Your first camera (of each format you shoot if applicable)

Hydrangeas from the garden

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Hydrangeas from the garden

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Field #6

D
Field #6

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  • 1
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Hosta

A
Hosta

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  • 8
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Water Orchids

A
Water Orchids

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Life Ring

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Life Ring

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Wyno

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Jun 12, 2005
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551
Location
Narrawong Au
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8x10 Format
Sorry guys, my computer's playing up.
As I was writing!
1 Praktica 35 mm
Bronica ETRS
Nagaoka 4x5
Tachihara 8x10
 

Otiica

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Joined
Mar 5, 2008
Messages
5
Format
8x10 Format
35mm SLR Pentax K1000
6x6 Yashica Mat 124G
6x7 Pentax 67II
4x5 Sinar F2
8x10 Zone VI (Pre-Calumet, "Gold" hardware)
 

benjiboy

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Joined
Apr 18, 2005
Messages
11,953
Location
U.K.
Format
35mm
35mm R/F camera Zeiss Contax 11
35mm SLR Praktica Super TL
M/F Yashica 124 G
 

jolefler

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Joined
Mar 25, 2006
Messages
415
Location
Northeast Oh
Format
Multi Format
Who remembers my first...

a Brownie Starflash (126,127? don't remember that far back). My first VERY OWN!

First 35....a Canon 2

First medium format... a 2X3 Century Graphic

Am I dated myself here, or will you all think I just liked retro cameras?

Jo
 

mightyomega

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Joined
Jan 18, 2009
Messages
30
Location
New York
Format
Medium Format
I'm pretty sure I had some cheapie 35mm point n' shoot in my early teens.
The first camera that I can remember as being mine totally was a Fuji Endeavor APS camera that my parents gave me when I graduated from high school.
My first 35mm SLR was a Canon Rebel 2000.
First 120 camera was a Koni Omega Rapid. The 220 back had a light leak!
First 120 folding camera was a Zeiss-Ikon Nettar 517/16.
First (and so far only) LF is a Pacemaker Speed Graphic.
 

removed-user-1

First ever camera - Kodak Instamatic 100
First 35mm SLR - Nikon F
First MF - Yashica 635
First 4x5 - Calumet CC401
 

PeterAM

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Joined
Aug 4, 2006
Messages
87
Location
Scarsdale, N
Format
Multi Format
Very first camera - Brownie Hawkeye
First/only (next) 828 camera - Pony 828
First 35mm RF - Voigtlander Vitessa
First 35mm SLR- Practica
First MF camera (since Hawkeye) - Mamiya 645 1000S
 

Jim Chinn

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Sep 22, 2002
Messages
2,512
Location
Omaha, Nebra
Format
Multi Format
First serious camera was Pentax k1000 at college.

First purchased camera-Nikon FA new.
Toy-Holga-new
MF- RB67-used
4x5- Calumet CC401-used
8x10 Kodak Commercial View-used
11x14- Homebuilt
7x17-Homebuilt
 

funkpilz

Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2008
Messages
184
Format
35mm
My first 35mm camera was a Canon AE-1.
The first 120 camera I used was a Rolleicord IIb, but that one's not mine.
I don't have the funds for a 4x5 yet, but I'll update this post when I do.
 
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Messages
1,881
Location
Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA
Format
Medium Format
First camera: Plastic giveaway camera my parents got as a freebie for us camping at a Yogi Bear Jellystone Park Campground when I was 7 yrs old. I still have it!

First serious camera: Olympus OM-G with 50mm f1.8, at age 11. My dad had one like it before I got mine and I learned to use his, so he got me one of my own. Got damaged in a car accident when I was 16.

First medium format camera: ancient Rolleiflex Automat from 1938, uncoated Tessar lens. I still have it!

Large format: I only have one, a Graphic View I, which I never use. Medium format works better for my kind of work because I'm in kind of frail health and can't carry a lot of weight. I still have it though.

Digital: Nikon D70. I gave it to my 12 yr old son because I never use it.
 

paul ewins

Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
446
Location
Melbourne, A
Format
4x5 Format
First camera was a Kodak 126 Instamatic.
When I was 16 my parents bought me a Pentax K1000. That was later sold to fund a Pentax MX.
Years later I bought a Speed Graphic to start my LF adventure.
A Moskva 5 was my first MF camera before prices on Pentax 67 equipment plummeted and I went nuts on them.
 

jd callow

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Joined
Jan 31, 2003
Messages
8,466
Location
Milan
Format
Multi Format
My first Camera for each format:
  1. Instamatic 110
  2. Yashica SLR 35mm
  3. Bronica Zenza (SP?) MF
  4. Sinar LF
 

cknapp1961

Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2009
Messages
59
Format
Medium Format
My first recollection was of an Ansco box camera, used it on a trip in Middle School.

35mm: Kodak Retina IIIC, inherited it from an Uncle, used it for the first time in about 1975 at age 14, quickly moved to Nikon F and FTN from the same inheritance by the age of 15.
4x5: Speed Graphic owned by the High School in about 1977.
6x6: Mamiya C220 in a studio I worked for part time in 1977 while in High School.
6x4.5: Bought a Bronica ETRS in 1981
Digital: Fuji FinePix 2400 about 2001 or 2002, I think.
6x9: Bought several Franka Rolfix's with Schneider-Kreuznach Radionar lens in 2009.
 

GS_Jean

Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2008
Messages
14
Format
35mm RF
First ever: my father's Adox Polo (35mm), when I was child in early 70's.
35mm: Voigtländer Vitessa "barn door" with Ultron lens and a bunch of accessories. Late 70's, I was around 10 y/o and was so proud of that beautifull gift received from a old man friend of my father (he was shoting with a Plaubel-Makina and the Vitessa was no more used by him)... and that's still my favorite camera!
SLR: Canon AE-1, inherited it from an Uncle mid 80's.

