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Author Topic: Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?  (Read 16569 times)

NigelC

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Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?
« on: November 25, 2008, 02:53:01 am »

Something got me musing on how this all started out nearly 50 years ago. My first 3 cameras were a Box Brownie, Ilford Sporti 4, followed by a Halina 35X. I think my first SLR was a Miranda Sensorex, although I lusted after a Pentax SV
« Last Edit: November 25, 2008, 02:53:46 am by NigelC »
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mahleu

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Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?
« Reply #1 on: November 25, 2008, 03:49:49 am »

My first camera was an Olympus XA-2 which I still have.
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geotzo

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Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?
« Reply #2 on: November 25, 2008, 04:31:43 am »

Sure, it was a Nikon FE2 which still works like a charm
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Henry Goh

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Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?
« Reply #3 on: November 25, 2008, 05:12:35 am »

Diana.  Collected a ton of bubble gum cards to redeem for that camera.
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DarkPenguin

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Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?
« Reply #4 on: November 25, 2008, 12:31:03 pm »

Minolta X-570
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Gordon Buck

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Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?
« Reply #5 on: November 25, 2008, 12:41:08 pm »

Brownie Holiday Flash.  It had automatic focus and exposure but film and developing were expensive so I only shot about 5 or 6 rolls of B/W film.  Of course, flash was even more expensive and I never bought any additional bulbs after using the ones that came with the camera.  Wish I'd shot a hundred rolls!

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jecxz

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Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?
« Reply #6 on: November 25, 2008, 01:16:47 pm »

My dad had a Nikon something in 1974, with two or three lenses.

He showed me the camera.

He said, "If you touch it I'll break your arm."

Kind regards,
Derek
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bill t.

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Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?
« Reply #7 on: November 25, 2008, 01:32:18 pm »

An old 1940's something 35mm Argus with a collapsible lens.  Lots of Bakelite methinks.

F-stops: 4.5, 6.3, 9, 12.7, 18.

To set exposures you peered through a sort of harmonica like extinction meter on the top of the camera while adjusting a three axis slide-rule thingy.  In theory a sort of dirt-cheap, wide angle SEI style exposure meter.  One quickly learned to go by the exposure recommendations on the Kodak data sheet.

Took a zillion pictures, printed very few because of cost.  Have the camera, can't find the negs, bummer!  Would love to have those old pics taken on the Union Pacific Challenger and Santa Fe Chief and El Capitan.
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Ken Bennett

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Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?
« Reply #8 on: November 25, 2008, 03:35:12 pm »

Yashica-Mat, back in the mid 70s. Made individual 2x2-inch contact prints using a tiny device made for that purpose. My father had (still has) a Canon Ftb, which I was always trying, unsuccessfully, to borrow. Finally, when I got married, he bought me a Canon AE-1P with a 50/1.8 to take on my honeymoon. That rekindled my interest in photography, and led to a (so-far) 20+ year career.
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whawn

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Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?
« Reply #9 on: November 25, 2008, 05:28:19 pm »

MY first camera was a brand-new Kodak Hawkeye II, with built in peanut flash.  The kit came with one roll of Pan-X and a dozen flashbulbs.  Got it for Christmas, so I'd keep my hands off the Father's Argus DLR.

I ran hundreds of rolls through that magic box, learned how to read light by eye, lusted after the abilities described in Adams' books.  Then Dad got a Kodak Pony IV 35mm rangefinder, used it some but decided he liked the Argus better.  Wow!  Focus!  Shutter speed!  Aperture!  I bought a ten-dollar light meter.

Does anybody but me remember the thrill of Anscochrome 400?  Five whole stops faster than Kodachrome?  And you could home-process?  Six solutions, as I recall.  Ah, those were the days.  Shot football for the school paper (with Tri-x, not Anscochrome).

First camera I bought for myself was a Mamiya/Sekor 500DTL, from an Army PX in 1970.  Utter heaven: Focal-plane shutter with built-in Aperture Priority metering and interchangeable lenses!  Still the best metering system I've ever used, because it was both precise and easily controllable.  I went hog-wild, but wished for the Nikon F or Olympus OM-1, because the lenses sorta snapped on, quickly, instead of the slow agony of the screw-mount.   Never did get either, but used the Mamiya until it died on me.  Next up was a Contax 139q and the magic of Zeiss lenses.  Not over that addiction; instead I'm mainlining with a Hasselblad.  

