NikonGear'23
Gear Talk => Camera Talk => Topic started by: rosko on January 08, 2016, 12:40:53
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I think for most of us, our first camera is hardly forgettable, like...your first flirt/lover ! ;D
Well, photography is for me, a passion. I could hardly live without camera, hence these memories.
I was 12 years old. My godmother gave me, as communion's present, a camera.
It was a plastiky one, very , very basic one. But I used it a lot, bringing it everywhere.
You can see in pictures, that even the iris was basic : no adjustable blades, but just a lever with two holes with different diameters, so two stops only !
The frame was 6x9cm. two speeds only according luminosity. No focal length mentioned.
I had to pull the front prior shooting.
If you have image of your first camera, please, show us.
Here are pics of mine as I still have it. ;)
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My first was an "Agfa Box" in the early 1970ies when I was 6 or 7, Plastic in a Brown leather screw on skin, ate 6cm wide film rolls, 12 exp per film as 6x6 qcm if I remember correctly.
BW-results were OK, COLOR-results were very questionable
No love at all.
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The first camera I really loved and used a lot was a Zenit 11 (for my 17th birthday ~150 German Marks) with builtin Selen meter and a 2.0/58 screw in exchangable lens. But that was my second cam...
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Probably used my father's camera when I was young, the Voigtlander Vitoret, which was also my first camera. Later I bought an Olympus OM2-n.
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My first was an "Agfa Box" in the early 1970ies exchangable lens.
Your cam was very popular at this time. I think it was ''killed'' when the instamatic Kodak appeared.
The ultra Fex is from late fifties/early sixties (when I got it).
When I was older, i dreamed about the Foca (with exchangeable lenses), but I couldn't afford it at this time. So, I bought a Kodak compact (24x36mm) which was very good.
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Later I bought an Olympus OM2-n.
The first I bought myself from self earned money was an Olympus OM-1n very cool cameras these Olys at that time!
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Yes, Indeed :D In those days
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My first camera was a Contax II rangefinder. A WW II bounty given me by my father in the early '60s.
Then became a poor student later to win the National lottery and thus able to purchase a full Nikon F outfit (lenses, motor drives, etc.).
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My first camera was my mothers. It was a Kodak box camera producing eight 6cm x 9cm images from a roll of 620 film. It had a built in filter for B&W and two metal hole type apertures and contacts for a flash. My sister still has the camera.
The second was a Paxette IIL, with a leaf shutter (B and 1 sec to 1/500sec), and three lenses: a 35mm Staeble Lineogon (with the same optics as the 35mm Novoflexar of UV fame), a Staeble Katagon 50mm f/2.8, and a Staeble Telexon 135mm f/4.5.
The third was the Nikkormat FTn with the 50mm Nikkor SC multicoated f/1.4 lens. I still have my second and third cameras and their lenses. The 50mm Nikkor I still in fact use. It has had a CPU chip from Bjørn installed and is as smooth to operate as when I first acquired it new in 1974. I added a black FT3 Nikkormat a few years later - a lovely machine.
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My first camera was Olympus Pen EE-2. I believe it is lying around somewhere. My first SLR was Canon AE-1 Program that I bought while I was living in Munich. I sold it after a couple of month to replace with Nikon FM2.
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My first camera was (Akira) Canon AE-1 Program that I still have and that I inherited from my father.
The first camera that I bought was the Nikon D70.
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A Nikon F80...
All the previous ones were from my father's collection.
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My first camera was (Akira) Canon AE-1 Program that I still have and that I inherited from my father.
The first camera that I bought was the Nikon D70.
AE-1P was an epoch-making camera to incorporate the program automatic for the first time, and was more affordable than A-1. I added a motor winder and I remember the combo sounded quite squeaky. :D
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A 6x6 cm medium format plastic camera in my childhood, Agfa "Click I", or was it "Click III"? Fixed focus, cannot recall that it had any adjustment for shutter speed and aperture settings. Several of my siblings got the same. The only medium format slides I ever captured was with this camera model.
