zakslm Posted December 28, 2023 Share Posted December 28, 2023 While walking my dog yesterday, I came across something interesting. I saw a couple that I'm guessing were born this century taking a walk and enjoying the day. The young lady had what appeared to be a Canon AE-1 with breech lock FD 50mm f1.8 lens around her neck. Curiousity got the best of me and I asked if her camera was a Canon AE-1 and if she was shooting black and white or color film? She confirmed that it was an AE-1 and was shooting color negative film but enjoyed shooting black and white as well. I told her that I had an AE-1 at one time (bought it shortly after the camera was introduced) and took thousands of photos with it over the years. She said that she bought her camera at a thrift store and from what I saw, the camera and lens looked like they were in excellent condition. I resisted the temptation to ask more questions, bore them with my AE-1 stories, etc. I thanked them for stopping and talking to me and told them to have fun! As we went separate ways, I saw them stop to and take photos of each other taking photos of each other - he of her with his iPhone and she of him with her AE-1. I lthough it was interesting juxtaposition. It made me smile to run into someone enjoying the same camera that I enjoyed using for so many years and brought back many fond memories. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettendorf Posted December 29, 2023 Share Posted December 29, 2023 22 hours ago, zakslm said: It made me smile to run into someone enjoying the same camera that I enjoyed using for so many years and brought back many fond memories. A nice story Z. I had a somewhat similar encounter in a camera store just a couple weeks ago involving a young woman, an AE-1 Program, and the dropping off of her first ever roll of film for processing. She had that first film camera with her (a pristine black model !) to have the clerk show her how to take the film out. I limited my conversation to saying my first SLR fifty years ago was a Canon FTb, how I still use one, along with an AE-1 Program and others. Like you I didn't want to bore her with info from an OLD Canon buff, so I went on to drop off my film for processing. And I can honestly say that the experience made me smile for the exact same reasons as you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwhitegeog Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 That was an interesting era, which I remember well too. The 'space race' to build the most electronic camera, innovations like shutter priority, digital readout viewfinders and silicon metering cells! I never actually had an AE1 or AE1P. I had a 1975 EF and then when the A-series came out, an AT-1 and then the A-1 which was my dream camera. When I got more serious about photography, I bought a 10 year old (at the time) all mechanical original F1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwhitegeog Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 It's lovely to see that younger people are enjoying these cameras today. I wonder how long E6 film will be around but 35mm B&W and C41 seem safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettendorf Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 1 hour ago, gwhitegeog said: It's lovely to see that younger people are enjoying these cameras today. Indeed it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwhitegeog Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 (edited) Just planning to buy a Canon EX Auto QL from the early 70s. Just for fun, as it doesn't even take FD lessons. G Edited February 9 by gwhitegeog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim_bielecki1 Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 There's a car rally going on this weekend in the very small Northern Michigan town of Atlanta. This afternoon there was "meet the drivers and see their cars" event at a local park. I took along my AL-1 (which I had recently repaired) and a few rolls of B&W film. Four people (all under 30) came up to me and asked me about my camera. One guy was even carrying a Leica M3. Though the masses are all using cellphones as their cameras, it was gratifying to see that some of the younger generation has an interest in film cameras. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwhitegeog Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 My son, who is now 11, didn't know what a non-digital camera was, and had never seen 35mm film, until when he was about 7, when I started taking him on walks with me and I would take a 35mm SLR with me. At first, he couldn't understand why he couldn't see the image immediately when looking at the back of the camera (for example, a 1967 Nikon F!) but now he understands. When I show him slides and negatives in my archives that I took 20, 30 or 40 years ago, literally all over the world, he gets it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 Here's an old post on the successor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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