Your FIRST 35mm Camera...

[gnashings]

"Yeah, that was a feature that really caught on, once it was introduced. It must have been a pretty good idea"

Funny story - I went into a pawn shop which I occasionally do the rounds of to see what might have slipped through the fingers of eBay... One such place had on old Praktica. The owner said: "Hmmm, old cameras? I have one, but its broken..." I asked to look at it. Of course, the film door fell off as I must admit I was not ready for it to not be hinged (just so accustomed to to the hinge, I guess) and the shop keeper comments: "See? It just falls off... broken." It took me a split second to realize what was at hand and I replied: "Yep... sure is broken... not much good to anyone now..."
He agreed.
Another liberated old camera through the ignorance of local pawn shop owners.

I am surprised to see the number of Zenits - I thought that experience would be limited to those of us from the other side of the "iron curtain". I for one love my zenit, and the fact that it is actually quite robust! I don't know if I just got lucky, but mine is still going strong except for the rewind knob and this little quirk where the image in the viewfinder is shifted slightly from what appears on film - really annoying until you learn to compensate for it. Oddly, that only started occuring a few years ago, it was perfectly in line for a long time!

And I just knew that there would be atleast one "special someone" story in there! That is a priceless camera-related memory indeed!

 

[BruceN]

An Olympus OM-2n that my parents got me for my high school graduation over 20 years ago. It's been all over the world with me and it's still my #1 camera today, when I'm shooting 35mm. Which is quite a bit.

Bruce

 

[Woolliscroft]

"I am surprised to see the number of Zenits - I thought that experience would be limited to those of us from the other side of the "iron curtain". I for one love my zenit, and the fact that it is actually quite robust! I don't know if I just got lucky, but mine is still going strong except for the rewind knob and this little quirk where the image in the viewfinder is shifted slightly from what appears on film - really annoying until you learn to compensate for it.

Mine ran for years until stolen. Its only problem was that the viewfinder point of focus drifted very slightly away from the film focus so it couldn't be used reliably wider than f4, probably a mirror fault. The ones with the on board but non coupled non TTL meter were great for learners, though, as you got the whole possible range of possible shutter and f stop settings displayed and had to work out why you wanted a particular combination. Of course the other great feature was that you got the whole thing new with standard lens for 25 pounds.

David.

 

[Menard]

My first 35mm SLR was a Praktica MTL3 fully manual M42 screw-mount camera. I still have it and it still works. I do use K-mount equipment today though.

 

[harveyje]

An Olympus Pen F purchased with cash graduation gifts in 1965, used primarily for slides and my only camera until 1971 when I was able to purchase a Nikon F2 and start building a kit (I was stationed in Okinawa at the time).

John

 

[gr82bart]

A Pentax ME for my 12th birthday. Still have it, still works. My first camera that I bought on my own was a Pentax Super Program. I used all, and I mean ALL of my paper route money for that camera. And then in university, I used a good chunk of my student loan on a Nikon F4e.

Art.

 

[ron mcelroy]

My first camera was a Miranda in 1973. A very compact SLR. From that to a Nikon F Photomic that I still own. While I don't shoot much 35mm anymore, the Nikon always is loaded with Tri-X. For color 35mm work I use an auto everything Pentax PZ-1.

Ron Mc

 

[Blighty]

I lost my photographic virginity to a Zenith B back in 1973.

 

[Woolliscroft]

"Yeah, that was a feature that really caught on, once it was introduced. It must have been a pretty good idea"

Funny story - I went into a pawn shop which I occasionally do the rounds of to see what might have slipped through the fingers of eBay... One such place had on old Praktica. The owner said: "Hmmm, old cameras? I have one, but its broken..." I asked to look at it. Of course, the film door fell off as I must admit I was not ready for it to not be hinged (just so accustomed to to the hinge, I guess) and the shop keeper comments: "See? It just falls off... broken." It took me a split second to realize what was at hand and I replied: "Yep... sure is broken... not much good to anyone now..."
He agreed.
Another liberated old camera through the ignorance of local pawn shop owners.

Good isn't it. I got a Leica IIIa for 15 pounds where the base comes off

David.

 

[25asa]

Leica IIIc w/ 50mm f/3.5 Elmar. Paid $50 bucks for it in 1968.
Pain to load and the lens had goofy stops on it like 4.5, 6.3, 9, 12.5 & 18.

 

[Lou Iaquinto]

A used Nikkormat which I think may have been an N with a 50 about 1968. That kept me going until it got stolen around 1977 when I replaced it with a used FM2. That was it until 1984 when I bought my first new camera. An F3 with used 24/2.8, 105/2.5 and 35 to 105 zoom. I managed to get my monies worth out of that one. It didn't get stolen until 2000 when I returned from the Sydney Olympics. Fortunately I had learned my lesson and had insured it all by then!!

Thanks for the thread,

Lou

 

[joeyk49]

Can't remember the first 35...it was a borrowed camera, when I was on my H.S. yearbook club. I think it was a Canon.