(Image by Sujit kumar, Creative Commons licence)
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The first cameras I used was my mother's Kodak Retinette II and my father's Contax II. My first camera was a Rolleiflex K4B that my father bought newly serviced for me when I turned 8 in December 1977. My first SLR was a Pentax Spotmatic SP500 around 1980. The Pentax was replaced with a Minolta SR-7, that was replaced with a Canon A-1 and then I finally landed in the Nikon camp in 1991 with an FE and 24/2.8, 50/1.8 and 105/2.5 lenses.
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my first cam i remember was one with the film in plastic cassette, which you put into the camera, might have been Kodak
my first DSLR was a Yashica Elektro
my first Digicam was a Nikon 950 or 990
my first digital DSLR was a Nikon D200 (still alive like new)
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A Brownie of course ;) . I thought it was 1951 but could have been 1952 ( heck, that was a long time ago :) ) small black Bakelite . Not the Hawkeye but similar to the Bullet.
It was still at my mother's house when I returned from Vietnam in 1972 but probably was sold during her move to Houston in 1989. By 1972 I had been carrying a Nikkormat in Vietnam for four years so no interest in the Brownie.
My brother still has my first photo of our sister ( not level of course) but when I went to visit him in Mexico he seems to have lost it , likely story :( .
Sorry , no photo :(
Tom
Found it! The Baby Brownie ;D
http://schneidan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120429-baby-brownie-special-open.jpg
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My first camera was a Nikkormat FTN (the first I owned, the first I used was a Nikon F)
Its still in my possession
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What I used first was my dad's Minolta with a 50ish lens, looking at images on the web it most have been an SRT7, which includes a light meter
My first purchased camera was a Pentax "super program" with a 50mm f1.7, I used it since 1984 until 1999
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What I used first was my dad's Minolta with a 50ish lens, looking at images on the web it most have been an SRT7, which includes a light meter
Probably the SRT101 which was very popular. The Rokkor 58mm f/1.4 was excellent (all versions).
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Or a SR-7 that had a coupled built-in meter even if it wasn't TTL.
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Bilora "Bellina", 4x4 cm film, a tiny retractable lens (probably tessar), all standard controls (speed, aperture...) and even the possibility to fire a magnesium flashbulb. That was in 1964.
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Praktina. 58mm f/2 Auto-Biotar.
Actually, shot a few with a Welta Weltini until it broke.
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The original, Hong Hong-made Diana camera, c. 1965.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_(camera) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_(camera))
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No photo of the first camera (the Contax), but at least there is one of the early wives with the Nikon F. At that time I had "upgraded" to F2 so she got the original F plus a new 43-86 Zoom-Nikkor I purchased for her. She loved it.
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nice tape engine as well ;-)
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Revox tape recorder, Linn Sondek LP12 turntable, and the original Quad speakers. Later added Quad Valve amps. Those were the days.
Later, the items start to disappear by theft (Revox), being replaced, or damaged by lighting (Quad speakers + the valve amps). Eventually wife died as well. However, the Nikon F still remains.
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nice tape engine as well ;-)
Yes, that's more envious than the camera maybe...
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A Brownie of course ;) . I thought it was 1951 but could have been 1952 ( heck, that was a long time ago :) ) sm
Found it! The Baby Brownie ;D
http://schneidan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/20120429-baby-brownie-special-open.jpg
looks exactly like the Agfa Box!!!
I had to peel the leather from her, then separate. These two parts.
Brings back memories!!!
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"Brings back memories!!!"
The entire thread is about going down Memory Lane ....
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No photo of the first camera (the Contax), but at least there is one of the early wives with the Nikon F. At that time I had "upgraded" to F2 so she got the original F plus a new 43-86 Zoom-Nikkor I purchased for her. She loved it.
