Time-travel back to 1988...what were you using?--Color

lhalcong

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In 1988 I was 18 and dreaming of ever being a photographer. Today I dreaming of being a good photographer. I am closer than ever big gap in between. I built my first darkroom last year. I used a Minolta 35mm from my dad back then. dont remember the model. I still have the filters I bought for that 55mm lens. I got my first 1-megapixel camera in 1998 I think. Today I shoot both film and digital. still loving film.
 

bsdunek

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Jul 27, 2006
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Michigan
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(1) Nikon FTN I bought in 1970
(2) Kodachrome
(3) Kodak Medalist (not for color, of course)
(4) Durst 606

The film and paper are no longer available, but the Nikon and the Durst are still going strong!
 

Fast

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Winnipeg, Canada
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Minolta slr (not sure of the model number). It was my first camera that I bought just after high school. Eventually got a Sigma tele zoom and a used wide angle lens. Still have it in my basement, but I haven’t used it in years. Not sure if it still works. I shot mostly slide film (Kodak, Fuji) in those days, and was starting BW. I was able to borrow my uncle's enlarger and some basic gear to start a darkroom in my parent's laundry room. I shot whatever BW film I could get and printed on Kodak and Ilford paper. It was a very exciting experimental stage in my life and I still have fond nostalgic memories of the camera stores I went to to buy my supplies.
Doug.
 

Vonder

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1988 was my last year in the Navy, and my one and only camera was a Minolta X-570 with a motor drive and the awesome Minolta 35-70mm f3.5 lens. I still have the lens but the body was sold, and the motor drive conked out after 20 years. At the time I was in love with Kodak Gold 200 film. I still think it's one of the best films around, in its latest incarnation, although now I prefer Fuji Superia 200 because it scans so darn nice. Labs did all my printing and I had no darkroom of any kind.
 

vsyrek1945

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Jul 15, 2013
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Long Island,
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[1] Canon AE-1

[2] Fujichrome's ASA 100 slide film - 1988 is several years before Sensia was introduced, but I'd long been a fan of Fujichrome's color rendition [Fuji started marketing its film in the U.S. around the same time I got my first SLR, a Canon FTb-QL, in 1971, and I learned along the way that setting the camera to ASA 125 increased saturation on the final image]. For those times when I shot print film, it was either Kodak or Fuji ASA 80 or 100 [Kodacolor/Fujicolor ???], which leads to:

[3] Like several others responding to this question, whatever paper provided by the lab I used for processing. I don't know exactly when I started using York Photo Labs on a regular basis, and I know I didn't send much to Mystic until some time in the 1990s.

[4] None. The only time I tried self-processing prints was while on overseas duty with the Army in Korea during 1966: I was assigned to Headquarters Company of the 51st Signal Battalion, and our photo section held after-hours developing and printing sessions. I borrowed another fellow's Yashica Lynx 5000 to shoot up a roll of either Pan X or Tri X, then developed and printed it. The Photo NCOIC told me my prints were muddy, and re-did a few to show me how much better they could look. From that point on, I left enlarging and printing to those with a better handle on the mechanics of those operations.

Thanks and regards,
Vince
 

JimCee

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Mar 20, 2009
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Tucson, Ariz
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(1) Nikon F3HP purchased new in 1983, I still own and use this camera.
(2) Kodachrome 64 Professional color transparency film - a great film!
(3) Slides processed by Kodak Laboratories.
(4) Did not own, or use, an enlarger.

Jim
 

ME Super

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I began 1988 with a cheap 35mm camera (don't remember the brand, except that it sounded Japanese or Chinese) with a single shutter speed (1/125 sec) and 4 apertures (16,11,8, and 6). I shot mostly Ektachrome 200. By the end of 1988 I was using ECN 5247 and 5294 and having slides made from the negatives. The camera had also been upgraded to a Pentax ME Super.

Prints were more expensive than slides, and I was a student (High School until June, then College in August) then so lower prices were more important to me then than they are now (must still live within a budget!) I love the look of a projected slide!!
 

Weasel_Loader

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Jun 22, 2012
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Southern Cal
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35mm
Minolta 110 underwater camera. It was an ugly yellow thing my dad bought me back in the early 80s. A few years later and I bought a Nikon N4004s.

I bought the cheapest Kodak film I could find.
 

lhalcong

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Sounds like Minolta was selling a lot of cameras back then. that's right I remember Minolta was a strong player when I was that young. whatever happened to them ? today Nikon and Canon seem to be the only on top.
 

LyleB

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Jan 21, 2010
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Lower Michig
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35mm
Nikon FM2 with 100mm E series, a 35-105 Nikor zoom, and a Tamron 70-200 zoom

Kodachrome 25 or 64 usually.
 

madgardener

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May 28, 2011
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Allentown PA
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Early 80's to about 1987(ish)
Kodak X15F instamatic
Kodacolor II 126 cartridges and
York brand film that I would purchase when I sent off to York for processing.

Around '87 I got a Sears 35mm point and shoot camera that would allow me to choose film speed, 100,200,400,800, and 1000. The film was again York brand, it was really cheap when I purchased it through them when I processed my film there.
 

