BB4A

My first camera was a Pentax ME Super; I saved up about half of it with my first student job and my parents added the rest for my 17th birthday present. I took a lot of poor photographs with that camera, but also a few good ones, too.

My first professional camera was a Vinten F.95 Mk.V Aerial Camera; I didn't actually own it, but you could say I was in charge of it... Along with the several million pounds sterling of aircraft it was attached to. I also had happy times with this camera. I was generally employed in taking some interesting candid portraits of unfriendly people and their equipment, generally at speeds between 350 & 450 knots, at altitudes between 30 & 60 feet (just high enough to see over a certain borderland construction, while still flying slow enough & fast enough to make me a very difficult target).

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

My first true serious camera was the 1975 Olympus OM-1 with a 50mm f1.4 lense. My last five film cameras were the Olympus OM-4ti and two OM-1, the Hasselblad 503CW, and the Canon AE-2. I sold the Canon to a high school student learning photography and still have the OM-4ti, two OM-1 (including the 1975 OM-1), and the Hasselblad.

gym Loc: Athens, Georgia

Like so many here, my first camera was a Brownie (Hawkeye). My first quality camera was a 35mm Minolta 101 purchased around 1968. I still have the latter but have moved on to more modern Canons.

lmTrying Loc: WV Northern Panhandle

Brownie and 110 did nothing for me so I confiscated Dad's Ansco 35 mm. I called it my guess and shoot because I had no light meter. When it died I bought my first, an Canon AE-1 and two Soligar zoom lenses. Started digital with a little Kodak point & shoot w/ printer dock. Moved up to Canon Rebel XSI w/18-55 zoom and added 70-300 and 10-18 zooms. Also picked up two Power Shots. XS710HS is awesome little camera. I am currently looking seriously at Canon's 80D. New body, same glass. But everyone is talking about mirrorless, so.....

therwol Loc: USA

The only working camera in our house when I was growing up was a Polaroid (J66?). It took black and white pictures on ASA 3000 film. Then my father bought a color adapter for it. It basically blocked most of the light meter, and properly exposed lower ASA color roll film. I still have many of the pictures I took with it. He got the "bug" when I was a junior in high school and bought a Nikormat FTn with a 50mm f2 lens, but he could never master focusing it. I got the "bug" from using it, and he bought me my first camera as a gift for going away to college in 1970, a Nikon FTn with a 55mm f/1.2 lens. After using it for a year with that lens, I bought a 50mm f/1.4. It was much lighter. I couldn't tell any difference in the pictures, but when I tested both lenses much later in life, I found that the 55mm f/1.2 was sharper and had better contrast at the wider apertures. I still have it, but I never got the AI ring for it, so it still sits on the FTn. (I'm not going to do a file job on it, at least not yet, and I think that the 50mm f/1.4 AF-D is a better lens anyway.) I nad a Vivitar 28mm f/2.5 and another Vivitar 85-205 f/3.5 to go on the camera. The 28mm was decent, but the zoom was very soft.

Later film cameras I bought include a Nikormat FT3 and a Nikon FA. The FA was a dynamite film camera, now in the hands of my son in-law. (1/4000 shutter speed, first camera with matrix metering, exposure compensation on the film speed dial, 4 exposure modes, and foolproof auto exposure when used with older lenses that had inaccurate diaphragms by taking a second meter reading after the diaphragm stopped down. Amazing for its time.) When I switched to digital in around 2009, I started with just a compact 5 megapixel Gateway model, replaced by a 6 megapixel Panasonic, replaced by a 12 megapixel Canon SX230 HS. I got the "bug" again two years ago and bought a Nikon D810. I have 24, 35, 50 and 55mm (Micro) primes, all purchased for the new camera. I have a 28-105 AF-D which I just replaced with the 24-120 f/4 VR, and a 70-200 f/4 VR. My next lens will be longer. I might consider a wide angle zoom. I'm torn between the superior IQ of the primes versus the convenience of zooms. I'm still evolving on that. On my next trip to England, I'm going to give the 24-120 a workout and forget carrying a bag full of lenses. I carried 4 lenses plus the camera on my trip to England two years ago, and it was a hassle.

The D810 will likely be my last camera, though I bought a Canon G7X Mark II recently for when I don't feel like carrying it around. There is no comparison, of course, but I can't put the Nikon in a pocket.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Agfa Optima, 1960s.

appealnow Loc: Dallas, Texas

My first camera was a Kodak Brownie. In junior high, my Dad bought some 35 mm. camera, name I can't remember. In high school, I really started learning with a Pentax H3v SLR with a 55 mm. prime lens.

cincykid

My first camera was a Konika rangefinder. Lucky to have ended up in Germany in a photo unit (69th Signal). Couldn't afford Nikon F' but had 2 Pentax SV's and 5 lenses which served me well. Still have them as well as my Dad's Leica m2, a couple of Nikons, a Rollie and the Nikon D 600 which I now use the most.

Sendai5355 Loc: On the banks of the Pedernales River, Texas

My first camera was a Brownie Hawkeye. My first SLR was a Nikorex w/50 mm 1.4 lens that my father got for me in a PX in Nam.

A.J.R. Loc: Devon, UK

I had never taken a photograph before I bought my first camera in 1957, a medium format Adox Rangefinder Golf. Within a year I had bought a Rolleicord and
used that for getting on for 20 years.

turp77 Loc: Connecticut, Plainfield

My first camera that was mine is a 1957 Leica M2 in 1960, I still have it and just did a CLA. My uncle did a tour in Germany and bought this camera. He saw me using my Mothers Brownie. He said I would make better use of this. And so I did. I now own more than 300 film and digital cameras, from 16mm to a very large format (12x22" sheet film) I now have 49 Nikons trying for one of each. Most I bought but I have received quite a few as donations

Plieku69 Loc: The Gopher State, south end

I took an Instamatic to RVN where the the red dust quickly killed it. Some time later I found a Petrie FT in the px at An Khe. I still have that wonderful camera. It traveled a lot of miles with me and forever will be my best and greatest camera.
Without it I would have never gotten bit by the camera bug, so I owe it everything.
Ken

jsenear Loc: Hopkins, MN.

Russian Kalimar branded SLR with a 50 mm lens that came with it. Took amazing pictures considering how cheap the purchase price was. Still have it but the built in light cell is dead.

loperR Loc: Medina ,Ohio

Minolta 102

Fotomacher Loc: Toronto

1965 Kodak Instamatic 100. Film cartridges and flash bulbs.;
1977 Pentax KM 35mm film 100% manual;
1986 Nikon F-301 (N2000) 35mm film with programmed modes;
2000 Olympus C2500L digital;
2006 Nikon D70s;
2009 Nikon D300;
2011 Nikon D700;
2016 Nikon D810