The first 35 that was mine was an X-700 that I purchased shortly after H.S...still have it.

 

[Ole]

The first 35mm camera I used was my fathers' Welta Welti! I still have it - it has developed a slight problem in the film advance through 50 years of use, but the rest is still in exellent shape.
Then as soon as I could afford it I bought a Praktika kit with LTL, 28, 50 and 100mm lenses. Some years later that got changed to Pentax ME; I still use Pentax.

 

[rogueish]

My Dad's Nikon FE.
Years later I mistakenly bought a Nikon F401x. (should have got the FE)

Both still work fine.

 

[Nathan Smith]

Argus C3, given to me by my Dad around 1975.

I'd had a cheap 126 and a Polaroid Swinger before that, awful for the most part. Bought a Kodak 110 quickly followed by Vivitar 35mm in 1978/79. About 1980 I bought a Pentax MX which remains my favorite and probably one of the best purchases I've ever made.

Nathan

 

[craigclu]

After getting my feet wet with my dad's Flash Bantam 828, he broke down one day in a camera shop and bought me a Zenit E, along with a Vivitar 2X converter. It looked like a real camera, anyway! Scrounging up bulk film deals and D76 1:3 for economy had me burning lots of film and learning the ropes the hard way. The preset diaphram and clunky metering routine at least made for methodical learning....

 

[Paul Howell]

Kodak Retina III C with the 50, 80, and 35 lens. Still have the camera and the 80, lost the 35.

Paul

 

[burn1138]

all through highschool i used disposable cameras, what ever i could get my hands on cheaply. most of them never made it to development.

2 years ago i picked up a popular photography magazine and decided that i wanted an slr. i went to the local camera shop and was directed towards a vivitar v3800n, which came with a k-mount 50mm f/1.7. i loved that camera it hardly left my side for a year. until i bought a nikkormat FTN, then shortly after bought a nikon F100.

i recently loaned my vivitar to a close friend who has been without a camera for a while. i loaned her the underground brand 135mm f/2.8 lens i picked up somewhere as well.

i long ago gave away the crappy tamron 70-300mm zoom i bought for that camera and i havent willingly used a zoom lens since. so i guess my only regret is buying that, i could have spent the money on alot of film.

 

[mark]

Fuji something point and shoot. Worked well for about 8 years. Died the summer I met my now Wife.

 

[Rick Haug]

Beseler Topcon (model ?). That thing had the loudest mirrorslap. Produced startled looks from people when I tripped the shutter. At least I hope it was the camera producing the startled looks.

 

[gnashings]

Fuji something point and shoot. Worked well for about 8 years. Died the summer I met my now Wife.

You know, point and shoots have aremarkable effect on the number of photos you take, I find. If there is an upside to them, I think its that. You just click away, and sometimes, get a neat photo. Of course, it has been my experience that once you do get that good photo you always look at it thinking:"Well, it could have been so much better with a real lens, on a real camera..." Oh well, all in good fun.

 

[Donald Qualls]

My first 35 mm was a Kodak Pony 135 Model C. Also my first adjustable camera of any kind, though it wasn't the first 35 mm I used -- that distinction belonged to a Yashica (unknown model) that belonged to the photography instructor at summer camp when I was 9 years old. My first experience with adjustments, exposure, metering, and rangefinder focusing, after learning to load 620 film at 7 and shooting an Instamatic 304 for a couple years -- loved that spring-driven auto wind!

The Pony 135 was and is a remarkable camera for what they cost then and now; I just finished cleaning up one I got for $10 on eBay -- the Anaston is a remarkably good lens for a triplet.

My first SLR came along after the Pony got dropped and the body chipped (after a few months of saving up): an Exa II, with 50 mm f/3.5 and 135 mm f/4; the latter a "preset" lens, but the 50 mm was an automatic with the Exakta "pass through" system -- the automatic operation was all in the lens, and the release pressure was passed through to the camera body's front mounted release.

 

[gnashings]

Its so great to see some of the solutions that manufacturers were trying before everyone pretty much decided that there was one good way to do it. Its like antique cars - sure, the reason everything is done a certain way mainly because it works better (or more often, costs less...), but nothing has the personality anymore.

 

[Gerald Koch]

My very first camera was a Brownie Hawkeye 620 box camera. During summer vacations my father would borrow his company's Argus C3 and I would take color slides. When I went off to college my father gave me his camera, a Wirgin (don't know the particular model). This was a 35mm rangefinder made in post-war Germany. I later sold the Wirgin to a friend and bought my first good camera, a Mamiya/Sekor 1000 DTL.

 

[gnashings]

I just picked up two Brownies at a garage sale - they take 127 film... and I don't eventhink I can get it off the shelf anywhere locally. JandCphoto seems to be the only source... but the shipping is a bit staggering, at least according to their little calculator... Perhaps I shold ask in person... I want to try out the brownies, I think they will give some neat results under "sunny16" conditions.