A question on 35mm SLR users.

[guriinii]

In the late 60s and throughout the 70s, what were the non-professional camera users like? Were they wealthy or were the SLRs affordable for the common man? What subjects did they shoot? Was it predominantly amateurs or was it families documenting holidays and events?

I have been scouring the internet for this kind of information and someone on reddit informed me of this place. I hope you can help.

Thanks in advance.

 

[MattKing]

Welcome to APUG.
Throughout recorded times, there have been lots of dentists and doctors using expensive cameras.
Seriously though, there was a real change in the 1970s. SLRs in particular changed from being predominantly specialist tools to being the camera that interested hobbyists chose.
The Canon AE-1 probably had the largest effect on the market, but lots of others did too.

 

[guriinii]

Welcome to APUG.
Throughout recorded times, there have been lots of dentists and doctors using expensive cameras.
Seriously though, there was a real change in the 1970s. SLRs in particular changed from being predominantly specialist tools to being the camera that interested hobbyists chose.
The Canon AE-1 probably had the largest effect on the market, but lots of others did too.

Thanks. So were the cameras in the 70s made more accessible to the common market?

 

[Sirius Glass]

Starting in the 1960's I used Minoltas, SR-7, STR-101, ... . The Nikon F became popular with the press. Soldiers brought them back when they returned from Viet Nam. Soon they became popular for amateurs and that brought on less robust and less costly cameras like the Minoltas et al.

 

[mgb74]

Neither wealthy nor poor, I bought my first SLR (used) about 1968. First a Miranda, followed by a Minolta SRT101. I remember buying "preset" Vivitar lenses for my Minolta to save a few bucks. But good quality SLRs were readily available to the middle class.

 

[Paul Howell]

There were several makers of inexpensive SLRs, Petri, was one, sold by K Mart under Focal. Chinon and Rioch made screw mount SLRs, then Konica made the A and A3, Topcon and Kowa made entry level leaf shutter cameras as well. Canon, Nikon, and Minolta all made several levels of cameras including entry level. But by and large most used simple point and shoot cameras that were easy to use cartridges 110 and 126.

 

[Dan Fromm]

Well, in the US the press corps seems to have standardized on Nikon Fs from the early '60s to late '70s. One of the reasons was that Nikon's US distributor made a big effort to get the press to use Nikons. In the UK, as far as I can tell the press corps' standard 35mm SLR was the Pentax Spotmatic.

Amateurs here? We used anything and everything. Canon, Konica ARs, Minolta SRs, Miranda until the company died, Nikon (I had a Nikkormat), Olympus imitation Pentaxes, Pentax, Petri until the company died, Yashica imitation Pentaxes. Contarex, Leicaflex, Nikon F, Topcon Rs were too expensive for most of us. East bloc cameras? Not so much. West German leaf shutter SLRs? Not so much.

I spent 1970 in the Army in Germany, saw many fellow GIs with SLRs from the PX. Mainly Canon, Minolta and Pentax, especially Pentax. That's what the PX pushed and they were all relatively inexpensive, Spotties the least expensive and most common of all.

 

[AgX]

Welcome.

I think you will not easily find written information on that issue. Best sources would be magazines for the camera trade, those followed the changes within the market.
It also very much was dependant on the country you look at, as money to be spent for such varied. As did camera prices.

I would say that with the advent of the Canon AE-1 advanced amateur SLR's became cheap enough to sell in really big numbers. And that started a trend in many industrialized countries to use an SLR as family camera. Then there was a backswing and people wanted something easier to use and then success was at those compact AF cameras, though they could be quite expensive, some nearing the price of an SLR.

We got a few fellows here who were in the camera trade in that period. They likely will chime in.

 

[Wallendo]

I was born in 1960, 15 years after the end of the Second World War. In my community, Japanese products were generally seen as cheap and poorly constructed (similar to some attitudes towards Chinese products today). People seemed to have forgiven the West Germans (since East Germany was the enemy), but were still somewhat mad at the Japanese about Pearl Harbor. Since most SLR's were Japanese, it somewhat limited their acceptance. Through the 1960's more people came to recognize the quality and cost-efficiency of Japanese products. By the early 1970's, Japanese products were much more acceptable.

 

[guriinii]

Thanks for all the replies. It's all very interesting stuff. I recently found a Zenit-B and a Pentax L2 in a charity shop (thrift store), which has got me interested in the history of these cameras, where they came from and who owned them previously. I also intend to figure out how to use them at some point but this is primarily fascination at the moment.

 

[BAC1967]

In the 1970's I got my first camera, a Kodak Instamatic, I was about 10 years old so it was mostly used for snap shots of friends and pets. I know my father had a Yashica Rangefinder from the late 1960's until he got a Minolta SLR in the early 1980's. I think the Yashica was his first camera. He used these cameras exclusively for taking family snap shots, nothing professional. My brothers and I used the Minolta SLR for photography classes in High school in the early 1980's. My father shot mostly slide film, I remember watching slides with the projector against a white wall, no screen. My mother had a Polaroid One-Step for family photos. I know my Uncle had a Kodak Duaflex II TLR in the 1960's, I believe that was just for hobby and snap shots. I still have all the cameras mentioned above.

Kodak Instamatic X-15F by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

Minolta srTsc-II by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

Kodak Duaflex II by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

 

[tedr1]

SLRs were made at all quality levels and price points and were very popular, millions were made. For more information seek copies of UK Amateur Photographer magazine, it has been available for over 100 years I believe.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Welcome to APUG.
Throughout recorded times, there have been lots of dentists and doctors using expensive cameras.
Seriously though, there was a real change in the 1970s. SLRs in particular changed from being predominantly specialist tools to being the camera that interested hobbyists chose.
The Canon AE-1 probably had the largest effect on the market, but lots of others did too.

