CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

When I was just a little boy, my parents used to take me to the camera store. I wanted to see the cameras. Such amazing designs, such amazing lenses, such amazing prices. My father would buy a new camera every few years even though his pictures where never really very good. He was always reading the DXO sharpness charts and discussing the micron size of the pixels. His images were hardly ever in focus. After he passed I was going through his things. I fear he read on UHH that equipment is what matters most and as he grew older, he never could free himself from this thought.

lesmyers Loc: old town maine

My father was interested in photography and purchased an Ansco Karomat camera which, in those long ago days, (around 1952) was "high end." I remember when he was showing the camera to a neighbor who took out a dollar bill and said, "I understand dollar bills are good for cleaning lenses." My father yanked the camera away from this dodo! My dad helped me set up a darkroom in the (damp) basement, and I kind of taught myself how to develop and print. I was about 12 years old. I still do darkroom work, only in an upstairs (dry) loft. I graduated from the basement! In subsequent years, I have used/owned Exactas, and now have a Rollei, Mamiya C330, 4x5 Crown Graphic (I was always fascinated with that format when our family Christmas card portrait was taken by a photographer using one) and Canon 35s.

Warhorse Loc: SE Michigan

SWFeral Loc: SWNM

My parents, frustrated with my hyperactivity, gave me a Kodak Instamatic when I was about nine, so I guess we were living outside Denver then. They basically told me to DO something with my energy (and leave them alone). My first subjects were my cats.

Mark Goostree Loc: Nashville, Tennessee

I was about ten years old...1960, and my dad let me use his camera. I learned some with it. It shot 828 (I think) roll film. Mostly, I shot slides. It was an all manual, very small. My sister has it. First camera I bought was a Konica Autoreflex-T and I still shoot it some. I just seem to always have a camera close at hand.

Jbob Loc: N. Central MN

Not many ASA people around. I spent 3 years from 1959 to 1962 with them. I got into photography later.

dick ranez

I was six when I founf a 620 folding camera my dad had put away as he “improved” hos photo gear. When I was 13 I was a teen intern at the local newspaper and the editor put a Kodak pony 35mm rangefinder in my hands and arranged for me to accompany a boy scout tour of the Black Hills. Must have done OK because next he handed me a 4x5 speed graphic and sent me to high school sports events with the beat reporter.

flathead27ford Loc: Colorado, North of Greeley

Very cool! I started when I was about 12 years old with a Kodak 126 film camera. Moved onto a Canon AE-1 once I went in the Navy. Moved to an AE-1 Program and didn't like it. Bought an A-1 and was given a Yashicamat 124G for helping a friend with a wedding shoot. First real digital was the Canon 40d. I now have a 5d MK IV.

JohnPWest Loc: Denver, CO

Wow.. This goes way back.
As a kid I had an Instamatic. Then my mom let me use her (at the time) somewhat top-end 35mm camera for B&W. One of the oddest cameras ever. Twin lens reflex and rangefinder. Bolsey model C. I used the sky and light table from the film insert to estimate exposure shooting across several summer vacations. Continued using the instamatic for slides.

Once into High School I saved my summer lawn mowing money and bought a Minolta SRT-101. I used this to shoot year book photos and carried it through Philmont. My parents installed a darkroom in the garage. Minolta was my gear through college, with several upgrades.

My photography went dormant for a number of years. I used a Fuji bridge camera for a while.

A few years back (2017) my daughter was going to YWAM on a photo mission, and we had to find an appropriate camera for her. After much research, I settled on the Sony a6000. After playing with hers for a while I bought one for myself. This is what I still use.

Robert1 Loc: Davie, FL

My first camera: Chinon CE-4s. A gem of a camera for the time and price. February of 1981, 28 years old. I was reading a magazine. I can't remember which, but there was an add for the camera, 50mm, f1.7 autofocus lens, 135 mm f2.8 lens, carry bag, filters. All around $110. For some reason, it never occurred to me to buy a camera before, but I liked the price for the package, and reading that it was K mount like a Pentax (which at the time I recognized as a good brand), I cut the coupon from the magazine, filled it up and sent it. Around 3 weeks later I had in my hands my first camera.

I still have and use this camera. It came with Chinon first attempt to an autofocus lens (which I still have. It's not the one shown here). The autofocus, was OK, but slow, awkward, and bulky (a 50mm lens). I took out the autofocus motor/housing from the lens; covered with tape the part of the lens that have the opening where the autofocus system linked with the lens and voila, I have a good 50mm manual focus lens. In 1991 I moved to Pentax autofocus SLRs system. In 2017 I moved to Nikon system with the purchase of my first digital camera, the D750, for the money one of the best Digital camera ever from Nikon.

Robert1 Loc: Davie, FL

Here is the top of the Chinon CE-4s camera:

WarpedWeaver

I remember getting a Kodak Instamatic in 1965, at the age of 9. I used this little camera until my last year of college when it finally breathed it's last and died. I wanted something more, so I purchased a Nikkormat FTN and still have that camera.

AndyT Loc: Hampstead, New Hampshire

In 1967 I bought a Minolta SRT-101. I had a beautiful girlfriend named Veronika who inspired me with photography. I still have the camera along with 3 other film cameras I've used, sitting on my shelf. Thank you Veronika.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

My memory for dates is fast approaching zero. The earliest photo I have that I know I took dates from 1951. I know I took photos earlier than that but can't really say when, where, or what. The family had a folding camera which I'm sure I used (120 or 620 film). But eventually I got my own 35mm camera, from which I got the 1951 photo of the family on vacation (I know I took the photo because I'm not in it). The camera was made by Kodak and had a fixed focal length lens. The photo was a slide. Did some B/W work in my own darkroom in the early '50s.

Eventually I got myself an Exakta VX and 3 lenses (28, 50, 135) which I used up until about the late '80s. My wife got a Nikkormat in the late '60s and we got a zoom lens for it. That got used until I got a P&S digital in 1999 and the film cameras went into a drawer. Then a DSLR (D200) in 2005, then a D3, then D4, then D800e, then D5. Stopped there.

Photobug13 Loc: New England

In the early grades (the late 40's) I discovered an old medium format camera in a closet. I used my allowance to buy some film and set it up to take a still-life of a horse statue next to a candle. It was the beginning a life-long obsession with both cameras and horses. In the 50's I got a Kodak Pony camera with a leather case. Many cameras later in 2001 the switch to digital was made in preparation for an Alaska cruise. In recent years I have been using mostly four-thirds, but am consider mirrorless full-frame. There is always something just waiting to try (usually Canon, Kodak or Panasonic) as the budget allows. Garden tours, landscapes, wildlife, and still-life are fun subjects.