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

[GeneW]

Kodak Signet 40 around 1962. I was 16

 

[zenrhino]

Mine was a Praktica made in E. Germany during the cold war. It had a Hanimex 50 f1.8 lens that fell apart, but the body has been rock solid and as long as you're in the metering range, the meter is still great. I've since gotten a mamiya 28mm f2.8 and a 105mm f2.8 portrait lens with gorgeous bokeh.

The beautiful irony is that now that I know more about shooting (and most of that comes from you guys -- thank you!) I know how to get what I want out of that old Praktica, and don't NEED to use my n90s.

 

[df cardwell]

1969, right out of high school.

Black M4.

Still in love.

 

[micek]

Black M4. Still in love.

Who wouldn't.

 

[butterflydream]

I'm a latecomer. A brand new M6 TTL with Summicron 35mm ASPH in 2001, I was 40.
I've never taken photos before, but suddenly I wanted to and ran to camera shop with all the money I had.

 

[eddie gunks]

well, my father had an AE1 that i used as a kid. i was about8 maybe. but MY first camera was a good ole K1000. i must have been 12 or so.
now thanks to digital i am shooting MF and LF!
eddie

 

[stark raving]

My Dad's Kodak Retina 1 (Type 119) folding viewfinder camera, it was 1969 and I was 13. First SLR was a Spotmatic I bought the next year, still have it and use it.

 

[avandesande]

My Mom's SRT 100. These are very solid cameras and mine still works good, although the meter gave up the ghost some time ago.

 

[siorai]

The first 35mm that I would have used would have been my father's Canon EF when I was probably about 8, maybe a bit younger. My first 35mm that was mine was a point and shoot Yashica. Currently at 34 years-old, I am shooting with my own EF (actually my first proper 35mm) and I'm absolutely loving it.

 

[Nancy]

I'm a latecomer to photography. My first SLR was a Nikon EM that my father had picked up at a garage sale for five dollars and then gave to me when I expressed an interest in learning photography. It came with a couple of series E lenses. I read the manual, shot a roll of film and was addicted. That was six years and a couple of cameras ago. I was forty-something.

 

[pgomena]

The first 35mm camera I used was my Dad's Graflex Ciro rangefinder, probably when I was about 16. First camera I owned was a Minolta SRT 102, a Christmas gift when I was 20. Great camera.

Peter Gomena

 

[JohnArs]

Hi
My first 35 mm camera was a Mamiya! I was about 15 years old.

Armin Seeholzer

 

[MattKing]

My first 35mm camera was a "reclaimed" Kodak 35, received from my Dad. I can't remember exactly when, but I think it was after he gave me my Kodak 616 folder and helped me set up my first (contact printing) darkroom - I was 11 at that time.

Matt

 

[Mark Layne]

Brumberger RF - 18

 

[bill schwab]

Argus C-3 ... 12

First SLR was a Miranda at 16. Got stolen out of my car. Wish I still had that one.

Bill

 

[edz]

First 35mm SLR? Not yet. I've never owned a single lens reflex still camera. All of my 35mm cameras have been range finders or zone focusing. Some have had-- or have-- changeable objectives and some not. Leaving off ground-glass as "reflex", the closest to a "through the lens reflex" camera in my household is a Bolex H-16 but its cine and 16mm and not 35... maybe the TLRs are closer but are not "single lens" nor 35mm unless I use the Rolleikin.... My first 35mm camera? That was probably my father's pre-war Leica which he bought after the war as DP in Linz--- alongside a gold watch, motorcycle with sidecar, racing bicycle and chihuahua for the pocket (named Mufti). First camera? Clearly some 17.5mm paper backed submini camera which was ill-suited to photography.. but I was 5 years old and had money burning a hole in my pocket and a pawn shop across the alley. Needless to say my parents were not happy.. That's how I got the Leica.

 

[narsuitus]

I still have and still use my old Argus C3 35mm rangefinder.

My introduction to the 35mm SLR was during my sophomore year in college. I was very impressed by the images a student, who lived on my dorm floor, was able to capture with his two Canon Pelix cameras.

Even though I fell in love with his Canons, I was not as financially well healed as he was. I ended up buying a lower priced Miranda Sensorex.

 

[mysuzuki2]

The first 35mm I used was my parents Ansco Memar - a scale focusing 35mm with a triplet lens, I believe. They couldn't figure out how to use it so I had to learn and show them. The first camera I bought for myself was a Mamiya-Sekor 500tl, which I still have and which is still in good working order. A perfect camera to learn on. Manual everything with an accurate meter and good optics. It was also the first item I bought on credit. I think it was $10 down and $10/month. It was a steep price for a college student in 1968.

 

[gr82bart]

My parents gave me a Pentax ME for my 12th bithday.

Art.

 

[szazs]

First 35mm was a Neoca S2 rangefinder my Dad bought in about '57 when everyone was taking Kodachromes and "Slide shows" were the norm for guests (yawn). When I was 15(?) I took the whole summer's worth of savings and bought a new Mamaya/Sekor 1000 DTL w/f1.8 and a second-hand Sunset 85-205 f3.5 zoom. Seems many, many folks learned on a Mamaya/Sekor back then...

 

[zinzin]

My first 35mm was a slr Yashica FX3D, with a lovely 50mm lens, got as present when I was 15. It got stolen when I was 29 ....

 

[Paul Howell]

My first 35 was a Kodak Retina 3C with 50mm F2 and the 35 and 80mm I was 16. Backpacked though Europe with it, twice, while in college. I still have it and use it a couple of times a year. First SLR was a Spotmatic.

 

[jedrek]

Even though I was born in Poland, I didn't get a camera until I spent 10 years in the US and came back. It was a Canon EOS 630 with an EF 50mm f/1.8 MkI lens - I use both to this day. The top LCD display on the EOS is broken, and has been since I got it, but I just use the in-viewfinder info and... shoot away. My brother bought the setup around 1990 and 8 years ago, he said: "if you don't want it, just throw it out". Now I have 3 bodies and something like 12 lenses... good thing I kept it.

I was pretty old, 21 when I got it.

 

[Nancy Giroux]

Pentax K1000 I was about 17 I guess. 1978
or so.

That was my first camera too and I was also 17 in 1979. I asked for the camera instead of getting a class ring. Loved that camera! I bought the kit at Service Merchandice.

 

[b1bmsgt]

I bought a brand new Yashica Electro 35 in 1970 or so. Think I paid about $100 for it. After a couple of years I traded it in on a Spotmatic, then traded that on a Nikon Photomic Ftn. That was stolen a few years later, so I got a Minolta SRT-101 which I kept for 28 years. Sold it last year on eBay. I now have another Spotmatic, a Pentax S1A and an S3.

Now I need another Ftn...

Russ