Time-travel back to 1988...what were you using?--B&W

skystrick · Aug 4, 2013

Just curious to see how much the last 25 years has changed the field of photography...

Just for fun!

Okay, back in 1988, what were you using for:
(1) Top most-used camera?
(2) Top most-used film?
(3) Top most-used paper?
(4) B&W enlarger, color enlarger, other printing equipment?

If 1988's too specific, we can just say "the 1980s".

removed-user-1 · Aug 4, 2013

In 1988, I was a junior in high school, and was using:
(1) Top most-used camera? Nikon F Photomic FTN with 43-86mm f/3.5 Zoom-Nikkor
(2) Top most-used film? Whatever Kodacolor film my parents bought, if memory serves it was VR 200.
(3) Top most-used paper? and (4) B&W enlarger, color enlarger, other printing equipment? Whatever the photo labs used then (I did not do my own processing and printing then).

David A. Goldfarb · Aug 4, 2013

Canon New F-1, Tech Pan, Ilford Galerie, Bogen 22A Special enlarger.

ArtO · Aug 4, 2013

Nikon FM2N and Minolta X-700. Film -- Ektachrome and Kodachrome.

Guillaume Zuili · Aug 4, 2013

In 88 I was in india working on my first project. Good old time
1) 2 cameras under jacket : Rolleiflex T on the left, Rolleiwide on the right.
An old Gossen Lunasix in the pocket.
2) TXP 320 only. Souped in D76.
3) Agfa Record Rapid and Neutol WA.
4) Omega D2

Did I say good old times... ?

Dr Croubie · Aug 4, 2013

In 1988 I was 5 years old and just started Primary School. I had a Kodak Instamatic that took 126 film. If I was extremely extremely lucky my mum would let me even touch her Spotmatic and Takumars.

One day I was using it (with her very protectively hovering 5cm away) to take a landscape. I focussed at infinity then backed it off a bit. She asked me why I'd done that, and I replied that if what was in focus was between the two (f/) numbers on the focussing scale, then infinity would still be in focus and I'd get more foreground in focus.
5-year old kid, and I'd independently figured out how to use Hyperfocal (of course, I only realised a few years ago that that's what the real term was and how/why it worked).

Anyway, my Instamatic. I took it everywhere, in the 80s to Sydney and Perth and all along the Great Ocean Road, the Grampians and Flinders' Rangers, even New Zealand (my family were big into camping). Also took it to Singapore/Europe/London/LA in 1990.

One day I was in the local national park in massive fog and snapped a shot of two swans on a lake. Sent it into the local ABC weather-photos segment, it got as far as a shortlist on 20 but didn't make the final cut of 12 for their annual calendar. Best I've ever done in a competition. Still have the photo on my wall, and the camera too, even if I can't get film for it. (One day I'll find the negative and hi-res scan it and inkjet print it).

jp498 · Aug 4, 2013

skystrick said:
Just curious to see how much the last 25 years has changed the field of photography...

Just for fun!

Okay, back in 1988, what were you using for:
(1) Top most-used camera?
(2) Top most-used film?
(3) Top most-used paper?
(4) B&W enlarger, color enlarger, other printing equipment?

If 1988's too specific, we can just say "the 1980s".

The start of my high school experience.

1. Using an Olympus OM-10 and saving for a Nikon F4s which I bought summer of 89. I wanted AF and to do sports. The Nikon was good for either (but not both at the same time). I had a OM77af for a very brief time and quickly learned Olympus wasn't going to be a player in autofocus motor driven cameras. I put off buying a vehicle for a year or two to afford the camera and it was a good move.
2. I started out using whatever the school gave me.. then changed to what I'm using right now to this day... Tmax 400 for a mix of personal and school use. Nobody else used it because it was slow to wash and responsive to changes in development. I wanted the finer grain.
3. Polycontrast RC or Ilford Multigrade RC. Still using Ilford. Didn't care for the kodak printing on the back of the kodak paper.
4. I used whatever they had in the school lab. I soon got setup myself with a used Omega Chromega-B dichroic from a deceased photographer. Still using it, though I've added a 4x5 enlarger.

