Jump to content

What camera did I learn on?


Recommended Posts

My first camera was a Pentax ES II w/50mm f/1.4 Takumar that I bought new in 1974. I rapidly added lenses, but soon found out that having to unscrew the lenses to change them was a big pain. Also, I wasn't a big fan of the camera's averaging meter. I was hooked, though, and I traded everything in for a Leicaflex SL-2 and a few lenses.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The "lollipop and stick" was used on quite a few Canon cameras. The FTb is probably best know, but it was also used on the TX, TLb, and AT-1.

 

The original F-1 also uses this style meter, but it's in a separate window to the right of the viewfinder, and doesn't intrude into the viewfinder area as on the other cameras. Also, it didn't come in chrome :) . The New F-1 uses a very similar arrangement to the original F-1, but the "lollipop" indicates the aperture set by way of a scale printed on it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Yashica FX3 has a metal shutter but has a traffic light meter. Look, does it have to be that special camera... while I can imagine for sentimental reasons you want that one...but memories are poor judges....any number of the cameras suggested will fulfill the basic premise of 1977 ..I recommend you get a tank (Paterson) and some chemicals .. ie D76 in either liquid or powder form and some fixer either liquid or powder. Most folks don't bother with Stop bath these days Shoot the film with virtually any match needle SLR and develop the film. Then scan the negs and post here at CMC. The enlarger, paper and accompanying chemicals are quite an effort. You will find the paper expensive the rest relatively cheap....but you will need a Darkroom. Apropos Darkroom.... for loading the film in the daylight tank I use a changing bag. It just takes a little bit of practice. By scanning the negs you bypass the darkroom,enlarger, paper,trays chemicals etc.

 

Actually these are my thoughts exactly. Going back a bit: I had shelved my long-loved Canon AL-1 several years ago, with digital being much more convenient for my needs at the time. My love of 35mm SLRs never died and I since have acquired a Yashica TL Electro-X, a replacement AL-1 (using the Yashica made me pick up the AL-1 again but it had exposure issues), and a Canon A-1 (needs some fresh lubrication - took it out in the winter and the shutter slowed way down!). I also have the chance to pick up some model of Iloca Rapid. At this point, with the A-1 being a major want for a long time (again for sentimental reasons) the ownership itch has been scratched and I do not really intend to purchase the camera of my youth; being able to identify it and read some blog posts from some Millenial who has recently discovered film and has used that model would be great though.

 

Having had little luck getting my test roll from the A-1 processed locally I decided it would be fun to go back to Tri-X and start developing myself, since nowadays as you say the full darkroom is unnecessary. This is my intention and I've researched but haven't bought anything yet.

 

As for the mystery camera - thanks everyone for your suggestions so far. Thank goodness for butkus.us since every camera manual has an illustration of the light meter, so I've been able to rule out everything so far. Only the Ricoh KR-5 has the right viewfinder view and metal shutter. The controls on top look familiar enough.Those details and the presence of a self-timer lever, are the ones I'm most certain of. So if no other contenders turn up, I'm willing to believe the KR-5, that it was actually new at the time and that I'm wrong about the discrepancies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having had little luck getting my test roll from the A-1 processed locally I decided it would be fun to go back to Tri-X and start developing myself, since nowadays as you say the full darkroom is unnecessary. This is my intention and I've researched but haven't bought anything yet.

I did that. It’s a hoot.

Research your tool choices well before jumping in. Watch all the YouTube videos you can and ask questions. Practice spooling the film in the bag with a cheap practice unexposed roll.

Download a developing app for info and timer.

Have fun.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always enjoyed photography, ever since I was a kid, but I always had miserable cameras. When I was a kid, it was a Kodak Brownie -- a Starmite, I think. Then a brace of 110 cameras that reached all the way through my 20s. I finally bought my first real camera when I as 29 -- a Canon AE-1. This was the camera that propelled me into my future as a photographer. Within a year, I'd bought an A-1. Less than a year after that, I bought my first FTb, which was the camera that really opened me up to photography. And then less than a year after that, I bought my first Canon F-1 -- a first generation original model. And it's been downhill ever since. ;)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My first camera was the old family Kodak Jiffy 620. My first 'real' camera was a Honeywell Pentax H2. I 'shifted' to a Nikkormat FTn so I could use the PC-Nikkor 35mm perspective control lens. A long stretch of Nikons after that until the non-AI character of my lens collection pushed me to going digital on Canon EOS bodies (where the PC-Nikkor still worked just fine), I've posted here frequently on my personal histories with these cameras and others.