The girl looks lovely!!!
Harddrives and wifes are no good match to Bjørn Rørslett. Cameras and lenses seem to stick to him!!!!
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https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxkamera#/media/File:Bilora_Boy_BW.JPG
i asked my father. Not Agfa Box. Bilora Boy. But this ist 43 years ago!
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It wasn't my camera, but it was the first I had access to and used. It was my dads' Nikon FM2 paired with a 35/2 and a 50 of some sort.
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My first camera was a Kodak Baby Brownie 127 box camera, four box tops and 50 cents. It was followed by a couple more Kodak 127 roll cameras and then a Kodak Instamatic 100. A major frustration with all of these cameras their fixed focus. I wanted a camera that focused close.
In 1970 I bought my first "real" camera, a Nikkormat FTn with a 55/3.5 Micro Nikkor-P. About a year latter I bought a used Nikon FT with a 50/1.4 Nikkor-S and a 135/2.8 Nikkor-Q. After some trading I ended up with a Nikon F (standard prism), 55/3.5 Micro Nikkor-P, 105/2.5 Nikkor-P and a Gosson Pilot. I did most of my early learning with the Nikon F adding a 24/2.8 Nikkor and a Gosson Luna Pro. In 1973 I built my first permanent darkroom.
Dave
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Or a SR-7 that had a coupled built-in meter even if it wasn't TTL.
Thank you, yes an SR-7 looks exactly how I remember the camera, with the meter window on the left of the body, the meter dial indicated what aperture should be used for the selected speed and ASA.
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My first real camera as an FE in 1979, with a 50mm f1.4 AI. Bought a 135mm f3.5 AI soon afterwards. I thought I was 'The Man' with that camera!
I loved that camera.
I still have the FE and the 135. Gave the 50mm to my brother a long time ago.
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Digression: It would be fun to have every camera I've ever owned, but it would be even more fun to have every bicycle I've ever owned.
Please now return to first cameras...
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First camera was a Leica hand me down from parents.
First purchased camera from Sunday's savings was a Kodak Instamatic 126
First cheap camera was a Petri
First fun camera was a Minox
First clever camera was Canon A1
First serious camera Nikon F
First useless camera Alpa
First Digital camera Sony 5meg
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Zenith E with the meter on the front of the prism, preset aperture.
What I regard as my first "proper" camera was a Canon FTb - I still have it.
John
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First serious camera Nikon F1
First Digital camera Sony 5meg
guess you mean the Nikon F not the Canon F1? ;-)
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guess you mean the Nikon F not the Canon F1? ;-)
Yes. Thank you. Now corrected.
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This thread reminds me how young I am! My first camera I was actually interested in was a Panasonic DMC-FZ20. It was the first time I had seen a large front element and was mesmerized by it! First real camera for me was a D70 with the 18-70mm kit lens. Soon after I got a 50mm f/1.8 and out went the zoom. I feel I did not discover photography until I got that 50mm. The speed opened a lot of doors, but the fixed focal length was key for me. Suddenly having to move to get the right framing forced me to physically interact with the process. That opened a whole new world up.
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This thread reminds me how young I am!
Tristin, you make us feel that's ''the baby boomer's thread''... ;D
By the way, the D70 was my first digital camera. ;)
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In about 1970 - a Yashica GT Electro 35.
Fixed 35mm f1.7 with attachable wide and telephoto lenses. It was marketed as a low light camera.
Mongo still has the whole kit in mint condition.
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- First cam ever: a snapshot camera around 1980, fixed focus with 3 (!) settings: sun, cloudy, and flash (probably a Ricoh).