mooseontheloose · Aug 4, 2013

(1) Ah...junior high school. Used my mom's Kodak 110 camera or my dad's Fuji point and shoot.
(2) Probably Kodak colour film, don't know which kind.
(3)(4) All film developed and printed at the lab. That being said, I was really curious about the abandoned darkroom at school (literally a closet), but we didn't have a class or club I could join to learn how to use it.

agnosticnikon · Aug 4, 2013

1. Nikon F2
2. Tri-x
3. Ilford FB
4. Omega B-8, D-2

MartinCrabtree · Aug 4, 2013

1.)AE-1-still have it
2.)Kodachrome 25
3.)n/a
4.n/a

Darkroom317 · Aug 4, 2013

I wasn't born for another two years

Kevin Caulfield · Aug 4, 2013

In 1988, I was sometimes using my Dad's Pentax K1000. In 1989 I would buy my very own Pentax P30N. Probably using mainly Kodak film, lab processed. It would not be until 1996 that I had my own darkroom and got really properly into photography.

polyglot · Aug 4, 2013

I was 9. I had a little 110-camera that was probably loaded with Gold or similar. I don't think any negatives have survived from then, which is probably a good thing

msage · Aug 4, 2013

Nikon F2, Hasselblad C/M and 4x5 Toyo
Tri x and VPS
Ilfabrom
Beseler 4x5

Jeff L · Aug 4, 2013

Contax RTS II
Ilford HP5
Ilford Multigrade paper
Durst 606 enlarger - I think

chip j · Aug 4, 2013

Nikon FTN Plus-X Agfa Brovira Durst M-35 Micromat

karl · Aug 4, 2013

Just taking my first photography class in my freshman year in college.

Canon EOS 650
Canon EF 35-135

Still have them both, but the shutter is sticky on the EOS body. Last used in 2005.

PhotoJim · Aug 5, 2013

Yashica FX-3 and FX-103 Program for cameras... and as for film, mostly Kodachrome 64 and Ilford FP4.

I didn't yet have a darkroom; I was using a rental facility.

DWThomas · Aug 5, 2013

(1) Top most-used camera? Canon A-1 w/50mm f1.4 & 35-105 f/3.5 Macro; still occasionally used.

(2) Top most-used film? "Memory Fail!" -- probably mostly Kodak Ektar 125 -- but I was pretty loose; mostly Kodak though. In earlier years I shot slides, but gravitated to mostly color negative and prints by sometime in the 1970s.

(3) Top most-used paper? Whatever the lab gave me! I usually opted for Kodak/Qualex processing back then.

(4) B&W enlarger, color enlarger, other printing equipment? In the 1980s I was almost 100% shooting color and getting it processed outside. I had a couple of homemade enlargers (35mm & 4x5) and had done B&W up into the early 1970s, but pretty well let that gather dust as I fell into the path of least resistance.

(And I've been doing some shooting and processing since around 1958!)

pen s · Aug 5, 2013

In 1988 on this date I was about three weeks out from getting married for the second time. Wow those years went fast.

Lets see, what did I have;

OM-1md
50mm f1.8 Zuiko
100mm f2.8 Zuiko
28mm f3.5 Zuiko
(two) Olympus Pens, viewfinder type, first model with full manual control
Bunch of darkroom equipment.

munz6869 · Aug 5, 2013

Last year of High School...

Kodak Instamatic
Kodak print film
a photo lab, probably 'Rabbit Foto'

Marc!

Ken Nadvornick · Aug 5, 2013

Kodachrome, baby...

Nothing like it before, during, or after. When Kodachrome died, the heart and soul Kodak died with it.

Ken

drkhalsa · Aug 5, 2013

Nikon FM2
Kodak color print films. If I remember correctly, trying a couple of rolls of a new 1000 speed film?
Some Kodak slide film and some black and white.
Walgreens for processing and printing.

DF · Aug 5, 2013

Minolta X-700 & Kodachrome 25, Bogen tripod (3020?)

Tom1956 · Aug 5, 2013

Ken Nadvornick said:
Kodachrome, baby...

Nothing like it before, during, or after. When Kodachrome died, the heart and soul Kodak died with it.

Ken

amen

Time-travel back to 1988...what were you using?--B&W

removed-user-1

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