Bill_de Loc: US

While not my actual camera, this is the type of camera I had as a kid. My first 35mm camera was a Mamiya/Sekor 1000 DTL. A buddy talked me into buying it while we were in a PX in Long Bien, Vietnam. Most of the pictures I took with it there wound up getting destroyed, but the camera made it home in 1971. That got me started.

JohnFrim Loc: Somewhere in the Great White North.

My very first camera was a plastic fixed-aperture/fixed-shutter-speed job that I purchased for 50 cents and 5 coupons from the backs of Allen's Candy Cigarettes (remember the TV ads of the 1950's, "Send 5 boxtops and 50 cents to get your...…" ). It took half-frame photos on 127 film, so I got double the number of pictures from a roll. Yeah!!! Too bad that on a 3 x 3 inch print the only part that was in focus was an area in the middle about the size of a 50-cent piece (price of the camera???). The rest of the photo streaked radially from the centre to look something like a longer-exposure zoom effect.

My first roll of film did not work out. See, the camera came with a plastic take-up spool, but the roll of film was on a metal spool, and I thought the plastic spool had to stay with the camera. Solution? Rewind the exposed film onto the metal spool. Of course this could not be done in the camera. Now, I knew that light exposes the film, and I did not want "too much" extra light to hit the film during rewind, so I asked my mother to cup her hands around the sides of the film as I re-rolled it onto the metal spool on the kitchen table. Of course, I did this with the emulsion side down so that less light would get onto the film. Smart, eh? OK, gimme a break -- I was 12 years old!!! I think I put about 3 or 4 rolls of film through this camera (without rewinding!). I used a few borrowed cameras for awhile before buying my Pentax Spotmatic. The rest of my camera history is in my signature.

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

My interested started in the 50's My first camera was ??? No idea, what I do remember was running to the drug store to get my pix, open the envelope and out of 12 pix, 6 were either totally white or black. interest rekindled when Digital came out. A friend had a HP camera, was moving to another brand so I bought it for $100.00 .... I was amazed at the pics it produced. I think it was maybe 1 or 2 megapixel . Then I bought a 6 MP then a 12, then a DSLR then the D810 and somewhere along there I bought a 35MM Nikon. still have it packed away someplace ...

Erik_H Loc: Denham Springs, Louisiana

I have one of those. It was left to me by my father. It appears to function but I haven't tried it out.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Kodak Brownie Holiday Edition, took 127 roll film. My grandmother bought it on a trip to Estes Park in Colorado in the 50's sometime. Passed it on to me in the late 60's. I still have it but its not in the best of condition anymore, haven't had any film for about 20 years or more. It spend time with me in Boy Scouts all over the West, even survived college! Just checked and the shutter still works, I may have to order up a roll and go shoot it, just for the memories.

(Download)


(Download)


(Download)

Erik_H Loc: Denham Springs, Louisiana

My first camera was a Ziess Ikon Contessa that my dad gave me. He was shooting with Nikons and a couple of TLR's, but he wouldn't let me use them unless he was there to watch over me. I was about 5 or 6 years old at the time

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

First camera: An early Kodak Brownie Starmite. Took 127 film and AG-1 flashbulbs. Took it to Viet Nam with me.
First 35mm film camera: Yashica Electro 35 rangefinder. Bought it at the PX in Da Nang after I lost the Brownie.
First SLR: Yashica TL-Super. Bought it on my 2nd tour. 50mm and 125mm lenses plus a Bosch hot shoe flash. Gave it to a Yashica collector a few years ago.
First digital camera: Kodak DC4800 rangefinder. 3.1 megapixel. Bought it for a cruise in 2001.
First DSLR: Canon T3i. Bought it in early 2012 for a trip to Bora Bora. Decided that if we were going that far I wanted a good camera. Started out with an 18-55 and 55-250 lenses. Undoubtedly the most expensive camera I ever bought because it gave me the photography bug and led to me spending a whole bunch of money! I've enjoyed every penny of it!

SaguaroBob

Had a Brownie a a kid. In college I got a Voigtlaender Vitoret DR in Germany when I traveled around Europe in '67. First "real" camera that got me started.

In the military overseas, bought a Konica Autoreflex T 35mm SLR & a couple of Vivatar lenses. Used it for ages & just about wore it out.