David A. Goldfarb

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In color, generally I was shooting my Canon "New" F-1 and in 1989 I had my first medium format camera--a Pentacon 6 that I bought used with four lenses in Poland when the black-market value of the zloty against the dollar was about 10,000:1 and these cameras weren't so interesting outside of Eastern Europe. I usually shot Kodachrome 25 in 35mm when I could and Agfachrome 100 in both formats. Agfachrome 100 of that era printed beautifully onto Cibachrome without masking.

 

removed account4

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i was shooting tmx+tmy 35mm in a k1000
as well as 120 in a yashica 124matG
and a durst m601? ( still use it )
blue box graded 3+4 seagull paper
and liquid light ( on glass )

then i assisted a portrait photographer
and started to shoot a ansco8x10 portrait camera+ tri x exclusively
 

Robert Liebermann

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Mar 10, 2004
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Fairbanks, A
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1-Canon A1
2-Ektachrome non-pro whatever was at store (some kodachrome too; hadn't started e6 development at home yet)
0thers - too poor; nothing printed, slides only - and couldn't afford a slide projector or even light table, so all slides viewed against light bulb or with cheap battery viewer!
 

summicron1

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same stuff I'm using now -- finally managed to wear out the Leica CL I bought in '75, but the M3 I used in 88 (purchased in 77) is still going strong. Used HP5 then, using tri-x now because arista rebadged a bunch and it's cheap, but also still using Ilford panf. Color film then/now was/is fuji, Ilford multigrad FB, then and now, and the same Focomat Ic enlarger I bought in 1980/

I did pick up a minox, fujimoto G70 dichro and Durst Laborator enlarger along the way. the models of all this stuff are easy because they're still down in my darkroom.

So you're saying other folks have changed?
 

Poisson Du Jour

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Gee they were the good ol' days of long-haul bicycle touring...

Okay, back in 1988, what were you using for:
(1) Top most-used camera?
*** Canon T90 w/ FD 28-105mm f3.5
(2) Top most-used color film?
*** Kodachrome 200 (professional version)
(3) Top most-used paper?
*** Cibachrome (as it was known then), RA4
(4) B&W enlarger w/ color pack, dichro color enlarger, or somethine else? - Bonus points if you can you remember the model!
*** Used a friend's country darkroom: 3 enlargers (all dichroic) I can recall in his studio/darkroom. I dabbled in B&W there occasionally (Panatomic X) while my friend shot everything exclusively on colour film (Kodak, definitely) as his work was all weddings/receptions. The only real free-time we had together in the darkroom was Sunday afternoons when he had cleared shoots, proofing, sorting and presentation tasks.

Camera and film shared a big handlebar bag on what was then the "newest and boldest" style of bicycle touring: an MTB bike. I covered many thousands of kilometres around Australia (also including the then primitive crossing to Tasmania) and a guided tour in New Zealand with this kit, all the while shooting Kodachrome (when I look back on those slides now I see how much we have aged since we were fresh-faced, wide-eyed and wrinkle-free!!). Decades later I retain a soft spot of affection for the T90.
 
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stefan4u

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Aug 27, 2006
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35mm
-Camera was a Minolta X-500 or a Agfa rangefinder. Both Cameras are actually still in use...
-Prefered Color Film at this time was agfa xrg100, BW agfapan 100 or Ilford fp4
-Paper for bw prints was ilford rc, fixed graduation, EP2 was phased out around this time and I converted to RA4 too. I think my used tura parer was a Agfa repack...
Actually I`m a bit unsure about the purchase date of the color enlargerer . After school (and school lab) there was a break for a some jears, then I got a wonderful Durst AC707.

Regards stefan
 

onepuff

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Mar 29, 2010
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95
Location
Scotland
Format
35mm
(1) Kodachrome 64
(2) Olympus OM-1n
(3) B&W only in my darkroom and a mixture of Ilford and Agfa (old stock Brovira)
(4) An LPL 3301D
 

mopar_guy

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Sep 12, 2009
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I bought an Olympus OM-4T in November of 1987 and I didn't touch another camera for over a year.
I used a lot of Fuji consumer slide film and a little Kodak Gold 100. A year or two later I was using quite a bit of Kodak Ektachrome 100 HC.
 

JohnRichard

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Apr 27, 2008
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Location
Lexington, K
Format
4x5 Format
Minolta 7000i / Kodachrome, some form of Kodak "gold" - Fujicolor .
 

Marvin

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Nov 11, 2009
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404
Location
Williamston, NC
Format
Multi Format
Minolta X700 Mamiya C220
Kodak, Fuji, and Ilford and a mix of slide and print.
Lenses Minolta 28,50, and 135. Vivitar 200 and Soligor 70-150 Zoom. 80mm for the C220.
I had a Durst 35mm enlarger
Kodak Polycontrast RC and some others.
In 87 I was 40!
 

E. von Hoegh

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Sep 14, 2011
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Adirondacks
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1 - Linhof STIV
2 - Kodak PKR-64 in a 56x72 Super Rollex back. Agfachrome E6 in 35.
3 - Cibachrome
4 - Omega D2 with a set of filters.

I still have and use the Linhof, there's one roll of PKR left in the freezer, all the Ciba stuff is long since used up, and the D2 is still my one and only enlarger.
 
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