- First slr: leaf shutter Kodak Retinareflex III (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodak_Retina_Reflex) with 50 mmm lense around 1988, two years later also the accompanying 28 mm and 135 mm lenses, filters and bag (my grandpa's old camera set) - by then quite envious of "modern" slrs with zoom lenses, but the lenses by Schneider Kreuznach are really good. Dropped once around 1988 (prism damage) and nevertheless repaired without objections by Kodak Stuttgart
- First Nikon: F301 (handed over by my dad after purchasing the F801) with 50 mm 1.8D, 28-70 mm, and Tamron 70-300 mm.
- First digital cam: Casio QV-3500EX (http://snapsort.com/cameras/Casio/QV-3500EX) in 2001 - finally digital but impossibly slow! Healed me from digicam GAS for quite some time!
- First dslr: D700 in 2011, reawakening of my interest in photography with the first "affordable" 35 mm dslr.
This thread reminds me how young I am!
Looking at my "firsts" list above I am actually starting to feel old! :p
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Technically, my first working camera:
Imperial™ Twin lens reflex (620) - Christmas gift. Shot a roll, or two, with limited success owing to the fact I kept forgetting to advance the film to the next unexposed frame. Used thereafter, if not mostly as a toy then as a talisman to the gods of light and composition. (Loved those huge, blue flashbulbs! Hours of fun!)
Second, but first to be put to any real practical use:
Polaroid Swinger™ - A gift in deference for performing my holy duty, and thus attaining my heart's desire. The camera that truly earned me the accolade "photographer", however sorely overrated I was and continue to be. I still have several images taken with it in my archives. Mostly of sentimental value now, but a few are quite good -- even historic!
First "Nikon anything" (not my first 35mm or SLR):
* Nikkormat Ft-N™ - chrome body, used (six months old); $109 . Lenses: Vemar™ 28mm and 200mm; $35 [?] the pair, used. (Lenses purchased from a really famous, photography teacher -- every year, at least one of his students placed nationally in a Kodak™ sponsored contest -- who had recently acquired them from a colleague that just returned from South Africa. May well have been Mars, back in those days. Prompted me to wonder, Where the hell is South Africa? No! Don't tell me! I'll figure it out for myself.)
[*addendum: My first "Nikon anything" as it were, was in fact a Nikkormat™ Ft-N -- not a "Nikon" as previously stated and subsequently corrected as of this writing. (It was late and I was exhausted, so sue me!) After a scant two years use, if even that long, it was willfully destroyed, and beyond any hope for economical repair, and was soon replaced by my first (used) Nikon F, purchased without a finder, then shortly after equipped with a *new-ish/unused standard, eye level, "penta prism" finder. (*At that time, it was not uncommon in some certain New York City neighborhoods for buyers to leave those "meterless" [sic] finders with the dealer when instead opting for the Ft-N meter-finder on a new purchase. What the buyer was never told was, that they owned both finders at point-of-sale and that they just effectively gave one away. Good news for young hippies, like me!) Both were acquired from separate vendors, for what even in those days were "a song", or about a week and a half's minimum wages. I merely felt compelled to add all this upon reviewing this thread, and discovering the Nikkormat Ft-N to Nikon F genesis was not unique to my situation, or perhaps circumstances a well. Besides, I've way too much time on my hands today.]
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- First camera I used: Dad’s Pentax (not sure what model) on a family trip to Europe in 1979.
- First camera given to me: Cosina? manual SLR with Pentax K mount, and a 28-70 zoom. Used occasionally, usually on holidays until it was stolen.
- First camera I bought: Hanimex? After a couple of years without a camera decided to get an SLR with the features I wanted: aperture priority and DOF preview. Cameras like Nikon F70 were current then, didn’t like the plastic interface so bought a used manual camera which had what I wanted and the familiar Pentax mount (didn’t know about Nikon etc then)
- First Nikon camera: FE. Saw a shiny mint FE in the shop window I was hooked. Beautifully made, nice touches like interlocks to prevent accidental changes to settings. Much nicer than the Hanimex which I quickly sold. This is the camera which really started it all for me. Later upgraded to a couple of FE2 cameras. Started buying Nikkor lenses (and never stopped…)
- First camera I bought new: FM3a: very similar to my original FE and FE2 cameras but with some nice refinements.
