Do you still own your first "real" camera?
Nov 20, 2021 10:23:19 #
Good morning "wide2tele",
Still have the Nikon F I purchased in high school - later bought and still have another F with the FTN head. I actually had this one helmet mounted and was the photographer for the University of Minnesota Skydiving club (mid to late 1960's). Shows a little wear but works just fine. Yes, we actually wore serious helmets back then. Skydiving was taken a little more seriously then and had not yet descended to the current shorts, flip-flops, T shirt "walk in the park" pastime it has become. All military surplus gear, quite small canopies, hard landings with not infrequent fractures seen with newcomers - ah!! the good life? - maybe not.
My first DSLR was the D1x. Yup, still have it - works OK but I did recently upgrade to the D850.
Terry
Still have the Nikon F I purchased in high school - later bought and still have another F with the FTN head. I actually had this one helmet mounted and was the photographer for the University of Minnesota Skydiving club (mid to late 1960's). Shows a little wear but works just fine. Yes, we actually wore serious helmets back then. Skydiving was taken a little more seriously then and had not yet descended to the current shorts, flip-flops, T shirt "walk in the park" pastime it has become. All military surplus gear, quite small canopies, hard landings with not infrequent fractures seen with newcomers - ah!! the good life? - maybe not.
My first DSLR was the D1x. Yup, still have it - works OK but I did recently upgrade to the D850.
Terry
Nov 20, 2021 10:26:51 #
Strodav
Loc: Houston, Tx
Yes, but they stopped making film for it decades ago. It has a rangefinder to find distance, then you moved the bellows for focus. Sadly, my first film slr, a Canon AE1, died after a 7 day hike through the Sangre de Cristo mountains of New Mexico probably due to condensation. The AE1 was not as weather sealed as Nikons at the time. I have been invested in Nikon ever since.
Nov 20, 2021 10:33:50 #
I should add that I vaguely remember having a little brown square camera for a short time as a kid. I guess it would have been a Kodak Brownie. Do not recall ever having film for it and I’m sure I got tired of it very quickly. Lol
Nov 20, 2021 10:49:39 #
My first "real" camera was a Leica M3 with a 50mm f/2 dual range Summicron lens which I bought new in 1956. At that time it cost me a month's salary. I then, over time, bought a 135 mm lens, a 35mm lens and a reflex housing so I could use extension tubes. I still have it all and in fact there is a roll of 35mm B&W film in the camera right now.
Nov 20, 2021 10:51:34 #
My first was a Fujika rangefinder with match needle. I sold that one to a USAF barracks mate, and then got an EOS 630 that I really liked - but it was stollen. Afterwards I went digital with the EOS 20D.
Nov 20, 2021 11:00:19 #
wide2tele wrote:
Do you still own your first real/serious camera? (... (show quote)
I bought a Minolta SRT-101 in 1973 and still have it because I never bothered to get rid of it. It worked great until the meter quit working. After having it repaired, it failed again and got shelved, replaced with a Nikon 6006.
Bill
Nov 20, 2021 11:11:40 #
wide2tele wrote:
Do you still own your first real/serious camera? (... (show quote)
Yashica Electro 35 Rangefinder. Still have it but stored away for the past 25 years. First digital was a Nikon D50. Still use it regularly.
Nov 20, 2021 11:17:59 #
wide2tele wrote:
Do you still own your first real/serious camera? (... (show quote)
Ignoring my 35mm history, I consider my first "real" cameras to be my Mamiya 330 outfit consisting of nearly all lenses and accessories, and my Wisner Technical 4.5, both of which I still have.
Nov 20, 2021 11:33:26 #
sgt hop
Loc: baltimore md,now in salisbury md
my 1st....bought used about 1959.....before that a ricoflex....which i still have....nikon kinda beat up, but still works....
Nov 20, 2021 11:36:05 #
kb6kgx
Loc: Simi Valley, CA
grandpaw wrote:
Yes I do and it is fifty years old. Mine is a Nikon F with a FTN meter and a 50mm Nikon lens
This was MY first SLR as well. Until it was stolen when my condo was broken into back in the early 90s. I had inherited it from my dad when he decided to move to something smaller and bought the FE.
LOVED the F. Nikon’s way of wearing a brick around your neck.
Nov 20, 2021 11:48:43 #
No! Sold all my old cameras and lenses. Try not keep stuff around I won’t be using.
Nov 20, 2021 11:59:19 #
Started with a Kodak Brownie Star Flash (127 roll film). Then in 6th grade I got a Zeiss Contaflex I. which I still have and it still works. It was replaced by a Exacta VX1000 in high school. I still have it and about 3 lenses. It got replaced by a Rollie 35 when I was in the AirForce. And I still have it. Next was a Minolta Maxxima 7 and several lenses. Which lead me to a Minolta 7D. Then a the Sony line a65, a99ii, a6000 (all three are gone), a6500, a7iii, a7Riv and a7ii that is converted to B&W. Plus RX100v, and RX10iii. I still teach part time at the community college so they all get used in my classes.
Nov 20, 2021 11:59:38 #
4x5 Speed graphic still have it very good condition. Sometimes I think about shooting a 4 x 5 negative but not for very long
Nov 20, 2021 12:01:20 #
Mine was a Canon FTb with 50mm kit lens (1971 I think, on Spangdahlem AB, Germany). Later, added a 135mm Canon lens. Had saved to buy this but had not anticipated the cost of developing/printing. Went to slides, and just printed selected ones.
Tried B&W and developed/printed at the Air Force Base hobby shop... had an assistant in the dark room (wife, who was not quite as enthusiastic as me... but felt obligated since I assisted with her hobby). Kept it till a few years ago when the battery (which only powered light meter) swelled/burst and corroded camera. A guy thought he could fix it so I gave it to him.
Just in the last couple of years have been having the slides scanned.
Tried B&W and developed/printed at the Air Force Base hobby shop... had an assistant in the dark room (wife, who was not quite as enthusiastic as me... but felt obligated since I assisted with her hobby). Kept it till a few years ago when the battery (which only powered light meter) swelled/burst and corroded camera. A guy thought he could fix it so I gave it to him.
Just in the last couple of years have been having the slides scanned.
Nov 20, 2021 12:04:46 #
Wanderer2
Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains
wide2tele wrote:
Do you still own your first real/serious camera? (... (show quote)
My first "real" camera was a Pentax Spotmatic. I still have a Spotmatic (for old times sake) but it isn't the one I purchased in the 1960s, although identical. I still use a Pentax, a K-1 for landscape photography.
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