Has a specific camera ever opened up or transformed your photography?

[RezaLoghme]

 

[RezaLoghme]

 

[chuckroast]

Thanks for this!

 

[blee1996]

My first camera in college: Canon AE-1 with 50/1.8 lens. I have all the time in the world: riding a bike, with my camera and going out and taking photos of everything. The college has darkroom for B&W, and the instructor was very helpful. I was working as a part-time IT support for a local camera shop thus get color film and development cheap. That was as perfect as anything when just learning photography.

GAS happens much later when I have more funds.

 

[chuckroast]

My first camera in college: Canon AE-1 with 50/1.8 lens. I have all the time in the world: riding a bike, with my camera and going out and taking photos of everything. The college has darkroom for B&W, and the instructor was very helpful. I was working as a part-time IT support for a local camera shop thus get color film and development cheap. That was as perfect as anything when just learning photography.

GAS happens much later when I have more funds.

Point Of Order: The absence of funds does not imply the absence of GAS. 'Just sayin' ...

 

[RezaLoghme]

A Leica M4 coupled with a 28mm lens. Intuitive like hell; most of the pics I "guesstimated" and they came out very well.

 

[Mike Lopez]

In my youth, I worked at one of the largest photo retailers and pro rental facilities in the Central US. One of my many jobs was to clean up used equipment we'd just taken in to make it presentable for sale. It is there that I learned the many wonders of Nikon, Hasselblad, Leica, and such.

It is also where I learned that having the well-heeled buy- and then later trade-in the latest high end camera or lens was good for the rest of us: It put great equipment in circulation for purchase by mere mortals.

I also learned that some of the aforementioned doctors, dentists, and their fellow travelers were pretty serious photographers.

An interesting (to me) aside was the guy I worked for was a walking talking Leica encyclopedia. There wasn't much he didn't know about those cameras, lenses, and accessories. He was Jewish and of an age that he would have been a young man during the horrors of World War II. I always found it ironic that he was so drawn to German equipment. He was a tough old bird, though, and taught this callow youth a whole bunch about the photo retail industry and all things Leica.

I bought a used XPan II with the 45mm and 90mm lenses, complete with all the packaging, boxes, warranty cards, the (unopened) center spot filter, the lens hoods...all of it in virtually untouched condition. I was fortunate enough to happen upon it at my local lab, which also sells used stuff on consignment. When I asked to have it taken out of the case so I could look at it, the guy at the counter told me that the camera had only seen four rolls of film by the original owner. I couldn't believe my luck, and the first words out of my mouth were "So a dentist just wanted to put all this on display or something? It's not like they just upgraded to an XPan III..."

 

[benveniste]

Once upon the mid 1980's, I was shopping in Hunt's with my then girlfriend tagging along. I noticed a Pentax 110 SLR in the case and asked about it. Deb immediately was infatuated with the thing. I bought it, and she spent the afternoon and evening shooting it and giggling at the auto winder after every shot.

That transformed my photography in a few ways. First, it reminded me that there were lots of ways to enjoy the hobby. Second, it taught me the value of having a "fast and light" system for the times my "real" cameras were as much a burden as a useful tool.

 

[Larry Bullis]

The Holga and the Zero 2000 pinhole cameras both are 6x6 and bring an astetic I like that I can’t get with either my 35mm or medium format kit.

I started in photography in 1964 with a 35mm rangefinder, a Ansco Super Memar. From that, I went on to a Kodak 9x12 Recomar and occasionally a 6x9 Speed Graphic. Then a 4x5 Calumet view camera and back to 35mm with a Contax 2 (nothing at all like the Contax we know now). Then working in the big color labs I had years of experience finishing the work of others in every conceivable format, it became clear to me how similar, and how different the different formats are from and to each other. Continuing, I regularly used Leicas, my great (simple!) Linhof Teknica III, the Kodak Master View 8x10 with brass mounted dagors and protars I bought for $40 from my employer at the time. It had been Chao Chen Yang’s camera (he was a pioneering color photographer who became well known for his food photography in Seattle).

I’ve pretty much always worked with antiquated equipment. Each had its own nature and demanded absolute obedience to it’s design. I continued to work with much of the same stuff for the next 50 years.

But it wasn’t until I had been working for 10 years or so, in 1975, that I built my first pinhole camera (stereo) out of a quaker oat box. THAT was the camera that changed my life! It quickly disintegrated, of course, but it set me to building camera after camera, always cobbled together from what I had around and often departing from the traditional geometry with the objective placed centrally relative to the film. They were always built for a particular purpose. I became a frequent contributor to Pinhole Journal. I still do everything else that I want to for whatever reason, but pinhole is my ground floor.

Now, at 82 years old, I’m contemplating my next camera. It will be a refinement of an eccentric design I’ve been working with for 40 years. I’ll probably build it of black matte board, glue, and tape because we are downsizing and I’m abandoning my shop. It will have my own sterling silver pinholes. With luck I might get to actually use it.

Something else that has changed everything for me is my discovery of the Horseman Back, which has enabled me to use 120 roll film without having to use those awful Graphic backs that drive me crazy. It’s not just the camera.

I’d never dream of buying a pinhole camera. To each his own.

 

[chuckroast]

Once upon the mid 1980's, I was shopping in Hunt's with my then girlfriend tagging along. I noticed a Pentax 110 SLR in the case and asked about it. Deb immediately was infatuated with the thing. I bought it, and she spent the afternoon and evening shooting it and giggling at the auto winder after every shot.

That transformed my photography in a few ways. First, it reminded me that there were lots of ways to enjoy the hobby. Second, it taught me the value of having a "fast and light" system for the times my "real" cameras were as much a burden as a useful tool.

100% - I have many fine pieces of machinery and glass at my disposal, both film and even a top end DSLR. But I decently bought a Leica D-Lux Type 109 exactly for this reason - to have a good camera to bounce around with while at the beach, skiing or otherwise in casual settings where no one will tolerate me setting up a tripod and view camera

Yes, it is that dreaded D word of which we must not speak. But boy is it fun to use. Yes, it's 10 year old tech. No, it doesn't have the resolution for wall hangings. But I could probably make a living doing portraits and weddings with this thing if I were ever inclined to rejoin that level of masochism.

The point is that sometimes you just need a fun toy to stir the creative juices.

P.S. It will never replace my "real" cameras...

 

[drew tanner]

My No. 10 Cirkut has definitely opened up and transformed my photography. I inherited it in the fall 2023 from an old friend who used it commercially for 40+ years. I’ve unpacked my darkroom, built the equipment necessary to develop the film and make prints, resurrected my website, focused my social media accounts on showcasing the work and am spending more time making film photographs than I have in nearly 20 years. The camera itself, with its wide aspect ratio of up to 10x72 or more, has really reshaped how I visualize and compose and even what subjects I consider. You can see some of my work and read some backstory at https://drewtanner.com