- First AF camera: Nikon F601. A decent camera, would have been better with DOF preview. Used for some paid jobs where AF was useful, but I mostly used my FE2 cameras.
- First DSLR: D600. Shooting digital is very convenient, the ability to get good quality well above ISO 100 is amazing, and the grip is more comfortable than the FM3a. I still prefer the size and interface of my FM3a though...
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Ok, so by the same logics :
- First camera given to me and used : Bilora Bellina, 1964
- First SLR camera used : my father's Contaflex, around 1965
- First Nikon used : my brother's Nikkormat, around 1979
- First AF camera used : daddy's Canon ... with 40/2 lens, 1986
- First camera I bought (new) : Canon T70+50/1.8 (SLR, manual focus), 1987
- First compact and AF camera I bought: Yashica T4, early nineties
- First digital camera I used : daddy's Nikon 4100
- First digital camera I bought : Nikon 3100
- First DSLR I bought : Nikon D700, 2009
- First mirrorless : Olympus OM-D E-M5, 2011 methinks
- Last (so far) : Nikon Df, 2014
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:o I must apologize for being somewhat remiss regarding my own gear:usage tabulation. Apparently I didn't consider all parameters for first deployment of a camera, its system and/or ancillary media. To wit, I'm diligently researching the matter by assembling an ad hoc committee of current and former colleagues, familiar relations (those who will still take my calls), friends (I use the term loosely) and anyone else who may have witnessed, heard, or had a referential understanding, that I ever handled a camera. It is my hope then that in fairly short order, I should have, at the very least, a cursory list available, to the inclusion thereof:
1.) My FIRST camera deployed as a weapon
2.) My FIRST camera used as a boat anchor
3.) My FIRST camera surrendered to the court in a divorce settlement
4.) My FIRST etc etc etc
Oh, and yes, as much as I wanted to keep such thoroughly disgusting and reprobate notions under the heavy rock or sewer they belong, I will even endeavor to recall, however difficult it may be (I was young at the time and experimenting with "substances") when I tried my first Black camera. And just for the record: Some of my best cameras were, and are, Black. And not that it's anyone's business, but I've been in a happy and committed relationship with a Black DSLR for several years now. And she is hardly "my first" DSLR, and not a mere fetish either! :-* You should only know the hell I endured decades back, when I broke off my high school engagement with my sturdy, silver, German SLR only to break my mother's heart by coming home with "that used Japanese thing".
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My first camera ever that I got as a birthday present was a Chinon 35EE Rangefinder
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4092/4964143979_1451820c82_z.jpg)
My first SLR I took over from my father was a Nikkormat FTn
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4154/4964144297_a2765e03e4_z.jpg)
My first digital camera was a Panasonic FZ20.
My first DSLR was an Olympus E500
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2085/2054283791_50cd719e12_o.jpg)
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My first cameras:
- Agfamatic 100 sensor - 126 film compact camera
- Minox 35ML - 35mm film compact with excellent 35mm Minotar lens
- Nikon FM2 - first SLR and MF lenses
- Nikon F50 - first SLR and AF lenses
- Nikon D50 - first DSLR
It is interesting to remember the amount of cameras one's gone through in 4 decades...
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Hmmmm. The first camera I used was a Rolleiflex TLR. It belonged to my father. I used it to shoot photos of him for one of his books (I was 13 -- 1965). I used his Pentax (actually "Asahi") Spotmatic, Mamiya C330, and others. The first camera I purchased was a Rolleicord TLR I found in a pawn shop for $100. My first SLR was a Nikon FTn with a 24mm, 55mm Micro Nikkor, and 135mm Nikkor, purchased new in 1971 or '72. I went astray, buying systems from a lot of camera makers. Came back to Nikon with the N8008 and stayed there.