Recently, thanks to the on-line big fleabay market and to the drop of price, I started to discover orther formats:
6x6: Voigtländer Pekeo
6x9: Voigtländer Bessa I
6x4.5: the same Voigtländer Bessa I with eom reducing mask
4x4: Yashica 44 (TLR)
TLR: Lubitel 166B (6x6 ok it's same format as the Perkeo but TLR are so different)
 

DLawson

Member
Joined
Jun 17, 2009
Messages
320
Location
Dayton, Ohio
Format
35mm
First I recall was a Brownie Hawkeye (the bakelite cube) that I bought at a flea market for 25 cents. That was somewhere around 1967. Then a 126 instamatic or two in the '70s.

First 35mm was borrowing my Dad's camera, an Agfa rangefinder, I think. First 35mm of my own was an OM-1 MD that I still have.

The first real 120 was an Ikoflex on loan from my Grandfather. That's back with me now (needing a CLA).

First 4x5, also my Grandfather's Crown Graphic. I have yet to shoot that, though. I need to send the shutter out for CLA as well.
 

Paul Sorensen

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Joined
Nov 15, 2004
Messages
1,912
Location
Saint Paul, MN
Format
Multi Format
First camera: An Instamatic 126, I was probably under 10 at the time, but I am not sure.
First 35mm: A Russian thing sold and branded by Cambridge Camera in New York. It had a selenium meter on the front of the prism, screw mount, manually stopped down, it was really crappy and it wasn't too long before I got a Pentax MX.
First MF: Yashicamat 124G
First 4X5: Some sort of Cambo monorail, not sure of the model.
 

Sirius Glass

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Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
50,227
Location
Southern California
Format
Multi Format
First camera - Brownie Hawkeye 620 film
First MF - German TLR of a nondescript brand 120 film
First 35mm - Voightlander Vito IIb
First 35mm SLR - Minolta SR-7
First AF 35mm SLR - Nikon N-75
First folding MF camera - Certo Dolly Supersport (1935)
First MF with interchangeable lenses - Mamiya C330
First MF SLR - Hasselblad 500 CX
First MF rangefinder [of a sort] - Hasselblad 903 SWC

Steve
 

David A. Goldfarb

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I think the first camera I owned was a Vivitar 110 camera. Then there was a Ricoh 35mm rangefinder and eventually a Canon A-1. The Ricoh and A-1 were stolen in a house burglary, and with the insurance I bought a Canon New F-1 that I still use.

First medium format was a Pentacon 6 that I've since sold.

First LF was the 8x10" Gowland PocketView, which I still use, along with various other LF cameras of various formats.
 

Ira Rush

Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2006
Messages
177
Location
Proud to be
Format
Medium Format
Wow, this takes me back...

First Camera Ever: Some cheapo 127 format ... or maybe it was a 620
First 35mm: Voigtlander Vitoret
First Twin Lens: Some cheapo Yashica knockoff
First 35mm SLR: Mamiya/Sekor 500 DTL
First Medium Format: Bronica SQ-A

Still have the Voigtlander and the Mamiya.
That cheapo 127/620 is somewhere in my garage...

Sold the Bronica years and years ago to fund a 500 ELM, that in order to keep my 500 C/M company... stopped using the Mamiya years and years ago for a Nikon FTN and then a F2.

Funny all these toys, some with super expensive "glass" ... well that Voigtlander, with simple zone focusing,only 4 shutter speeds (including "B"), and a not so fast 2.8 lens... that lens was RAZOR SHARP... sometimes simple is better, sometimes less is more :smile:
 

John_Nikon_F

Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
Messages
1,963
Location
Duvall, WA,
Format
Multi Format
First ever camera for 35mm: Honeywell Pentax H3v with 55f1.8 Super-Tak. Body was pretty well worn, being owned by a military vet with a hook for a hand. Received it for my 9th birthday from my aunt in 1984. Lasted until 1987, when it finally kicked the bucket.

First ever medium format: a Hassy 500c that I purchased for $200. Got that one in 2006. Owned it for a couple months, but since I couldn't afford the lens, I traded it toward my second F4.

-J
 

eli griggs

Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2005
Messages
3,830
Location
NC
Format
Multi Format
Petri Color 35, first camera, first 35mm scale focus.
Yashica fx-2, first SLR
Minolta 16 II, first miniature
Leica m3, first 35mm rangefinder
Hasselblad, 500cm, first 6x6 slr
Sinar F, first 4x5
Ricohflex VI, first 120 TLR
Sawyers MK. IV, first 127 TLR
Iskra, first 120 folder
Kodak Tourist 12.5 first scale focus folder
Diana, first toy camera
SX70, first Polaroid
 

Jim Chinn

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Joined
Sep 22, 2002
Messages
2,512
Location
Omaha, Nebra
Format
Multi Format
I completely forgot the Argus 110 instamatic I had when I was about 10.
 

GJA

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2009
Messages
112
Location
New Hampshir
Format
4x5 Format
My first camera was a no name P&S, I shot very few pictures and they got mixed in with shots from my fathers pentax. If I went though them now i could probably tell which they were by the poor quality.

My second was a Zenit given to me by a friend.

But I consider my first great 35mm camera to be my nikon F4.

My first experiance with MF was with my photography teacher's Yashicamat 124G. Actually, I had shot with a Kodak Brownie 2A for a little while, but gave it up due to lack of crummy 120 film. Its like a Holga and i felt like I was wasting me money when I bought new film for it.

And my first large format camera is my Sinar F+.


My first digital was a D1h. Great camera and I hope it lasts for another 80 years, cause I don't ever plan to buy another one.
 
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