Interest certainly perked up during this time. As far as popularity
Mamiya 1000DTL
Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic
Miranda was very popular during this time.

The Canon cameras were a bit pricey for the average person. I only know of one person during this period who owned one. Nikons were far too dear unless one sold their first child.

 

[MattKing]

The Canon cameras were a bit pricey for the average person. I only know of one person during this period who owned one.

I think that there were also geographic peculiarities to the markets, as well as really strong influences from the different distributors.
Canon was much more common around here than Miranda, but Miranda wasn't widely distributed in this area.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

Interestingly Japan accounted for almost all the cameras sold during this period. The only cameras coming out of Germany had leaf shutters. Leica was the only exception. I have heard this explained by the argument that the German shutter makers refused to make FP shutters. Sort of the tail wagging the dog. My father sent away to Germany for a large soft back book showing dozens and dozens of German cameras Without exception they all had leaf shutters.

 

[AgX]

People seemed to have forgiven the West Germans (since East Germany was the enemy), but were still somewhat mad at the Japanese about Pearl Harbor.

But still quite some east-german cameras were imported into the US, and often not even camouflaged, though not advertized as being east-german.

 

[Dan Fromm]

The only cameras coming out of Germany had leaf shutters. Leica was the only exception.

Contarex? Exakta? Icarex? Praktica? Regula Reflex?

 

[Theo Sulphate]

In 1971, as a proverbial college student with no money, I saved $147 for a new Pentax SP500 with Super Takumar 55/2 lens. That was my only camera and lens for the next 15 years. I still have it today.

If you can find old copies of the U.S. publications Popular Photography or Modern Photography (possibly online?), the ads in the back will give you an idea of the range of models and prices (along with articles addressing the readership, which will give you an idea of typical equipment in use).

As for subjects, I photographed my neighborhood and other places I went. Those are my most prized photos, since they capture everyday things that likely no longer exist and preserve my mental image of where I lived (southern California). Even when I go back there, I deliberately avoid my old neighborhood because I want to remember it the way it was.

 

[AgX]

Yes, but those only represent the US market. Prices as well as income in the UK were different.
Before the period questioned on, the UK even strongly hampered photographic imports.

Another interesting point in time is when sales of colour films superceeded those for b&w film. Different times for different countries.

 

[quixotic]

In 1971, as a proverbial college student with no money, I saved $147 for a new Pentax SP500 with Super Takumar 55/2 lens. That was my only camera and lens for the next 15 years.

If you can find old copies of Popular Photography or Modern Photography (possibly online?), the ads in the back will give you an idea of the range of models and prices (along with articles addressing the readership, which will give you an idea of typical equipment in use).

And National Geographic. You could do a fairly comprehensive content analysis with a stack or two of those.

 

[Leigh B]

In the late 60s and throughout the 70s, what were the non-professional camera users like? Were they wealthy or were the SLRs affordable for the common man? What subjects did they shoot? Was it predominantly amateurs or was it families documenting holidays and events?

You're basing your question on a whole bunch of invalid assumptions.
You might as well ask what model car was favored, and at what speed were they driven.

There were many camera available for the "common man".

- Leigh

 

[blockend]

The majority of users had cameras like Kodak 126 Instamatics, or if they were keen, an Olympus Trip or fixed lens rangefinder like a Yashica. To go more upmarket in the 1960s was unusual among blue collar workers in the UK. There were exceptions, I remember a German guy who lived opposite when I was very young had a Leica.

Also remember there was much more diversity before SLRs began to dominate the market in the early 1970s. My parents used a 120 box camera until about 1968, I can remember the chemist suggesting they should get something more modern, but film was still readily available and the chemist loaded the camera, took the film out, processed it and put a fresh film in. People used pre and post-war folding cameras, various Brownie 127s, and a range of basic 35mm cameras such as Halina. Among the profession ranks there were rangefinders, TLRs and SLRs such as the Exacta in a press pack. It was only from about 1972 onwards that Japanese SLRs came to be used almost exclusively for photojournalism, and medium format in the studio, and some favoured their old gear even then.

There were also many hobbyists who were into their subject, like trains or birdwatching more than they were into photography per se. Lots of the most prolific sources of documentary photography available now were shot on a Zenit B, and people put hundreds of rolls through them in search of their pet subject.

 

[Dan Fromm]

Don't spurn the humble Instamatic. A good grade of Instamatic took as good pictures as a doctor's/dentist's special Nikon F. What was the doctor's/dentist's special? Nikon F with FTn finder, 50/1.4 lens and no others and a spiffy second wife.

 

[blockend]

On the diversity topic, here are some formats people were still using from 1960:

116: 2 1/4 x 4 1/4, production ceased 1984
118: 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 1961
124: same, larger spool 1961
130: 2 7/8 x 4 7/8 1961
518: 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 film pack 1976
616: 2 1/2 x 4 1/4 or 2 1/2 x 2 1/8 1984
620: 2 1/4 as 120 on thinner spool 1995
828: 28 x 40mm on single perf 35mm 1985
Agfa Karat cartridge 1963
Agfa Rapid cartridge 1990s
Orwo SL cartridge 1990
Rollei super 16 1981
Minolta 16 1974

+ Instant Films

 

[Paul Howell]

Even though your on the other side of the pond, see if you can find a vintage late 60 or 70s Sears, JC Penny, or Wards Catalog, sort of the Amazon of the day. I have a Wards Photo Catalog from 1954, surprised at the offerings.