What was your FIRST 35mm and how old were you?

Mark Pope · Aug 9, 2006

Mamiya MSX500 and Sekor f2 (I think) lens. I was 16. I bought it with the proceeds of my first summer job. It was a hard choice between the Mamiya and Yashica FX2.

Oh, heady days!

terri · Aug 9, 2006

I cheerfully lifted my husband's Pentax ME when we first got married....age 25.

He was already a Rollei freak by then, so I figured he wouldn't notice.

I was wrong.

BUT - that little cam is still in occasional use today.

bruce terry · Aug 9, 2006

I was 21, in college, fantasizing a career in photojournalism with a good camera and absolutely no experience. My best friend was returning from an Air Force stint in Japan and I had him bring home a Nikon SP for me at an unbelievably-reasonable price. He showed up with an M3.

My heart was broken....for a few seconds.

Black Dog · Aug 9, 2006

My parents Pentax MX, back when New Romantics walked the earth and hair was BIG -1982 or thereabouts, in other words (on a family holiday in France).

wheelygirl · Aug 9, 2006

1st Cameras

Hi everyone, I just joined APUG. My VERY 1st camera had been my mom's "Brownie", 40 years ago. The next one had been a Vivitar point n shoot {I think?} when I was about 25. Now , I own a Minolta SLR srt101!!! And I'm so thrilled to own one!!!!

bob01721 · Aug 9, 2006

wheelygirl said:
Hi everyone, I just joined APUG. My VERY 1st camera had been my mom's "Brownie", 40 years ago. The next one had been a Vivitar point n shoot {I think?} when I was about 25. Now , I own a Minolta SLR srt101!!! And I'm so thrilled to own one!!!!

Welcome aboard! I still use the SRT-101 I bought back in the 60's. They're great cameras! (I also have a -102 and a -201.)

mtbbrian · Aug 10, 2006

Mine was a Minolta X-570, I was 14.

Looking at this thread, looks like there are a lot of great memories here!
Right On!
Brian

jmailand · Aug 10, 2006

I bought a Canon T50 right after I joined the Air Force in 1986. I still have all its original lenses, but I sold the camera on ebay after I found a good used Canon T70 and AV1. The T50 had no real manual mode. I'm a aperture priority junkie.

James,

Steve Smith · Aug 10, 2006

Edixa Edixamat 35mm SLR with 50mm auto diaphragm lens and 35mm manual stop down lens which I got when I was about 16 (long time ago). The prism housing was full of dust which I only cleaned out last year when I discovered it at my father's house.

This was closely followed by a Nikkormat (I forget the model) which was traded in for an FG which I still have.

Steve.

wheelygirl · Aug 10, 2006

postpostpost

Fleath said:
My mum's Canon AE-1P after years of loyal service, and served me pretty well too. That was last year, so I was 16. Got an EOS300X in december.
This topic points out just how new at this I am, wow.

It is certainly o.k., cuz I'm 48 yrs old and I'M just beginning with my photography!!

wedlpine · Aug 10, 2006

My first 35mm camera was a Minolta X-370 with a 50mm f/1.7 lens that I purchased in 1984 right before we left for Alaska. I was 14 years old at the time. I still have the camera but it doesn't get used much.

negativeattitude · Jan 22, 2007

Purchased new while in high school my first was an Olympus Pen 1/2 frame with a 28mm f/3.5 lens, 72 prints from a 36 exposure roll of Plus X! The first full frame was a Minolta SRT 101 with 58mm MC Rokkor f/1.4 lens, bought in 1974. Still have it, still use it, though not often.

