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How many of you got started in Vietnam?
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Nov 19, 2014 11:17:46   #
aquadiver Loc: Planet Earth
 
I'm just curious. I bought my first cameras in Vietnam because you could get them cheap at the PXs there. I learned to use the darkroom at Special Services in Qui Nhon. I got hooked and have been ever since.

It appears that a lot of us are of a certain (ahem) age, and from some of the comments I've seen on various threads, I have a feeling that quite a few of us started out in Vietnam. Personally, photography and my USAA membership are the two best things I got from military service :) :)

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Nov 19, 2014 11:27:18   #
warrior Loc: Paso Robles CA
 
aquadiver wrote:
I'm just curious. I bought my first cameras in Vietnam because you could get them cheap at the PXs there. I learned to use the darkroom at Special Services in Qui Nhon. I got hooked and have been ever since.

It appears that a lot of us are of a certain (ahem) age, and from some of the comments I've seen on various threads, I have a feeling that quite a few of us started out in Vietnam. Personally, photography and my USAA membership are the two best things I got from military service :) :)
I'm just curious. I bought my first cameras in Vie... (show quote)


Sorry but I served 1948-1971 US Army

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Nov 19, 2014 11:27:29   #
brucewells Loc: Central Kentucky
 
aquadiver wrote:
I'm just curious. I bought my first cameras in Vietnam because you could get them cheap at the PXs there. I learned to use the darkroom at Special Services in Qui Nhon. I got hooked and have been ever since.

It appears that a lot of us are of a certain (ahem) age, and from some of the comments I've seen on various threads, I have a feeling that quite a few of us started out in Vietnam. Personally, photography and my USAA membership are the two best things I got from military service :) :)
I'm just curious. I bought my first cameras in Vie... (show quote)


It was Thailand for me, but the same war, and the same scenario. Shot a lot of B&W in those days, just so I could develop/print for myself.

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Nov 19, 2014 11:30:41   #
Huey Driver Loc: Texas
 
I was based at Qui Nhon as a helicopter jockey in 1964-65. No Special Services there back then. I did purchase a Pen EE from the PX there. Shot half frame 35mm photos. Pretty good little camera for it's time and it would easily fit in the pocket of my flack jacket.
aquadiver wrote:
I'm just curious. I bought my first cameras in Vietnam because you could get them cheap at the PXs there. I learned to use the darkroom at Special Services in Qui Nhon. I got hooked and have been ever since.

It appears that a lot of us are of a certain (ahem) age, and from some of the comments I've seen on various threads, I have a feeling that quite a few of us started out in Vietnam. Personally, photography and my USAA membership are the two best things I got from military service :) :)
I'm just curious. I bought my first cameras in Vie... (show quote)

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Nov 19, 2014 11:31:52   #
svo84 Loc: Moline,IL
 
aquadiver wrote:
I'm just curious. I bought my first cameras in Vietnam because you could get them cheap at the PXs there. I learned to use the darkroom at Special Services in Qui Nhon. I got hooked and have been ever since.

It appears that a lot of us are of a certain (ahem) age, and from some of the comments I've seen on various threads, I have a feeling that quite a few of us started out in Vietnam. Personally, photography and my USAA membership are the two best things I got from military service :) :)
I'm just curious. I bought my first cameras in Vie... (show quote)


Purchased a Canon Pelix and Canon FTb at Saigon hospital PX in 1967 - a long time ago

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Nov 19, 2014 11:33:03   #
oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA
 
aquadiver wrote:
I'm just curious. I bought my first cameras in Vietnam because you could get them cheap at the PXs there. I learned to use the darkroom at Special Services in Qui Nhon. I got hooked and have been ever since. ...


that PX buying power was great, Got my first SLR and lens in 1966 for less than the sales tax on my D800 in 2014

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Nov 19, 2014 11:39:05   #
GeneS Loc: Glendale,AZ
 
Marines Da Nang sept 64 to nov 64 Didn't have flack jackets or cameras in the PX. Started several years before that, but took a few in Nam.

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Nov 19, 2014 11:42:24   #
chase4 Loc: Punta Corona, California
 
[quote=aquadiver]I'm just curious. I bought my first cameras in Vietnam because you could get them cheap at the PXs there.

I bought my first 35 mm rangefinder, a Yashica Lynx 14e at the PX in Da Nang in 1969. In about a year I upgraded to a Canon FTb and kept that until 1976. At that time I was working for a company that had all Nikon stuff so I made the switch to Nikon and still with them today.

