Your FIRST 35mm Camera...

[cberry2]

First 35mm camera

First 35mm camera was an Argus C3 that I borrowed from my Dad When I was 12 in '69. Next a Minolta SRT100 which I sold to buy a Nikkormat FT2. Currently using the F6 for analog 35mm and mamiya 645 Pro for medium format.

 

[NathanBell]

My first (and only) SLR is a Pentax K2 which my dad bought new is 1973 along with a 1.4/50mm pentax prime lens. Its 10 years older than me and easily in better condition that I am! I cant see myself using any other 35mm other than a Leica M6 when funds allow...

 

[44lefty]

Aires Penta 35; age 16.

 

[selenium96]

An Argus C3 I had in the 60's. I bought a Minolta SRT-101 in 1972 and still use it today along with the other 6 manual focus Minolta's I now own.

 

[snallan]

A Canonet, I think it was a 28. Originally bought by my brother when he was overseas on service, and handed on to me when I started showing an interest in photography.

 

[Don Dudenbostel]

My first 35mm camera was a first generation Minolta SRT101 with the 50 1.4. back in 1966 or 67. My first good camera was a 4x5 pacemaker crown that my dad gave me in 1966.

 

[Absinthe]

My first 35 was a Sears (Branded Ricoh) that my sister "handed" down to me. I stuck with Ricohs for a long time until I discovered MF. All those 35's have long since been sold, as have the MF's just starting over again

 

[PeteZ8]

Pentax K1000 with 50 2.0 lens. First and still my ONLY 35mm SLR. Had it since about 91. Just found a great deal on some mid 90's Nikon stuff though, don't know what it is but for the money I know it's going to be mine!!!

 

[ASA32]

Canon F-1n

 

[SAlred]

The mighty and magnificent Canon FX: http://www.vintagephoto.tv/canonfx.shtml

Got me hooked & I blew my paper route savings on a black Nikkormat FTn...

Steve A.

 

[Robin A]

Topcon Uni-1968 R.V.N. Da Nang exchange

 

[Jose A Martinez]

A used Asahi Pentax, don't remember the model, I shoot not more than 30 rolls and sold it to buy a Nikormat. 1971

 

[charlesh]

First camera was a beat-up Nikon F3 with an even more beat-up 50/1.8.

 

[Peter_H]

The first camera I ever used was a Yashica Minister II. This was notionally my Mum's camera - a fairly typical fixed-lens rangefinder from the mid 60s, with a 45mm f2.8 lens, an uncoupled selenium meter, reminiscent of a chrome-and-black brick. I took some really bad transparencies of a Scouting trip abroad, which put me off photography for about the next 10 years.

Much later, when I met my wife-to-be, she had just bought a Canon AV-1 with standard 50mm f1.8 lens. We shared this (and much more!) until, in the middle of an argument about who was going to use it next, my parents suggested I should have my very own camera body. Thus, at my next birthday, the family clubbed together to give me a Canon A-1, which I have to this day with that original Canon prime. (It also has a Tamron FD-fit telephoto zoom but, sadly, the companion wide-angle zoom wore out after less than twenty years!)

Nowadays, I use a Nikon body (after all, Canon dumped FD without any warning or backward compatibility) and really love the ease and autofocus in my middle age! Even so, I still miss the amazing feel of my A-1, which is usually to be found in my daughter's hands these days.

Peter

 

[loman]

A praktica mtl 5

 

[bobwysiwyg]

Totally manual Pentax. Carried it with me in Vietnam. Still have it around somewhere. I moved on to two Nikons (FM and FE) after returning to The States.

 

[Resoman]

Minolta ER (I think that was the designation) - a fixed lens SLR that I got in '64 or '65.

Unless you count my father's Argus C3...


Gary,
East Snook, TX

 

[Stevopedia]

The first camera I ever used was a Vivitar point and shoot. I think it was APS, but I don't remember; I wasn't more than ten years old at the time, I think.

As far as the first real camera I've used, it was my dad's 1977-vintage Pentax K1000. I got my hands on it last summer as a kind of "warm up" for a photography course that I'm taking in school this year.

I fell instantly in love with both that Pentax and photography. I made an inch-thick stack of 4x6 prints that summer, some of which are surprisingly good.

As far as my own cameras go, I got a Canon AE-1 in amazingly good condition (along with the 1979 Canon FD lens brochure) and a 1964-vintage Mamiya Super Deluxe rangefinder, which unfortunately doesn't work (I've been looking for a way to fix it ever since.) Later I got a Pentax to call my own as a gift from another relative, which happens to be a K1000 SE in brown leather. I couldn't be happier!

As far as future cameras go, I've got my eyes on a Canon A1 or F1, or another Pentax (one of the following: KX, Super Program, SF1n, PZ-1, PZ-1p.) I'd also love to have my own darkroom.

Yep, I'm well and truly addicted to photography!

Edit: First post...!

 

[chop61]

A Yashica FX 2, + and - needle meter. Big ol' metal thing. Graduated to a Nikon F3.

 

[outwest]

Graflex Stereo Graphic.

 

[gregrudd]

My first was a 1995 Ricoh kr10-m then moved to a Pentax MX and LX I intend to give the Ricoh a run in a few months time.

 

[B&Jdude]

I bought a Minolta SRT-101 while at the Army PX in Saigon in 1969. Loved that camera! It was stolen in a burglary a couple years later, but I have bought other SRT series cameras since - - still love 'em! Currently own about half dozen or so SRT's, though I don't do much 35mm any more.

 

[mwtroxell]

My first 35mm camera (bought over 30 years ago) was a Canon FTB. A few years later I bought a Canon F1 1980 Winter Olympic model. I still want to kick myself every time I think about how I sold the F1. It was a NICE camera. Used a 4x5 for about 12 years and have been using an 8x10 for the last 3 years.

 

[bostonwolf]

great question

It had to be a little Kodak Instamatic I got when I was a kid. I saved up my allowance for a few months to get it then left it at a Celtics basketball game and never saw it again.

 

[GErvin]

Pentax p30t. It was a hand me down from my grandparents. It is still my primary camera.