What was your first real camera?

[howardstanbury]

<p>Ensign Selfix 420.<br>

My first SLR was a Cosina CS-1, I think. Of the major brands (if Cosina is discounted), then it was a Pentax ME Super.</p>

[ken_jeanette1]

<p>My first real camera was a Miranda RE-II with 50/1.4. Wonderful camera that was. I immediately began amassing all the little bits that made Miranda so fascinating to me. Waist level finder, slide copier, lenses, anything I could get my hands on. I was in heaven. I really don't recall when I sold it, or to whom. I miss it. Recently I purchased a DX-3 with 50/1.4, just to feel Miranda again. Still a very pleasant camera in the hand.</p>

[tri-x1]

<p>Ansco Super Memar RF My mom bought in "on time" back in the late 1950s. I think it was about $125. That was A LOT of money back then. I still have it.</p>

[clay2]

<p>Hi Howard,<br>

Mine was an Ensign Greyhound 120 roll film camera. Negatives were large enough for<br>

contact prints.<br>

Best regards,<br>

/Clay</p>

[va3uxb]

<p>My dad's Fujica SE35 rangefinder was my first first real camera. It was 10 years older than me and was over 20 years old when he gave it to me. The first real camera that I got new was a Minolta X-370 SLR. </p>

[brucecahn]

<p>c1966 Bronica with Nikkor lens, bought new. Excellent results.</p>

[chuck_foreman1]

Mine was a used Yashica FX-2 That I paid in three different installments. The guy at the photo shop was about my age, and saw a chance to make a sale. I said I liked it but couldn't afford it (75,00 1980 dollars) he asked if I could put 25 down and I replied I probably could. I then paid in two more 25,00$

payments over maybe two months. It had a fine ML 1.7 50mm. It was stolen from my car about 6 years

later. The lens had been beat-up real bad and there were a pair scratches on the bottom. I think I repaired the meter once after a fall. By the time it was stolen I had already secured a 2nd. Still I scoured the hock shops in DC looking for that camera in the months following the theft. It had been most everywhere across the US and and to Europe, Canada and Mexico. It's heavy and cumbersome, but it's the most deliberate solid feeling camera I've used. There's a perfect amount of "expected" resistance when cocking the shutter. Turning the shutter speed top right is a mix of rubbery resistance with a definitive clockwork "tick" as it settles on the setting and the film speed is achieved by lifting the outer shutter speed ring and turning a gentle rheostat- pottie with a solid spring return down. With match needle metering and on-off on the left ring top it's really a very straightforward camera to use. I once read someone describing an Minolta SRT.. it fits this camera too.. "You can drive nails with this"

[chris_autio]

<p>Yashika TLR with 127 film</p>

[richard_beisigl]

<p>My first real 35mm camera was a Pentax, I do not remember the model, but it did not have a meter, and used screwmount to attach the lenses.</p>

[martin_dake]

<p>The first camera that I could actually call my own was a Halina Paulete Electric. I'm not sure if that qualifies as a real camera, but Barry Thornton started with one of those too.<br>

So, just in case my next camera was an Exakta Varex and that was a real camera.</p>

<p>In retrospect I wish my photography had progressed a fraction of Barry's.</p>

[starvy]

<p>olympus om40 but then again i bought it thirdhand and took up photography seriously in 2006.</p>

[john_shriver]

<p>Mom's Aires Viscount. That was eventually supplanted by a used Topcon Super D bought at Olden Camera. (Let's shed a tear or two for Olden.)</p>

[mwmcbroom]

<p>As was the case with millions of other people, my first 35mm camera was a Canon AE-1. About six months later, I bought an A-1, thinking that all the brilliant technology it offered was the way to go. Not long after that though, I had learned enough about photography to realize that an A-series Canon wasn't what I needed.</p>

<p>Enter the Canon FTb, my first <em>real</em> camera -- the one that actually enabled me to learn the elements of photography. IMHO, Canon's second best ever manual exposure camera. Canon's best was the original F-1. I picked up one of these about a year after buying the FTb, and fell in love. Don't have the FTb anymore, but I still own, and use, an old F-1.</p>

<p>Some New F-1 users may argue about which is better, and I can understand why -- the New F-1 is a great camera. But it is not entirely mechanical and does not have mirror lock up, which I found to be indispensable.</p>

 

[leicaglow]

<p>My first camera was a 126 Kodak Instamatic. Got me hooked.<br>

Then my dad loaned me his Zeiss Ikon Contessa 35mm rangefinder. I love that camera. Great results and I still use it to this day.<br>

First SLR (thought I was so cool) was a new Mamiya Sekor 1000 DTL. What a waste of film that was.<br>

Fell in love with my Canon EF. Saved forever to get it.<br>

First MF around the same time was a YashicaMat 124G. I shot with it for 2 years and finally wore it out.<br>

Got a gig with the distributor of Hasselblads in the US at the time, and bought my first Hasselblad... knew the Leica rep and he sold me on a M4-2, winder and f/1 Noctilux. Things get really crazy from there out.</p>

[railphotog]

<p>My first camera was a used rangefinder of unknown parentage. I wanted something better than my fathers' old cheap twin lens camera that I used at the local drag race track. I used the Sunny f16 instruction sheet included in film those days. Realising the limitations of a rangefinder, I bought a new Practika SLR, don't recall the model number but it did not have a meter. I used a hand held selenium meter. That got tired pretty quick, and I looked for a camera with a built in meter. My first choice was a Pentax Spotmatic, but I had enough problems with the slow changing screw mount lenses on the Practika and I chose a Canon Pellix. Loved the breech lock lens mount! I think of it as my first "real" camera. That was around 1966 and I'm still using Canon cameras.</p>

