Kodak X-15F. I was about 10 when I got it new, still have it and it still works.
Kodak Instamatic X-15F by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr
Kodak Instamatic X-15F by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr
Your FIRST 35mm Camera...
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Halina Paulette from Hong Kong, camera now long gone to the camera graveyard
First 35mm was my Dad's Argus C-4.
My first purchased 35mm was a used Nikon F Photomic with an off-brand 200mm lens.
First camera purchased brand new was a Nikon FE2
My first purchased 35mm was a used Nikon F Photomic with an off-brand 200mm lens.
First camera purchased brand new was a Nikon FE2
What was your first 35mm camera, as the OP asked?Kodak X-15F. I was about 10 when I got it new, still have it and it still works.
Andrew O'Neill
Moderator
Pentax K1000. Got it at a pawn shop in Victoria. Still have it.
The film inside a 126 cartridge is 35mm wide.
If the OP wanted Leica format on 135 cassettes, they should have specified that.
Interesting..... so it is 35mm... square format.?
thank you
MattKing
Moderator
It is on the same 35mm wide film stock.
It is unperforated, except for one registration hole per image.
The image size is actually 28mm x 28mm, although due to masking and the intrusion of slide mounts, the effective image area is approximately 26mm x 26mm (thus 126).
I never owned a 126 camera, but my Dad borrowed and I used one of these from time to time:
Wow.!It is on the same 35mm wide film stock.
It is unperforated, except for one registration hole per image.
The image size is actually 28mm x 28mm, although due to masking and the intrusion of slide mounts, the effective image area is approximately 26mm x 26mm (thus 126).
I never owned a 126 camera, but my Dad borrowed and I used one of these from time to time:
Never seen a camera that looked that nice, that also said "Instamatic"
MattKing
Moderator
It is a Retina - in Instamatic clothing.Wow.!
Never seen a camera that looked that nice, that also said "Instamatic"
A family portrait, in the late 60s or very early 70s, on Kodachrome - most likely taken with one of those:
Zeiss also made an SLR for 126 cartridges. I owned one for a while back in 1981. A whole different animal from the main body of Instamatic cameras, and proof that any issues with image quality on 126 were due to the cheap fixed focus lens and fixed exposure in most of those.
My first 35mm camera was given to me on my birthday by a professional photographer that I happen to live next door to.
It was a Miranda Sensomat RE series that had a button next to the lens mount that activated its stop-down meter.
I used it until I bought a Nikkormat FT2, which took awhile to adjust to.
It was a Miranda Sensomat RE series that had a button next to the lens mount that activated its stop-down meter.
I used it until I bought a Nikkormat FT2, which took awhile to adjust to.
My first 35mm camera was a small Sears branded camera with zone focusing sometime around the early 1970's. It was damaged by a fall in salt water and later replaced with a Yashica MG-1. I have searched eBay for a replacement Sears camera, but haven't been able to figure out which model this was. I suspect my recall of camera details has faded over the last 45 years. I remember zone focusing, and possibly shutter priority exposure in a very compact 35mm camera. I have fond memories of the Yashica, but have no desire to replace it. It had aperture-priority mode only with no way to over-ride it. I have many poorly-exposed Kodachrome slides as a result.
My first camera was an Instamatic
My first camera was an Instamatic
Sears sold a version of the Pony line for many years. Bakelite body, back had slide latches on both sides (looked and worked like those on a Holga), manual cocked shutter (came in three-speed and five-speed, as I recall), scale focus, knob wind with counter on top.
Technically, your Instamatic was a 35mm, too. The film inside a 126 cartridge is 35mm wide, it's just perforated differently.
Technically, your Instamatic was a 35mm, too. The film inside a 126 cartridge is 35mm wide, it's just perforated differently.
"Minolta" FS-35. Compact. Made in Malaysia (because of this for a long time I thought that "Minolta" was a Malaysian company). Get it as a present around 1994. It broke around 1998-1999... Today I'm a "Minolta" user when speaking about 35 m.m. format.
I think mine was a Pentax P30T that my mom bought me my sophomore year of high school in 1995/96.