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Nov 19, 2014 11:49:54   #
LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY
 
Took a Kodak to Nam with me in May of '68. Don't remember the model. Grey, built in flash reflector that took AG1 flashbulbs. After about 6 mo I was finally stationed near a PX so I bought a Yashica Electro 35. Good camera. During my tour extension in '69, I sold it and bought a Yashica TL Super, which came with a 50mm lens, as I recall. Soon bought a 135mm lens to go with it. Had that camera,unused for years, till about 3 yrs ago when I gave it to a Yashica collector. Shot a lot of Ektachrome with those 2 Yashicas.

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Nov 19, 2014 11:52:23   #
bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA
 
aquadiver wrote:
I'm just curious. I bought my first cameras in Vietnam because you could get them cheap at the PXs there. I learned to use the darkroom at Special Services in Qui Nhon. I got hooked and have been ever since.

It appears that a lot of us are of a certain (ahem) age, and from some of the comments I've seen on various threads, I have a feeling that quite a few of us started out in Vietnam. Personally, photography and my USAA membership are the two best things I got from military service :) :)
I'm just curious. I bought my first cameras in Vie... (show quote)

Your Avitar says you'r in Bluffon. My wife and I had lunch at the Oyster Company a couple months ago. I bought a hat!

I ended up with a bunch of stuff that said Nikon on it. My Vietnam job required going to a lot of bases. Each PX or Navy Exchange had something different to add to my collection. As soon as I got out in '75, I bought house where I could build a darkroom.

Besides photography and the USAA, the VA spent about $10K trying to get me educated and skilled. In the years since, the VA has added a lot of medical benefits for vets that served in combat zones, some of which are specific to Vietnam vets.

I don't mean to turn a fun topic into anything serious. If you know any Vietnam vets that have had or have prostate cancer, tell them to do some reading on the VA websites. (Or send me a PM)

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Nov 19, 2014 11:54:44   #
Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga
 
Didn't serve as I've had bad hearing since birth (hearing aids in both ears.... Didn't stop me from trying to enlist in 1967 though... Of course I failed the hearing test. I did have the highest score on the OCS tests that day (Officer Candidate school)... Had I been taken, I would have gone directly to the front lines after the school/basic training... I was in a rut back then & hoped that maybe, just maybe they would find a place for me somewhere.... As it was, they re-classified me as 1Y-only in time of war or National emergency, of which Vietnam was neither.... That said, it was also the time I started in photography as well...

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Nov 19, 2014 12:11:33   #
jrb1213 Loc: McDonough GEorgia
 
Started photography in Vietnam. I got a lot of value ... My college degree, USAA (46 years), photography, and the love of 4 sisters who told me i am their personal hero.
Chu Lai Dustoff 69-70

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Nov 19, 2014 12:20:08   #
rpavich Loc: West Virginia
 
What a great thread....keep 'em coming and thank you so much for not only your service but for some history.

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Nov 19, 2014 12:20:35   #
nicksr1125 Loc: Mesa, AZ
 
Had been shooting an SRT-101 for several years before going to Thailand in 1972. Purchased a Canon F1 right after I got there. Had access to plenty of film because I ran the QC shop in the 548th Recon Technical Group at Udorn RTAFB. Sold the F1 & got a Canon EF; followed by an AE-1 Program. After I retired, I purchased a Maxxum 700i & several lenses when I worked in a camera store in Monterey, CA. Switched to Sony digital a few years ago & to an Alpha 850 earlier this year. All my photo training was courtesy of the Navy & Air Force. My USAA membership was courtesy of my wife who was a 1st Lt. when we got married. I was a Staff Sergeant.

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Nov 19, 2014 12:25:55   #
DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX
 
I bought a Petri 2.8 at a PX. I, too, learned to develop B&W at Special Services. I spent 7 years in the service and some of my best and worst memories come from there. I was at Pleiku when the runway was PSP and flight ops boasted a Howard Johnson sign.
aquadiver wrote:
I'm just curious. I bought my first cameras in Vietnam because you could get them cheap at the PXs there. I learned to use the darkroom at Special Services in Qui Nhon. I got hooked and have been ever since.

It appears that a lot of us are of a certain (ahem) age, and from some of the comments I've seen on various threads, I have a feeling that quite a few of us started out in Vietnam. Personally, photography and my USAA membership are the two best things I got from military service :) :)
I'm just curious. I bought my first cameras in Vie... (show quote)

Reply
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