focal plane or leaf shutter?
Since I have automatic capabilities, how do I know if the automatic exposure control is aperture priority, shutter priority, or both?
What is a "Hot Shoe"?
What is the metering system?
How do I know if I have more than one metering thing?
f/stops and apertures are basically the same thing. Your lens will have number printed on them. Those are the apertures and they "move" in full f/stops.
Look through the viewfinder and you will see what kind of Focussing Screen you have.
The shutter speed is set by the dial on the top of the camera. It co-incides with the red line.
Your camera is center weighted. You cant change it.
The depth of field preview button is to the left of the lens as you are looking through the viewfinder. It's on the front of the camera.
You do not have a leaf shutter. Its a curtain shutter. A leaf shutter is better but dont worry about that right now. You wouldnt be able to see the difference. This is in refrence to the maximum X-sync speed. 1/60th on your camera. If you go faster than 1/60th when using flash, you will not get a well exposed picture.
The AE-1 has aperture priority, but not shutter priority.
The hotshoe is where you attatch a flash on the top of the camera.
The metering system refers to how your camera sees light and helps guide you to a good exposure. You cant change it so dont worry about it.
HTH
Edit: Ok, so lets make this simple for you. Take some film and put it in the camera, make sure its on the spindle and turns when you advance the knob. Close the back of the camera. Set your ISO (ASA) to what the speed of the film is. Lift the shutter speed wheel a bit and turn it until your film speed appears in the window at the arrow. Next, on your lens turn the aperture adjustment to A. This means that your lens will adjust the aperture automatically (assuming that you have good batteries). The last step is to choose a shutter speed. Try to make it about the same as your lenses focal length. i.e. if you have a 50mm lens use a shutter speed of 1/60th, if you have a 200mm lens use a shutter speed of 1/250th (try to go faster than 1/focal length). Now all you have to do is focus the lens and take a shot. If you look through the viewfinder and theres something blinking thats a warning. You may want to use a different speed.
A good companion to the Owner's Manual is "How To Choose & Use Canon SLR Cameras" by Carl Shipman. I found one listed on ebay - Item # 140242578274 - with a starting bid of $1.99 and approximately 10 hours left on the auction.
I bought Shipman's book for Minolta SLR cameras a very long time ago. He uses more illustrations and has better explanations than any Owner's Manual.
Another excellent resource book is "Object & Image: An Introduction To Photography, Third Edition" by George M. Craven.