Your FIRST 35mm Camera...

[bighilt]

Pentax K1000. Got me started in a career in photo-journalism. Wish I still had it.

 

[andres]

My first 35mm was FED-2. It used to be my grandfathers, and I remember having it as a toy when I was 6 or 7. Later I decided to put a film in it and found out that it worked. That's how my passion for photography begun. Still have it and it still works but I don't use it anymore.

 

[JohnRichard]

My first camera was a Minolta Maxxum 7i, I had no idea what I was doing at the time, but got better as time went on. Now I have 2 Pentax k1000's, with the standard 50/f2 and thats about all I have used for the last 10 years. I am looking into getting a Canon F1, it looks like a dream for me... but they're a bit expensive for me at the moment. I'll stick with my K1000 for the moment.

 

[hoffy]

My first was a Ricoh KR5 Super, that I bought off an older friend when I got my first job. I cannot remember the brand of lens, but I know it was a 35 to 70 zoom. I still remember his words when he showed me how to use it "Keep it on 1/125th and adjust the aperture to suit and you'll be right...." Great little camera in the end and I kinda still wish I had it.

The Ricoh got traded for a Minolta Alpha 303si Super in the mid 90's, which I still have. Since then, I have managed to buy a Minolta 7000i, a SRT303 and I have a 5xi and 7xi on the way.

 

[Black Dog]

John, what about a Canon Ftb?

 

[Java]

First camera was a Zenit EM the one with the meter on top, it was great

Next camera was a OM4 which I still have and use

 

[JohnRichard]

Black Dog: While the Canon Ftb is a nice Canon, it lacks some of the more interesting features I would like to have, most notably interchangeable viewfinders. The bad thing is that I DON'T want one of those damndable olympic models that seem to fetch WAY to high a price. Its like charging twenty grand for a 944 just because it says Porsche on the front...

 

[denmark.yuzon]

my first 35m camera is the minolta x700.. i still have it today, but after biting dust for almost 5 years, i found it again in my closet, dirty and all, and fungus inside the lens, been meaning to have it CLA-ed soon, since it has served three generations already.. first was my grandfather, handed to my father, and handed to me..

 

[olehjalmar]

Minolta XE-5. Bought it new in 1977. Lost it on a glacier about 15 years later shortly after having bought a used X-700 as a backup. Still using the X-700.

 

[Anon Ymous]

Lomo Smena 8M. That was all I could afford. I was 8-9 years old and bought it after saving pocket money. I also had to save money to buy 12exp film I still have it, but it's faulty. Not much of a surprise. The first thing that stopped working was the frame counter. Some time later, the film transportation mechanism stopped working too. I had a look at prints from that camera recently. They're not bad for such a cheap camera and a "guesstimate" focusing system. I'd certainly use it as a toy camera if it worked now.

 

[kk74]

Nikon F5. Bought it recently and I have only just developed my first film and a few photographs on paper.

 

[archphoto]

A (Köning or Kaiser ) Regula range finder, manual everything, got it from my father.
Has a Steinheil München Cassar 2.8/50mm on it, the shutter (a Prontor S ) needs a CLA after 40 odd years.
Later I bought a small CdS meter for it, still got the camera and the light meter.
And all I wanted at that time was an Instamatic 50, it got that one 30 years later, but it got me started in photography the right way.

Nowadays I am using the ultimate manual everything: a Sinar P2 (and SL66 and RB 67 ) ........

Peter

 

[Mr.Helberg^^]

The Fujica st705, it was practicly a steal! it died last year and will be missed *sniff*

 

[darkosaric]

nikon F801s. Before I had some digital idiot crap. It was 4 years ago, still it is in use

 

[stevenb1]

Nikkormat, it eventually died and I replaced it with an F3 which I still have

 

[Edimilson]

My first 35mm was a Canon EOS 300V (it's called "Rebel" or 'T1" in the US, if I'm not mistaken). I still use it today, every now and then, but my preference goes to manual cameras, of which I have a few now. Wish I had been born decades before my real year of birth (1972). Then my first camera would have been a totally manual one and I would have experienced the heyday of film photography (when exactly was that, by the way?), but I was born too close to the digital age, unfortunately.

 

[fatmoon]

Started with a 1971 Mamiya/Sekor Auto XTL. That was back in '97. It broke after 2 years of hard use and was unrepairable so I got rid of it and bought a Nikon. A couple of years ago I was feeling nostalgic so I bought one on e*bay and found it terrible to shoot with as the view finder was horribly dim. It went back on e*bay and I dont miss it a bit!

 

[xzulx]

My 1st 35mm was a Minolta SRT 101 which i bought it from a friend of mine for USD 19. After that i bought a Praktica BX20 from the ebay, then i bought a Asahi Pentax Spotmatic, then I bought a Minolta Maxxum 7 and Minolta Dynax 9. Now i'm aiming for Nikon F3 and Minolta X700.

 

[Pompiere]

Voigtlander Vito II. It was old when my dad gave it to me, but it worked fine. Scale focus and no meter forced me to learn about sunny 16 and guessing distance. The camera was lost to a flooded basement a few years ago.

 

[thommac]

A zenit 122.
I bought it by paying in a fiver a week to the shop until I had it all paid for (i was in school at the time) I'll never forget finally paying in the last payment and walking out of the shop with the box under my arm.
It still works exccept fot the frame counter.
Can't imagine buying a camera like that anymore

 

[DarkroomExperimente]

1st 35mm Camera: Konica FC-1

 

[swensonorama]

Pentax ME Super. got is 25 yrs ago for my birthday. just cleaned it up in the last couple weeks and started shooting film again!

 

[Pumal]

Pentax Spotmatic. I'm still shooting it:

 

[sjg]

OM2n, bought 2nd hand in Manchester in 1986.

I've been waiting to tell you all about it whilst it was being repaired... dug it out earlier this year and found it wouldn't meter
But, just got it back from a service and it's just how I remember it - woohoo!

 

[Rick A]

My first 35mm camera was an Argus C-3 I picked up at a yard sale for a dollar when I was 13. No instructions no light meter, and the shutter speed and aperture settings were numbers 1-10. I learned a ton about exposure from that camera, along with uncounted rolls of Verichrome Pan. That camera was stolen a couple of years later, and was replaced with another C-3 that came with the light value meter. I think I paid around $5 for that one, and I only had it a few months when it was stolen. I replaced it with a then new Olympus FTL. This started a 40 year love affair with Olys and especially Zuiko optics. Alas all my Olys are in the closet-dead bodies(2 OM-10's, an OM-4, and an XA, and XA-2) My currant shooters are a Yashica D, and Contax 139 quartz, My wife is shooting an OM-77AF I picked on the 'bay last summer for $20 (shipping inc.) I think its a good camera for her to learn composition with, so she doesnt have to worry about exposure until she is more confident in her photos (she is quite an artist already-drawing, and paint, sculpting) Our daughter loves shooting the 77 , she's already a very skilled darkroom apprentice at 11 yrs. old.