Nicholas Lindan
Advertiser
Agfa Solina (Silette), $14.97 from Montgomery Wards (a large US catalog store).
It had "Green Goo" disease of the focusing helical - as a result it 'focused' using the cell mounting threads. Had a hell of a time figuring out what was going on and why all my photos were always out of focus. After that got sorted it took acceptable pictures, certainly better than anything else you could buy at the price.
https://camerapedia.fandom.com/wiki/Agfa_Solina
It had "Green Goo" disease of the focusing helical - as a result it 'focused' using the cell mounting threads. Had a hell of a time figuring out what was going on and why all my photos were always out of focus. After that got sorted it took acceptable pictures, certainly better than anything else you could buy at the price.
https://camerapedia.fandom.com/wiki/Agfa_Solina
My first was a Pentax K1000 bought for me by my mother from Cambridge Camera (shudder).
Andrew O'Neill
Moderator
K1000. But at that time I was only using it to document my art work, and as a source for drawings. Then something happened... 
So, my first real was a C330, which I still have. I still have the K1000, and just used it to try out a roll of Orto... video coming soon 
So, my first real was a C330, which I still have. I still have the K1000, and just used it to try out a roll of Orto... video coming soon 
I was 12 years old, and I was the primary photographer for my family, using Fujica 35 EE, launched in 1961. We went on vacation to Catalina Is. in southern CA. It was an image of the Casino on Catalina that launched my beginning as an enthusiast of photography with 35mm, as any prior camera was rollfilm.
The launch to photojournalism came in high school, on the photography staff of our school newspaper. My dad indulged in the purchase of the Topcon Auto 100, which I still own!
It was all we could afford, and while I lusted for the Topcon Super D, that was made of Unobtanium in 1964...I had to wait until I found one over 50 years later. What I own now, after a lifetime of waiting...
The launch to photojournalism came in high school, on the photography staff of our school newspaper. My dad indulged in the purchase of the Topcon Auto 100, which I still own!
It was all we could afford, and while I lusted for the Topcon Super D, that was made of Unobtanium in 1964...I had to wait until I found one over 50 years later. What I own now, after a lifetime of waiting...
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The first 35mm camera I used was my father's 1936 Certo Dolina. The second was his 1941 Leica IIIc. The first 35mm camera I bought was a Leica IIIf. I still have the two Leicas. The Certo was lost in a house move.
Strictly speaking, it was a no-name generic 110 camera I got in a showbag (along with a heap of chocolate and lollies) when I was a kid. If I remember correctly it was called the "World's Ultimate Showbag" and to my easily-impressed 10 year old brain, it lived up to that bold claim. Alas, keeping it fed with film and processing was tough on my meagre pocket money, though, so not many rolls got put through it, though I still have many of the photos.
My first "proper" camera was a Nikon FM. Which of course was, is, and always will be the correct answer to the question "which film camera should I actually spend money on* to get started in film photography?". Feel free to disagree, but you're wrong ;-)
(* - to be clear, the best camera to start out with film photography is the first one you find working and functional in a relative's closet. Failing that, get a mid-1990s basic consumer Canon EOS with a lens for a handful of bucks... but if you want a nice vintage mechanical camera with full hipster street cred without paying hype prices, Nikon FM all the way...).
My first "proper" camera was a Nikon FM. Which of course was, is, and always will be the correct answer to the question "which film camera should I actually spend money on* to get started in film photography?". Feel free to disagree, but you're wrong ;-)
(* - to be clear, the best camera to start out with film photography is the first one you find working and functional in a relative's closet. Failing that, get a mid-1990s basic consumer Canon EOS with a lens for a handful of bucks... but if you want a nice vintage mechanical camera with full hipster street cred without paying hype prices, Nikon FM all the way...).
Wow! Long way back. My first 35mm was an Argus C3, The Brick! No fond memories of the camera itself but I photographed much of the country with it. I remember being in Schaffer's Camera downtown LA a few years later. They had 40 gal barrel 2/3 full of C3s $10 ea. LOL. Pentax Spotmatic was next then 2 Leica M2s.
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