Have not yet gone digital.  Spend 45 years learning film and p-f-f-t, they want me to trust my stuff to magnetic domains in bits?  Yeah, guess I'll have to since they're taking my Kodachrome away, along with all the others, type by type.  Besides, I ruined two rolls just last week.  Forgot to zip up the changing bag before loading the processing drum... A-r-r-r-gh!
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Geoff Wittig

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Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?
« Reply #10 on: November 25, 2008, 05:44:27 pm »

Quote from: NigelC
Something got me musing on how this all started out nearly 50 years ago. My first 3 cameras were a Box Brownie, Ilford Sporti 4, followed by a Halina 35X. I think my first SLR was a Miranda Sensorex, although I lusted after a Pentax SV

Yep. I was able to convince the wife that we needed a decent camera to shoot the kids, and ended up buying a brand new Pentax SF-1, their first real autofocus SLR camera, circa 1989. It came with a thoroughly mediocre 35-70 zoom lens, but the ergonomics were great. Pretty soon I realized I needed a little more reach, and persuaded the wife to spring for a 70-210 zoom. And then a 300 f:4; and then a cosmetically crude but surprisingly sharp Sigma 500 f:4.5 manual focus lens. And a couple of years after that a colossal Pentax 600 f:4 lens that weighed about 20 lbs. all by itself.

Of course, by that point I was no longer able to convince my wife I needed that gigantic lens just to photograph the kids.  
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bill t.

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« Reply #11 on: November 25, 2008, 07:53:30 pm »

Quote from: whawn
Does anybody but me remember the thrill of Anscochrome 400?  Five whole stops faster than Kodachrome?  And you could home-process?  Six solutions, as I recall.  Ah, those were the days.  Shot football for the school paper (with Tri-x, not Anscochrome).

Well in the 60's I used the Ansco chemistry (was it "AR-1"?) to process their slide duping film.  Made the most incredible duplicate transparencies, hard to tell from the original Kodachromes.  Problem was...after working weeks to put together a big, three screen slide projector presentation the dupes faded horribly after less than a day of cycling the show!  Live & learn.
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wolfnowl

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Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?
« Reply #12 on: November 26, 2008, 12:26:06 am »

Well, the first 35mm camera I used was my dad's Argus A5.  I do have a Brownie Hawkeye somewhere around here, and went through a few Kodak X-15s and 110-pocket cameras in the 70s before getting a Pentax Spotmatic F.

Mike.
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robertwatcher

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Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?
« Reply #13 on: November 26, 2008, 12:44:46 am »

Mine was purchased in 1976 and was a Practica LB2 with 50mm and 135mm lenses screw mount lenses. My mother still has it and used it up until 3 or 4 years ago. (first camera I used was probably my mom's Kodak Instamatic - 126 film I think)


« Last Edit: November 26, 2008, 12:51:45 am by robertwatcher »
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bill t.

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Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?
« Reply #14 on: November 26, 2008, 02:01:00 am »

Those Prakticas were popular, affordable cameras for a long time.  That's a late model with the highly advanced built in meter.  I had a Praktina FX with a great 58mm Biotar, also from Zeiss Jena.  Check out the "DDR" mark from the old East Germany.  My high school photo teacher took a generally dim view of "commie cameras."
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spidermike

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Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?
« Reply #15 on: November 26, 2008, 06:52:17 am »

Pentax ME Super with 180mmm APO lens. Wonderful piece of kit (or it would be if some [expletive] had not stolen it when I was travelling in Asia ini 1990).

Mike
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mahleu

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Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?
« Reply #16 on: November 26, 2008, 07:02:17 am »

Quote from: bill t.
Those Prakticas were popular, affordable cameras for a long time.  That's a late model with the highly advanced built in meter.  I had a Praktina FX with a great 58mm Biotar, also from Zeiss Jena.  Check out the "DDR" mark from the old East Germany.  My high school photo teacher took a generally dim view of "commie cameras."

I very almost bought an MTL 5 the other day. But I have ended up with a broken Praktisix which came along with 3 other MF cameras for a price I couldn't refuse.
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piergiorgio

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« Reply #17 on: November 26, 2008, 07:16:00 am »

My first camera was a present from my Dad while attending HiSchool in 1952: it was an Officine Galileo-Florence (IT) model Condor II^ VF single lens 50mm Esaog 1:2. I use to get better results than him with his Leica 2f with Elmar 3,5 collapsible lens. He was very upset about this! There were very few Leicas around in Italy at that time.
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piergiorgio

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« Reply #18 on: November 26, 2008, 07:24:57 am »

I found an old french ad on Condor cameras.[attachment=9880:Condor_II.tiff]
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flyingwithfish

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Anybody remember the first cameras they owned?
« Reply #19 on: November 29, 2008, 09:52:23 am »

A 1965 Nikomat FS with a Nikkor 50f2 non-Ai

I got it when I was 10 in 1985.   I still have both the body and lens. They both still work perfectly!
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