<p>My first digital camera was a 1.3MP Hewlett Packard 215, fixed lens. Cost me around $325.00! Geese, my cell phone has a 1.3MP camera these days!</p>

<p> </p>

[Andy Collins]

<p>I always thought of my Canon EOS A2 as being my first real camera after graduating from my Kodak X-15 Instamatic and then my Olympus InfinityZoom 230 p&s camera. But in retrospect I guess my first real camera was actually a Pentax ME-Super that a close friend gave me to use until I got the camera that I really liked. That was back in 1989, and it's the same ME-Super that I have and use now. I didn't really do much in photography from the late 70s (Instamatic days) until the late 80s. I didn't use the Pentax at all after I got my A2 in '94 because it was such a 'has been' kind of camera in my eyes at the time, but I rediscovered it a couple of years ago and realized just how great a little camera it really is.</p>

[marvin_mcabee]

<p>My first 35mm camera was a Kodak Retinette II and it was a good camera for the time. My first 35mm SLR was a Minolta SRT-101 and I later added a black body SRT-101. The good old days!</p>

 

[steve_levine]

<p>The Petri FT. I was 16 in 1970 ,and I paid $129 for the camera and a 50/F1.8. The camera still works, but likely needs a CLA. The Petri FT was not a strongly built machine. But stopped down a few stops, it produced beautiful B&W negatives for years.<br>

In 1972 I upgraded to a black N'kmat FTN with the 50/F2. This and Kodachrome 64, produced (astoundingly) gorgeous results!</p>

[silverscape]

I'm sorry I'm joining this discussion so late! It's amazing how many replies there have been, in only one day!

 

 

I used a lot of simple point and shoot cameras when I was a kid, in the 80's and 90's. Mostly 110 and simple 35mm cameras. When I was really little, I had a 126 camera, but I don't remember much about it. I just know that it was a simple camera, and I remember what the cartridges looked like. I've always had a fascination with cameras. I was amazed with the idea that I could freeze a moment of time and capture it forever. I started taking pictures when I was about 8 years old, I think when I was in 2nd grade. That would have been about 1985-1986.

 

 

I would say that I got my first "real" camera in about 2007, when I bought my first Argus C3. I'm sure some of you guys are laughing right now. But really, to me it was the first ever "real" camera that I had. It was the first time I had ever owned an all-metal camera with completely manual exposure and focus. It was NOT a point and shoot camera. To me, this was when I truly began to learn about photography. I've always loved taking pictures, but now I started to learn the art and science about it. The training wheels were taken off and it was time for the real deal.

 

 

Of course, I've progressed a lot in the last couple of years. I learned how to develop my own film and darkroom prints, then I got into using 120 film. Now, I have a huge collection of cameras. I've even started using slide film too.

[charles_stobbs3]

Kodk Vigilant 620 then after a few years a Kodak Monitor 620. Still have both. Then on to a Retina I and Kodachrome, never looked back.

[sw12dz]

<p>Chris,</p>

<p>Better late than never. Always glad to have you aboard. I'm sure this will go on for another day or two. I couldn't sleep last night and started this at 3:35am, Brisbane, Australian time.</p>

[ken_l2]

<p>My first camera was a Kodak "Hawkeye" 110 camera - I think I got it as a premium for opening a bank account.</p>

<p>My first 'real' camera was a Minolta SRT 200 that I bought new in 1978, about a year after I got my first 'real' full-time job after graduating college. It came in a kit that included a 45mm f2 Rokkor X lens, a 135mm Minolta Celtic lens, a cheap Minolta flash and a Minolta camera bag. </p>

<p>I still have both the Hawkeye and the complete SRT200 kit (except for the Celtic lens.) I still occasionally use the SRT 200, and it works as well as it did when new. (Haven't touched the 110 Hawkeye in decades, though...)</p>

<p>In the 1990s, I 'upgraded' from the SRT 200 to a Nikon N70, figuring I'd love the autofocus, the automated exposure, TTL flash, advanced metering, etc. However, I only shot a few rolls of film through the N70, then I found myself using the SRT 200, while the N70 gathered dust. There's just something special about a fully manual, mechanical camera that can't be beat.</p>

<p> </p>

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>Kodak Instamatic 100 was the first.....Praktica FX3 was the first real camera, I was in hog heaven with that thing!</p>

[sw12dz]

<blockquote>

<p>There's just something special about a fully manual, mechanical camera that can't be beat.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>That "something" is the ability to have total control over the picture taking process, and it just gives me greater gratification when the end print turns out exactly the way I pictured it in the VF and my mind.</p>

<p>Auto exposure, auto focus, auto everything is okay for taking "snapshots", having total control allows you to create "images".</p>

[subbarayan_prasanna]

<p>The camera that I used first and learnt [well still learning!] to take pictures was a Fed 2 that my brother loaned me in 1960! After that I bought a used Canon in Detroit that alienated me from photography, altogether. Come 1970 I bought a new Exakta RTL1000 with a meter prism. It was my REAL first. I endorse Geoff Soberin that it is a very fine machine. It was the fore-runner [prototype?] of the Praktica L-series VLCs etc. I still have it and it has never been to a repair shop. sp.</p>