Moopheus · Jan 22, 2007

I'm pretty sure it was an Argus C3, already old and beat by the time it got to me when I was about eight or so. I found it difficult to use; the focusing knob was very difficult to turn and the rangefinder window was cloudy. I went through a bunch of different cameras; I think there was an old Brownie in there somewhere, a couple of 110's, etc., until my dad let me use his old Agfa Silette. On my bar mitzvah, my dad gave me his Nikon F, which I'm still using now. I still have the Silette, and it still works. In fact, I just got a "new" light meter, so I'm going to have a go with the old Agfa.

naeroscatu · Jan 25, 2007

I confess I tricked a colleague in the office some 25 years ago to believe that a Russian Smena 8 that she owned is broken when she asked me to look at it. I was perceived as being handy so I open the top cover, found the spring under the winding lever out of place. Put is back together and told the colleague to buy a new one then paid $10 for the "broken" one. I had no intentions to start a hobby or anything but one day I used this camera to take a family photo inside my apartment under natural light coming from the window. That started all for me. Following the exposure instructions on the film (some b/w Orwo NP20) I managed to nail the exposure right on and got a really good atmosphere with shadows and highlights full of detail. I was sold to the photography Gods right then and there. Lost that camera at some point but got about 40 more throughout the following years and counting.

airgunr · Jan 26, 2007

My first was a Canon AE-1 I got from my sister. I think it was about 1976. I kept it until I decided to get a AF camera and ended up with the Nikon F5. Sold the AE-1 and replaced it with a FM2n so I had lens compatablity with the two cameras.

Moopheus · Jan 26, 2007

Kind of interesting how many people got cameras as hand-me-downs from relatives, and how many of those cameras are still being used. Clearly, if you've got a camera you're not using much, and there's a kid around who looks like they might be interested, you should give them the camera.

Magnus W · Jan 26, 2007

I was eleven or twelve when I started to take pictures using my father's Agfa Isolette and Diax 1a. The first 35mm camera that was my own, was a Canon AE-1 that I bought new with the help of my uncle, who was able to score quite a sweet deal on the camera and a few lenses. I was 15 or 16 at the time. Some years after that -- I was 18 I think -- I traded in my Canon stuff and bought a Pentax LX with 28, 50, 85. I still own -- and use -- that LX, 26 years later.

-- MW

dslater · Jan 26, 2007

The first 35mm SLR I used was my grandfather's Kodak brand. I was about 10 and don't remember the model. I do remember that he had a couple of lenses for it and when you tripped the shutter, the mirror would flip up and black out the viewfinder. It wouldn't go back down until you advanced the film. The First 35mm camera I bought was a Canon AE1-program I bought in college.

nyrich · Jan 26, 2007

My first 35mm was a Mamiya/Sekor 1000TL that I bought around 1968. I would have been about 22 at the time.

januaryman · Jan 26, 2007

My family's Voigtlander Vito, I was under 10. First one that I bought, I was 18, it was a Yashica Minister D.

Steve Roberts · Jan 29, 2007

ricksplace said:
What was your very first 35mm? How old were you?

A second-hand Zenit - E with the totally useless meter and I was fourteen. Great value for money and all that most of me and my contemporaries could afford. Great as long as you remembered to stop down...

Steve

sjperry · Jan 29, 2007

My first 35mm was a Minolta SRT-101. I believe that was in 1967 when I was 18. That was a very decent camera, and because it was mechanical it's probably still going strong! I sold it about 25 years ago when the meter went south. Might as well just stored it away.

fotch · Jan 29, 2007

My first camera was a new Minolta Autocord TLR that my uncle financed and I paid him back at the rate of $3 per week. Later, when I wanted to get a miniature 35mm camera, I purchased on my own a used Finetta 35mm Camera from Central Camera, Chicago, when I was about 11.

The lens unscrewed so I guess I thought of it as Lecia like, just a bit on the ugly side and a lot cheaper. It was a lot of fun going downtown on my own and visiting the camera stores. Central was my favorite.

PHOTOTONE · Jan 30, 2007

I started at the top. My dad bought me a Leicaflex back in the 1960's, brand new, when I was about 12.

dana44 · Jan 31, 2007

Mine was a Minolta SRT200 when I just turned 13 and my parents new I was into photography

What was your FIRST 35mm and how old were you?

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