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

[eggyj]

A Minolta SrT101, I bought on a trip to Japan in 1972. Best I could afford, drooled on a Nikon F2 and a Nikomat until the polite shop keeper told me to buy or bye.

Chaplain Jeff

Still have the 300 f4.5 MC awaiting your return.

Ed

 

[Wade D]

I was an avid shooter with an Instamatic since age 9. On my 12th birthday my parents bought a Petri Flex V for me. That was in 1967 and it worked well 'till 1980. I still have and use several Exakta VX's bought in the 70's. My latest camera is a Minolta Maxxum 7000 with a 28-200 lens I bought on ebay for $40.00. Great find.

 

[sidearm613]

My first camera was a well used Canon Canonet GIII. My, what a rangefinder! so much fun! even the lousy negatives because i had no clue what an f/stop was! anyhoo, I got that when I was nine.

The meter needs these funkadellic mercury batteries, which apparently are not for sale anymore. does anybody know what I am on about?

 

[Todd Evans]

Mine was a Petri 35 my dad gave me. He bought it at the PX in Korea when he was in the service. I was 14. It had no meter, so I had to memorize the settings for different light conditions that were listed on the info sheet that came with film (remember those?). Looking back I think that was a great way to start! A few years later the Petri was stolen during a school trip and I got a Yashica Electro 35 GSN (1980), which I still have.

 

[Darkroom317]

Canon Point & Shoot when I was 8, can't remember the model. Canon AE-1 when I was 13.

 

[Ph0t0_man]

Mine was a Canon FTb with a 50mm 1.4 lens. I purchased new for myself when I was about 16.

 

[Jose A Martinez]

Asahi Pentax, 19 years old, 40 years ago

 

[JimCee]

Mine was a Nikon F with the standard pentaprism viewfinder, bought while I was stationed in Turkey during my Army enlistment. I was 21 years old at the time.

 

[agfarapid]

This brings back memories! My first real 35 was a Mamiya Sekor 1000TL purchased new in 1967 when I was 17. It survived high school, college frat parties, NYC's Central Park, rock concerts etc. I bought another 1000TL body at a pawn shop and added a 105mm 2.5 Takumar. I moved up to a Leica IIIc and later traded the Mamiya's for a Topcon RE Super (which I still have along with the IIIc). I ran a lot of Tri-X through those cameras. I still have a love affair with Mamiya with a 645. Current stable includes an M3, two Contax 137's, a C33 and others. I still remember my fun with the 1000TL's.

 

[thisismyname09]

First 35mm i've ever used was a canon TX. First one i've owned was an AE-1. Both when I was around 14-15 years old, iirc.

 

[Java]

My first camera was the one I nicked of me dad which was a Canon Canonet rangefinder.

BUT my first SLR was the good old Zenit EM bought when I was 17.

 

[Thorney]

Thanks eBay! I found a mint condition FTb just like my old one. I also found a source for WEIN batteries and stocked up.

 

[Rob Skeoch]

I bought a new Pentax Spotmatic F when I was 15..... so about 35 years ago. I guess if i had bought a microscope I would have become a Doctor..... of course I could have bought a good fishing rod and spent my entire life chasing bass instead of light.
-rob

 

[Roger Thoms]

My first 35mm was a Rollie 35s, bought it brand new in 1979 or there abouts. I still have the camera, haven't used it for a few years, maybe I'll take it out shooting.

Roger

 

[Simplicius]

my first SLR was a Nikon F75 with a 35-100 zoom attached. I bought it as a gift for myself on my 39th Birthday - less than 2 years ago.

 

[reverend jay]

My first was a Yashica TL-Electro and I was about 10 years old. It was my parents camera which they gave me, and from then on that was all I wanted to do in life was be a photographer.

 

[McFortner]

Mine was a Vivitar EF35 point & shoot I bought when I got a job working at Wal-Mart back in 1984 (I was 17 then). It took pretty good pictures for a (then) $20 camera. I still use it off and on and it still takes good pictures.

Michael

 

[Andrew Moxom]

Mine was an old Ilford sporti 35mm I was about 12

 

[zk-cessnaguy]

I was 17 and the camera was a Pentax Spotmatic with 50/1.4 and 135/3.5 Takumar lenses. Still got it, and one day I'll treat it to an overhaul.

 

[Bertil]

My first 35mm was a Minolta SR-1. I was 14, had to work hard at my fathers constructions in order to buy it. 35mm SLR at that time (in my world!) was: Zenith, Praktica, Edixa, Minolta and Pentax (Nikon came later, and Miranda a newcomer nobody trusted). With enough patience and energy I would probably have bought a Pentax (Sla, I think, was the type). Zenith, Praktica and Edixa belonged to (European!) history. Minoltas # 1 was SR-7, it had a built in light meter (SR-1 had a meter on top of the body), 1/1000 (SR-1 just 1/500) and mirror lock, which SR-1 lacked. SR-7 was at least as expensive as Pentax. I still have my SR-1, using it now and then and, yes, I really like the sound of pushing the button. I just did it, spoiled a frame, just to make sure that I’m not lying! (My very first camera, that I still use even more (!), is a folding Voigtländer Perkeo I (6x6) that I borrowed from my father but never returned - he did not really know how to use it.)

 

[opiatewave]

The first 35mm I used was my dad's Canon A-1 in the 80's. I was 13 and used it almost exclusively on "Program" mode (like a point and shoot!) because I didn't know much back then about manual exposure, ha ha. My brother uses that camera now, and I bought a used Canon New F-1N for myself just last year.

 

[mikeTO]

I thought I'd chirp in with my experience...
About a year ago (I was 24 then) my Fiance's father in law gave me his Nikon FG kit with pretty much all the essentials I needed to get started and I instantly fell in love with film. It was a rough start with exposure problems everywhere but after reading a bunch of old photography books, I got a better hold of it and was really proud of myself when my shots turned out great from my tripto Paris a few months after receiving the camera.

 

[RJS]

Exacta VXIIA. One of the first SLR's, left hand film advance, no auto stop down, generally a pain with lots of overexposed film due to forgetting to stop down.

 

[Pumal]

A Brownie

Later, a Miranda Sensorex and a Spotmatic.

 

[Ira Rush]

I was about 11 or 12 yo. when my father bought me my first 35mm. It was a Voigtlander Vitoret.
No rangefinder, (zone scale focusing, or guesstimate) ... 4 shutter speeds (including B), top speed being 1/125.
Lens was a f/22 ~ 2.8 Vaskar 2.8 lens.

For such a simple camera, you have no idea how sharp that lens was. Either I estimated distance correctly, used proper depth of field, or that lens was SHARP.

Now I use either my Nikon FTN or F2, (or Hassy 500 C/M) ... but I will always remember my 1st

Still have that camera to this day!