 

I'm still learning, by the way.

Edited by JDMvW
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
I think I had a Kodak Instamatic 100 or some variant in the 80s when you could still readily buy 126 film in drug stores. I then later had a 110 camera. In high school I had a Canon Ftb that was bought used at a camera store in town with the 50mm and wide angle lenses. It served me well for a while until I bought myself a used Kodak Retina Reflex III that I used in college for a couple photo classes I took. I've had in repaired/cleaned once and it has performed well ever since. I still use it regularly. Hard to beat those Schneider lenses!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My father passed away rather unexpectedly when I was thirteen, and I inherited his Certo Super Sport Dolly camera, pictured below. I used it for about five years, and it taught me the basics of photography. I still have the camera, and while it's a little battered it's still in working condition.

Certo Super Sport Dolly

 

412363128_CertoPnetcopy.jpg.7cfb58772441e15f8ce35abdd0c894d9.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actually started on digital and worked my way back to film, or rather a hybrid world of digital, film and scanners. Got into the game late anyway, and not the oldest visitor to this site.

There are advantages to digital as a learning tool, as well as advantages to film as a learning tool. The lack of "cost per exposure" can help expiriment more, attempt more point of views etc. Sure it generates a load of junk, but it helps trying compositions and settings away from the beaten track. The value of cost per exposure is restraint and thinking before you shoot. So having both is in my view pretty ideal to continue the learning journey :-)

 

And I still love that moment the negatives come of the reel and you hold something physical you created - that alone will probably keep me shooting film.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Started with a Box Brownie of some sort - seem to recall it took 620 film. Then got Kodak 126, since the salesperson assured me it took interchangeable lenses (!) - what he meant was supplementary lenses could be attached, provided one didn't mind too much about irrelevant details, such as focus. :mad:

 

First 35mm camera was Nikon F Photomic, 50mm lens, borrowed (without knowledge or permission) from the college I attended (or not) one day a week. Film & processing free from the college, of course.

 

Then Zodel 2MTL, 42mm screw thread lenses, with 35, 50 and 135. B&W only - colour too expensive, said my then wife. Fire did not treat it or the negatives kindly.

 

Tony

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

1949. A beautiful rosewood and mahogany "Liberated" Gaundet & Gie(sp?) 9x12 with the lens missing. (I'm sure that it had a 135mm Zeiss which was why it was discarded.)

Eventually I got a like-new 15cm Steinheil Unifokal in Compur Press shutter (I've never seen another listed). 3.25x4.25 Filmpacks were available which fit perfectly. A roll-film back and chrome flash for Press 40 bulbs eventually completed the package, along with a really miserable aluminum tripod.

In 1953 traded for a Tower 35 (Nicca) with 50mm Nikkor, which was in the repair shop more than being used. I made one great photograph, which is still in my portfolio, I followed Mod and PopPhotography, and thought I was a great Kodachrome photographer. Boy was I wrong! My next "great" image didn't come for over 10 years.

Eventually traded for a brand-new Leica IIIf RD/ST and kept the Nikkor lens. The Leica was stolen 10 years later, but I've got and occasionally use its replacement almost 70 years later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In (more or less) order: the beautiful old bakelite "Baby Brownie"; then upgraded to the "Box Brownie Flash II".

The first SLR was the Mamiya 500TL, then Icarex 35 (where I learned to use a hand held meter).

From there came various Pentax SLRs, Nikon EM, Canon New F1, Nikon F, F2, F3, etc.

Now the Leica rangefinders up to the M6 are in use, though I'm tempted to go back to the Nikon F or F2,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The first camera that I owned was my trusty Kodak X-15 Instamatic camera, from which I still have some wonderful prints. The camera that I started to get really 'serious' with was an Olympus InfinityZoom 230 that I took everywhere. The first SLR that I had was a Pentax ME Super, but the camera that got me completely hooked into photography was the Canon EOS A2, a really incredible camera at the time.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I can't believe I haven't chimed in on this. First was a Kodak X-15. It used Magicubes instead of battery powered flash cubes. Next was a Minolta Hi-Matic 5, then a Mamiya 528 TL. I graduated to an F2 my senior year in high school, MD-2 included. It was absurdly expensive for a 17-year old but ever since I've kept a motor drive or battery grip on every 35mm or dslr I have.

 

Rick H.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...