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

[tef312]

My first 35mm camera was a Praktica Nova IB from my father. I was eight years old. My first film was an Ilford FP4

Thomas

 

[aparat]

Smena 8M was my first 35mm camera. I was 7years old. Interestingly, even though I have lost most of my childhood possessions, I still have five photos from the very first roll of BW film from the Smena. For purely nostalgic reasons, I just bought a mint Smena 8M on the auction site. It brought back a lot of memories.

aprat

 

[Mikey98e]

Yashica Electro 35, 19 years old. That was 37 years ago and I still have the camera!

-mike

 

[ChrisPlatt]

My first "real" (adjustable lens) camera was a brand new Ricoh 500G 35mm rangefinder.
I paid over $100 for it at Green Acres Camera Exchange around 1975, when I was 14 years old.

Chris

 

[burnt_toast]

I got my first slr just last month, a Nikon FM from keh. The shutter was off so I sent it back and now I have a Nikon F3 (non-HP). I'm 18 right now and started getting into photography about a year ago. I just recently switched over from the dark side...

 

[Bill Harrison]

Mercury II half frame. 1954. I was 13. Graduation gift(8th grade) from my father who taught commercial & color at NYI of Photography( brick & mortar, then).

 

[NormanV]

My first 35mm camera was a christmas present from my fiancee in 1986 or thereabouts. A halina 35. I never got good pics from it but it got my enthusiasm.

 

[NormanV]

Bloody hell my brain is gone. I meant 1966!

 

[NormanV]

Bloody Hell! My vbrain has gone, I meant 1966!

 

[Jeff L]

I was 15. Yashica FR in 1979. I still have it.

 

[zinnanti]

I was about 11 when I asked my dad to mess around with his manual Olympus 35mm. I had a vision about shooting a daisy from a low angle with the sky projecting in the background.

Fast forward to my early 20s. I was a special education teacher. I got a Rebel clunker. (Remember how the shutter went "clunk" on those things?) I got some of the most amazing images of the kids. I had no idea I was breaking every privacy law in the book. Before LIFE went under, editorial gave a second look at a story I pitched featuring 10 images.

Then it was my beloved, but lost, Nikon FMIIn. I bought it from a photographer who shot for National Geographic. It came with excellent magic in it.

 

[S.F. Sorrow]

When I was 16 I started shooting on my mom's old Nikon F(something), unfortunately the shutter had a tendency to jam and quickly became almost unusable. She got my a Nikon FM3a for my 17th birthday, I had no idea just how awesome of a present that was until much later.
Fast forward five years and I still love the crap out of that camera, it's by far the perfect 35mm camera for me, but it's been sorely neglected as of late. I'm to distracted by my 4x5 and my holga among others.

 

[Phormula]

I started with a Bencini Comet, takink 127 film. The first 35 mm camera I used was a Kodak Retinette II, and was lended to me by my father when I was eight. I remember I had an allowance of one roll of film (at that time, late '70s it was Kodachrome 64) per month. That's where I learnt how to make each shot count. A habit I still have today.

 

[John_Nikon_F]

Pentax H3v. Got it for my 9th birthday in 1984. Was well used, and didn't work too well. Replaced it with my father's Nikomat FTn in 1987. In 2005, I did pick up another H3v, but didn't keep it very long, since I remembered why I preferred Nikons to it. One reason being the built-in meter.

-J

 

[ninjarider]

Kodak Retina and I was about 14 I think... No exposure meter and no rangefinder but it was fun!

 

[Excalibur2]

Kodak Retinette 1b at about 16, was the first decent one...many crappy ones before that with all sorts of film sizes.

 

[Pumal]

A Brownie

 

[Miskuss]

Kodak Retina when I was about 14 years old. My dad brought it from "West Germany" when he emigrated to Canada in 1952 after WW2. I still have it. It seemed like such a high tech camera for a boy that was using a Brownie Box Camera. Yes I'm old.

 

[Robert Brummitt]

Minolta XG-7 and I was 19 or 20 years old. Great camera miss it sometimes.

 

[Pumal]

A Mirand and a Pentax after that.

 

[funkpilz]

A Canon AE-1 When I was seventeen.

 

[StorminMatt]

When I was around 9, my Grandpa (who collected cameras) gave me a Petri 7s. Interestingly, this camera seemed to work REALLY well with Kodachrome. And I actually shot some decent pictures at the time. Unfortunately, I did not know exactly which part of the viewfinder covered the actual picture. So quite a few are off. But that aside. I got some prety good shots from the thing.

 

[Russ Young]

Mine was a Pentax H1a, new in the box.... BUT it had just been through a fire! The local stationer's shop was the only place i knew in western Kentucky that had cameras IN STOCK to purchase. I'd been saving my hard earned money for a lighter Schwinn bicycle and so had cash in hand. My dad and I went downtown on Saturday morning to see what the fire had done to the building - and they were conducting a real sidewalk fire sale. The box was damp and smoke coated - but instead of $150, it was $99. They swore the camera was inside a block of styrofoam which was tightly shrink wrapped. We walked a block to the bank, I withdrew $100 (one dollar for two rolls of Verichrome), and the rest is history. 1965.

Russ

 

[glockman99]

My first REAL 35mm camera was a Nikon F2A that I bought when I was about 18 or so. (I wish I still had that one!).

 

[Chaplain Jeff]

Minolta XG-1 when I was 13. Bought it because it was $20 cheaper than the Canon AE-1, which was what my aunt wanted me to buy.

Been shooting Minolta off and on ever since.