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

First camera - Brownie Hawkeye - 1955
First 35 mm camera - Argus C3 - 1964
First Medium Format - Mamiya C330 - 1977
First 35mm SLR - Nikon N8008 - 1988
First digital camera - Canon G2 - 2002
First DSLR - Nikon D100 - 2004
First Micro 4/3 - Panasonic GX7 - 2014
Currently using Panasonic GX 8 and Olympus OMD E-M1

Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

My first camera was a Kodak Brownie, like Mt Shooter's, that my folks gave me back in 1955. Shot 127 B&W film. I still,have some of those pictures. Later I got an Instamatic and went through a few Polaroid cameras. In 1967 I got my first SLR, a Yashica TL Super. Imwent from that to a Canon AE-1, then sold it when I went in the Army. Actually I bought a Pentax Spotmatic before that. I've had several SLRs as well as some compact 35's. my first digital camera was an Olympus D500 or something lime that. My first DSLR was a D90, followed by an A6000, and now a D7200. Been through a lot of cameras, as I always liked to try out different ones. It's all been fun.

crafterwantabe Loc: Mn

Thank you for your responses. So many different cameras. I had an inexpensive Camera I don't even remember the brand but it used film.. now I just have the cell phone. It's handy. Some day I'll get a camera....it just needs to be light weight . Issues with arthritis...

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Mine was a Kodak Brownie 127. Still have it, also my father's Zeiss Ikon, and a few other relics like a 110 Pocket Instamatic 200 with it's original packaging.

Had an Agfa Instamatic type camera after the Brownie, then Zenit E, Canon AE-1, Canon T90, a few digital P&S and now Canon DSLRs. Still have most of them, and anything from the Zenit onwards I know still work. Also my wife's Nikon FM2. Also some old lenses that work on the modern DSLRs. A few other relics around also, but that's enough for now.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

Argus Argoflex TLR (early E or earlier model) acquired in early 1950's.

bull drink water Loc: pontiac mi.

a Kodak brownie bullseye in 1957

David in Dallas Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA

My first camera was a Kodak Baby Brownie Special using 127 film. I bought it in 1960 in the BX at my assigned location in Oregon. I used it for several years and then upgraded to a Petri 7S rangefinder 35mm in 1964, bought in Labrador. In 1966 I moved up to a Nikkormat 35mm SLR--I liked it because its control were rings around the lens similar to those on my Petri. That camera was stolen from my car in California in 1968 and I bought a Nikkormat FT to replace it. After retiring from USAF in 1980 and settling in Dallas, Texas I upgraded again to a Nikon N70 SLR, and later added a Nikon FE SLR; on tours I carried both around my neck (FE high, N70 low) and put ASA 800 film in the FE and a Vivitar 28mm f/1.8 lens for indoor shots, and ASA 400 film in the N70 with a Tamron 28-200mm zoom for my all-around work. Around 2004 I decided to join the movement to digital photography and bought a Kodak DX7630 P&S, which I used for my tour of New Zealand that year. Although it took good pictures, the delay in capturing the image and lackluster dim light performance prompted me to consider upgrading to a DSLR, and one of my best friends, a photographer with USAF, recommended the Nikon D50 as appropriate for my needs. I immediately equipped it with the Nikkor 18-200VR zoom lens and that rig accompanied me on all my travels until about 2012, when I decided to upgrade again, to a Nikon D7000, in order to get better low-light capability. (I take a lot of photos inside cathedrals, churches, etc.) I moved the 18-200 zoom to it. I used that combination on my 42-day trip to Europe the summer of 2015, and it apparently got some salt water exposure (not sure how--I never removed the lens) and went belly-up early this year. I bought a Nikon D7100 as a replacement. The old 18-200VR was also getting a little gritty and so I bought the newer VR2 version to mount on it. I have kept the old D50 and older 18-200 zoom as backup units and take them with me on my trips, although I've not had to use them so far. I have fallen on my DSLR cameras twice, both times with the older 18-200 zoom mounted, but once with the D50 and once with the D7000. In both instances, everything still worked and I completed my tour without incident. (I did have some enormous bruises, though....) Nikon makes some very robust equipment!

I've still got the old DX7630, N70, and FE someplace (and maybe even the Nikkormat FT) but I don't know where they are. I do know where my original version 500mm f/8 mirror lens is, though--it's a big heavy dude, and it's tricky to mount it (some interference with the tripod mount plate) but it can be done. I've tried some photos of the Moon with it, with limited success (have problems seeing how to focus it). I've still got the old lenses I used with the SLRs, too. (Maybe I should start a store....)