IvanF Loc: New York City

Well, I'm 68+ (1943) going on 16. I'm still trying to decide what to be when I grow up.

Serious, y'all are wonderful in this discussion group, lots of open minds and passionate photographers. Very nice!

First camera bought in 1960: a Yashica A, 6x6 for about $10 (!). The biggest camera store in NYC at that time was Willoughby's and an older salesman, Mr. Bernstein, suggested what low cost darkroom equipment I could buy to start my own basement darkroom. My love story with darkrooms - that have morphed to Photoshop and Lightroom - started in the fall of 1960.

A few months ago I dug out my old manual Nikon and been taking & developing some B&W, just to smell the fixer. Better than any cologne.

robertperry Loc: Sacramento, Ca.

As child, owned a few Kodak instamatic cameras. Also had a Kodak pocket camera that shot 126mm or 110. Don't remember. Negatives were really small. First official camera was a Pentax Spotmeter. Purchased around 1970. FYI, I'm 7 years younger ;-)

robertperry Loc: Sacramento, Ca.

Hey, is that quick fix you're wearin'. That's my favorite! :thumbup:

robertperry Loc: Sacramento, Ca.

Spotmatic with the lightmeter mounted on top. That was my first 35mm. Bought it around 1970 living on Okinawa. My dad was stationed there.

Dyluck4 Loc: Georgetown Indiana

Good for you Bob, I'm at age 55 but in the same boat you are in this photography, I just have had so many intrest in my life while working civil service and now that I've retired from that back in 2002 I had decided to full fill that pation in photography. So continue and stay in touch, Bob Perry

robertperry Loc: Sacramento, Ca.

Will do, most nights are spent trying to figure out photoshop or since joining ugly hedgehog, I'm here :thumbup:

Dyluck4 Loc: Georgetown Indiana

Hey Robert I notice you have the same first and last name as me, I was stationed in San Diego back in the 70's and used to go on manuvers in San francisco

robertperry Loc: Sacramento, Ca.

Graduated from high school in '75. Joined the Seabees in '76. Boot camp in San Diego. Spent most of my 5 yrs. in the caribbean. Nice to meet someone with the same interest and name.

Dyluck4 Loc: Georgetown Indiana

Yep that's the same year I graduated and had went in under the delayed entry program, so after I graduated I went to Boot Camp the following July. I think you were one of the few Seabees they were taking at the time too from what I had heard from guys trying to get in there, I think some were having trouble. Keep in touch!

rayford2 Loc: New Bethlehem, PA

I think I had one of those Kodaks...Model 104 that used 126 film and flash cubes. Kodak called it an "Instamatic".
There were other 100 series Kodaks but I don't recall the differences.

rayford2 Loc: New Bethlehem, PA

Reminds me of the Polaroid "Swinger" that was as common as pop-tops on a ground. Marketing did wonders for the sale of this thing. There's still a lot of them for sale, usually mixed in with a box of flea market items. Is Polaroid film even available in any form anymore?

Raymond Loc: Portland Oregon

About 1957 my girl friend bought me my first 35mm camera, it is an ILFORD Sportsman. I still have the same camera and same girl friend.

sajjad Loc: india

nikon coolpix l23

tomfr Loc: Brevard N.C.

Back to first cameras, my first was a Canon FTQL, I bought at a real camera store,just cameras,and a very well informed staff. The QL stood for quick load. Proceeded with black and white, installed a darkroom in my parents basement. Not long after, being influenced by "Easy Rider" I sold my photo gear and bought a motorcycle. A year or so later, I purchased. Nikkormat EL, which I used and sporadic, at best. Then in 1986, I was on dive vacation, and became exposed(pun intended) to underwater photography. Soon after, I bought a Nikonos 5, and my life changed dramatically. All I could think about was upgrading to a housed camera. Very expensive, not for me. I should mention that the Nikonos5 was a submersible, 35 mm totally manual camera. There were no housings made for the smaller Nikkormat. Minolta introduced auto focus, and everything changed. Then Nikon introduced a consumer level auto focus, auto exposure camera. Eventually, I started with a Nikon 8008 with a plexiglass housing and two underwater TTL strobes. From there it was a little while to a N90 in an aluminum housing and ending up with a D70 in an aluminum housing. My wife Lynn had the exact same system. Traveling was a pain, we used a big Igloo cooler, wrapped with a bicycle chain to carry it all. This was a good move, since a good number of Pelican cases were lost, whereas our cooler just looked like some local person returning home with groceries. Anyway Western North Carolina is a great distance from Saba, a small island in the Caribbean where we lived for a few years. Sold all the UW stuff and used the D70 until I bought a D200 about 3 years ago. I am very happy with it.
I often thought why photography became so pilar with people my age 64. I remember in I remember in the 60's down to Greenwich Village, where it seemed like every other person had a 35 mm around their neck. NYU's film school was right around the corner. Another contributing factor was, I think, all the photographs appearing on album jackets and the numerous albums that contained photographs inside.
Sorry for getting off track
Tomfr

ThomasS Loc: Colorado

My first digital camera was a Sony Cybershot, and this along with a few pocket Nikons kept me happy for a little while, but not for long. I missed the versatility and quality I had become accustomed to with my SLRs. When Nikon released the D70, I grabbed it and was thrilled to get the feel of a SLR back in my hands. After the D70, came the D80, then the D300, and finally the full-framed D700, and now the D3s. I love them all.

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