What was your FIRST 35mm camera?

Ok I'll but on my FLAK jacket on and ask maybe a non LEICA question....<BR><BR>I didnt always have a Leica..Back when I mowed lawns for 12 bits; and gas was 17 cents; I used an <a href="http://www.geocities.com/vienna/7008/brochure/a2.html"><b>Argus A2 </b></a> camera.. My A2B sported a 50mm F4.5 Anastigmat; and had weird stops of 6.3 , 9 , 12.7 , 18 ..The shutter had T, B, 150, 100, 50, 25...The link shows the "newer" A2 that has the whopping 1/200 sec shutter that we all wished we had waited for.....The "meter" was an extinction meter...No software, upgrades or batteries; one just looked thru the various of SIX windows and found the last one just visible..Then the calculator on the top was aligned to the window..then the shutter and stops could be read.............Focusing was either in two positions either infinity to 12? feet at one bayonet position; and the other the closeup bayonet position like 12 feet? and closer!...The exposure counter read exposures taken; my friends Kodak Retina IIIc read exposures left...<BR><BR>After being weaned on Sam Browns Optics, Astronomy; & Photography books a la Edmund; I built a telephoto attachment for the Argus A2.....The first Objextive was a single element (colorfull!) lens; later on I invested in an Archromat from Edmund Salvage (now edmund ) ...This was the second Afocal rig ofor the A2B; the first was with my Kodak Vigilant 620..One would focus the homemade telescope in front; and set the camera to infinity.....I would hone this process by stealing mom's wax paper (ground glass); and get the infinity focus spot on at the film plane...<IMG SRC="http://www.ezshots.com/members/tripods/images/tripods-191.jpg"><IMG SRC="http://www.ezshots.com/members/tripods/images/tripods-190.jpg">

I believe the rubber bands are not from Wetzlar..Kellyt<img

src="http://www.ezshots.com/members/tripods/images/tripods-189.jpg">

What a beautiful retro camera! They could market it as a ... but

shush!

My first 35, bought when I was 12, was an Olympus 35RC. Still an

excellent rangefinder camera and perhaps the reason I still like this

breed. Didn't have anything quite as fantastic as your telephoto, but

did use huge old lenses from a dismantled epidiascope (kind of a

"magic lantern" that projected pictures from books) as a close-up

lens. Focus by guesstimation.

 

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Your old f-stops used to be standard. My pre-WW2 Summar has them, or

close: 2 2,2 3,2 4,5 6,3 9 12,5 18. (The Germans use commas instead of

decimal points and vice-versa.)

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<P>My first camera was the <A

HREF="http://www.butkus.org/chinon/ricoh_500-g/ricoh_500-g.htm">Ricoh

500G</A>. I got it from my parents when when I was 13 years old. I

really wanted an SLR, but it was too expensive for them.<BR>

I used it for 5 years until I bought a Nikon FE (at that time I

really wanted a Leica but it was too expensive for me!). It should

almost take another 20 year before I could justify getting a used

Leica M4 w. a 50mm. I think my experiences with the Ricoh made the

transition from SLR back to rangefinder very smooth.</P>

 

<P>BTW. My parents still use the 500G.</P>

David; Naybe you were one of the North Islanders who almost saw me

and my girlfriend fall off this 100m? cliff! <BR><BR><IMG

SRC="http://www.ezshots.com/members/tripods/images/tripods-192.jpg">

An Argus/Cosina dont remember the model, but it was the one that had

(wow!) 1/1000 sec top speed as opposed to 1/500. M49 screw thread

lens, stopped down metering. Those were the days......

pentax super a with 501.7 lens. I always regret selling it

(although It's worth a whole lot less now) - it was a good little

camera.

My first 35mm was a Nikon FG that I got for Christmas. I later

accidentally gave the camera to Goodwill after somebody saw the

camera sitting in the rear window of my car and said that I should

hide it. I stuck it in the box of Goodwill stuff and promptly forgot

about it. When I remembered and drove the 80 miles back to get the

camera back from the drop box the whole box was gone. I made

somebodies night.

My first camera was given to me in high school and was a Yashica Lynx

5000. The first camera I saved up and bought (please don't shoot me)

was a Zenit E. It actually took some good photos, or at least it

seemed so to me, but alas didn't survive a fall from a 3rd floor

balconey.

My first was a Kodak Signit 35 which I traded for a used Contax IIa.

Both were fine cameras (and the Contax was a REAL Zeiss camera). I

actually looked down my nose at Leicas when I owned the IIa. Too bad

Zeiss stopped making cameras.

