First real camera that allowed you to take pictures with control

cliveh · Sep 21, 2012

What was the first real camera you had that allowed you to take serious pictures with control. For me I think it was an Agfa Super Silette. I went to a camera shop with my dad who was going to buy me a camera. I was quite young and in the course of conversation with the salesman I remember mentioning a Leica, but I guess my dad couldnt afford that at the time and I got the Agfa. However, I wasnt disappointed as I made many shots at different speeds and apertures.

thegman · Sep 21, 2012

Sigma DP-1. Moved onto film quite soon after.

bobwysiwyg · Sep 21, 2012

Mine was a Nikon FE bought used in the early 70's. I still have it and occasionly take it out for a workout.

himself · Sep 21, 2012

the praktica mtl 3, it took me while to figure out that I could actually control all those things I needed to.
I still have the first negs I ever shot and looking at them I'm surprised how many have images, never mind ones that are "passable" exposure wise.

SkipA · Sep 21, 2012

Canon AE-1 Program with a 50mm f/1.4 lens. I bought the camera and lens new shortly after it was introduced. I bought a flash and the 28mm lens about a year later. It was my second camera, but the first that allowed me full control.

ColdEye · Sep 21, 2012

Canon 1000D, my first "real" camera. Was using mobile phone cameras before that.

heterolysis · Sep 21, 2012

My dad always carried around a Nikkormat FT-2. He taught me to "keep the needle between the + and the -", and that was my earliest experience of using an SLR.

Twenty years later my dad has since passed, and passed the FT-2 to me. And I carry it just like he always used to.

afrank · Sep 21, 2012

Minolta SLR SRT101b with 50mm f/1.4. belonged to my sister but I ended up adopting it and it was my introduction to Film.

Ian Grant · Sep 21, 2012

A Zenit E

Ian

spatz · Sep 21, 2012

nikon fm2

Rick A · Sep 21, 2012

A brick. Argus C-3

Vaughn · Sep 21, 2012

An early-fifties Rolleiflex 3.5.

RalphLambrecht · Sep 21, 2012

ricoh 401ttl.

mooseontheloose · Sep 21, 2012

Nikon FE. Which I'm still using.

BradS · Sep 21, 2012

Pentax KX bought new in 1975 or 1976.

ic-racer · Sep 21, 2012

Ian Grant said:
A Zenit E

Ian

Same here. 1973.

Chan Tran · Sep 21, 2012

Petri 7s rangefinder camera when I was about 10 or so.

Jon King · Sep 21, 2012

Early 70's, a Zeiss Ikonta folder - it was my Dad's from 1948. It's still in fine working order!

Diapositivo · Sep 21, 2012

Minolta SrT-100x with 45/2 and "never ready" case, bought new in 1979 or maybe 1980. I still remember the "wonder" when I decided I wanted to dismount the lens (although I had not other lens to mount) and I accessed the mirror box. The shop where I bought it is now a few meters away from where my parents live, and they still sell film.

Dan Fromm · Sep 21, 2012

bobwysiwyg said:
Mine was a Nikon FE bought used in the early 70's. I still have it and occasionly take it out for a workout.

Bob, have your memory checked. The FE came to market in 1978. In the early '70s, Nikon's SLRs were F- series (F and F2 overlapped for a couple of years) and Nikkormats FT- and EL).

I started in 1970 with a Nikkormat FTN.

Mainecoonmaniac · Sep 21, 2012

Does a 70's Kodak Instamatic count? I remembering saving money for film, flash cubes and print processing. It was the "Gateway" camera to photography. Been addicted to photography ever since.

EASmithV · Sep 21, 2012

The first camera I started to use seriously was a Nikon F.

phirehouse · Sep 21, 2012

My first was the Pentax K1000. I puchased it new around 1980 from Ritz Camera in Tyrone Square Mall, St. Petersburg, Florida. I still own and use it, and it is in great condition...great camera.

Prof_Pixel · Sep 21, 2012

It was a folding Ansco/Afga 12 exposure 120 film camera w/o a range finder; of course it used flash bulbs. I was 13 at the time and I learned to estimate distances and use guide numbers for flash exposures. Anybody else remember using Guide Numbers?

removed account4 · Sep 21, 2012

K1000

First real camera that allowed you to take pictures with control

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