My first camera (41 years ago when I was 14) was my

grandfathers Leica II (a converted Leica I). I still have it though

the shutter curtains have parished.

My 1st good camera was a 35mm Zeiss-Ikon Contina II. My uncle loaned

it to me when I was 16. 45mm 3.5 Novar lens, scale-focus, an

uncoupled selenium meter, and a beautiful mechanical feel. When at 18

I bought a Canon TL-QL, I gave the Zeiss back, my uncle still has it.

Voightlaender Vito IIB, bought used for $30 in 1954. 50mm (I think)

f3.5 Color-Skopar lens. No rangefinder. My Dad had a bunch of

bulk-loaded film, probably SuperXX, so I shot a lot of film, but did

not learn to process it myself at that time. I sold it in college and

did not get back into photography for 15 years.

My first good 35mm camera was a Zeiss Contessa, a folder, with a

45mm Tessar lens. I really learned to like that focal length. The

camera's meter was inoperable so I had to become fairly good at

estimating the exposures.

I bought a Kodak Retinette 1A while stationed at Lincoln AFB in 1964.

I later traded for a Konica 35 rfdr. When I shipped out across the

pond, I bought a Pentax H1a.

John

Exakta Varex (1971), followed by a Pentax MX

(1977).

My first camera was Kodak Baby Browie

My first 35mm camera was Leica IIIf

My last 35mm camera is Argus Automatic picked up a flea market of

Cdn$2.

My first 35mm (after borrowing a friend's K1000 in college) was a

Perfex Speed Candid that I bought at a swap meet for ten bucks. I

still have it, although the lens is hazed over and the rangefinder is

broken. Heavy, slow, no strap lugs, uncoupled rangefinder, extinction

meter--of course I loved it.

 

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It looks quite a bit like your Argus, Kelly.

First 35mm camera of my own? A Mamiya Sekor 500 TL, bought as a kit

with a 50mm Mamiya lens, a 135 Vivitar, and in an aluminum case. I

still have it, and it still works, although the foam baffling is long

gone. Before that, I used my father's Rolleiflex, and then the

Nikomat he sold the Rollei to get. That still works just fine, too.

My first ever camera was a Brownie Starmite. Also appears to be

functional, although it hasn't had film since maybe 1966. But it

introduced me to photography, and black & white developing and

printing.

My first camera was a Japanese Yamato Pal 35mm which I bought in 1959

as a 14 year old. It cost about £13 which was a fortune for a

schoolkid in those days. It was a 35mm rangefinder, manual

focussing and with speeds up to 250th (I seem to think). It was

quite small, about the size (and look) of a Leica 11. It also had a

telephoto attachment which was a lens that screwed into the front of

the prime lens (non-detachable). There was a suplementary

viewfinder. I remember being absolutely thrilled with it as a kid

and I got some decent results with it.

 

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Does anyone out there remember or has seen this make of camera before?

The young salesman (Ezra Watson)who sold me the Yamato later went on

to build up a successful local business called Cleveland Camera Mart

here in Middlesbrough. They do really superb colour printing.

Regards,

GY

My first 35mm camera was given to me by my girlfriend! It was her

father's 1968 Nikon Nikomat FTn, complete with 50mm, 135mm & 24mm

lenses, all in their groovy little leather cases. He was proud of the

fact that it was an imported "Nikomat" rather than the more common

Nikkormat sold here in the USA at that time.

 

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I loved that camera! Still do actually. Works great, even after all

these years. Heavy compared to my M6 though, but it takes great

pictures. :^)

 

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www.stevehoffman.tv

My first 35mm camera was my girlfriend's (later my wife, later yet my

ex-wife) Pentax Spotmatic w/50mm standard lens back at college in the

early 70s. Loved that camera, I think it's the reason I got a Leica M6

(and won't get an M7, which is nothing like the Spotmatic).

 

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After I split up with my wife, I got an ME Super along with the woman

I was seeing at the time. That camera also disappeared when I split up

with her. I decided that Pentax was unlucky for me.

 

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Joe

My first camera was one that I purchased for my wife as an Xmas

gift. She had been a photog in college and I wanted to rekindle

those flames in her. Unfortunately, I became the picture taker for

the family and now I've got the Leica disease. Boy is she lamenting

not picking up that Nikon 6006N with 35-105. Still a great camera

and my SLR.

Kodak Pony 135.

First camera of my own - Polaroid Swinger

 

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First 35mm of my own - Canon FX (predecessor to the FT but with

external metering.)