What was your most significant camera? Why?

my first camera was Halina Autolite 110 film and I would sneak in to gigs when there was no recording equipment allowed at venues
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I borrowed a colleagues Minolta X700 35mm SLR and I was blown away just how good the camera was.
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I liked so much I purchased one on my next pay day.
I still have both these cameras as well as my late father camera a Koroll 24 S Bencini
 
The Zenit 11 - my first camera with interchangeable lenses. From there I didn't stop, Olympus OM10, OM-40, OM-1, OM-4ti, Canon 50e, then a few digital mishmashes until I got to the EOS400d, 40d, 50d, 5d2, 1dx, 1dx2 - who knows where next.
 
My Nikon D90, because it was my first serious camera that got me into photography and because it’s damn near indestructible, so much so I’m still using it now, 11 years later, it wears its battle scars proudly. :)
 
Pentax Zoom 90.

The first camera I had that helped me realise I liked photography rather than just taking pictures.

And I still have it and it works perfectly.
 
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cymruchris said:
The Zenit 11 - my first camera with interchangeable lenses. From there I didn't stop, Olympus OM10, OM-40, OM-1, OM-4ti, Canon 50e, then a few digital mishmashes until I got to the EOS400d, 40d, 50d, 5d2, 1dx, 1dx2 - who knows where next.
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I can relate to some of your cameras.
After I had a few years with my Minolta X700 I purchased the canon 50e and the AF to me was amazing. Sold that and purchased my first DSLR the EOS 400D which I thought was also amazing. For the first time in my life of shoot photos I could look at my pictures and it did not cost me a fortune to do so. I remember coming back from Russia with 5 x 36 rolls of film back in 2005 and it cost me over way over 50 quid. Just to see how bad some of my images were !
The 7D I purchased a a few years after the 400D was like getting a point and shoot camera. Everything I pointed it at it just took an amazing perfect images again I was amazed.
My current cameras are 7Dii and for city breaks a Sony NEX5R mirrorless interchangeable lens camera.
 
Interesting thread, and hard to choose mine!

I guess my Nikon D40 would be a possible choice. Until then it had just been Sony compacts so this was my first 'proper' camera. It opened me up to better IQ and using different lenses, and the start of my photographic journey.

After a foray with a D90 which developed me further there was my D300 which was a beast of a camera and started to use primes more as well as better quality glass (2.8) - the first camera I used for paid work too.

Also the X100 in various forms but mainly the T & F which I would often take out instead of my DSLRs. But then I enjoy film, and while my Leica M3 was great, the M6 was a joy to use but didn't have that for long. Unlike my Rolleicord Va which is still a favourite!

I guess on balance my most SIGNIFICANT was my D700, narrowly beating the D300 partly as it was the time I had my 'best' glass, but a hard choice!
 
First camera I used was a box Brownie in the ‘60’s. Took it on a school trip to London and had one decent photo turn out
Had various compact film camera till I bought a Fed 4 in the 80’s ( inspired by my Dads Leica collection) and finally learnt the basics of taking a photo how I wanted it to look.
I only sold it recently
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I have had so many cameras since 1962/3, but perhaps my 1st SLR which was a Pentax SV. I was mesmerised by the view through the viewfinder especially when I saved and bought a 135mm lens to go with it. Rangefinders- lovely TLR's also nice - I have one today, but that Pentax in 1965 clinched it for me. It was so easy to use and understand the fundamentals of photography. Pentax had an advertising slogan around this time and that was 'Just hold a Pentax'! For me that says it all.
 
I inherited my first camera in 1958 at the tender age of 4 years, my father was killed in a RTA just weeks after my 4th birthday and got his Kodak 620 folding junior.
My mother had to get a job to pay a mortgage and make ends meet and worked at our local corner shop the owners husband was a avid photographer who I spent many hours with after school.
He became my mentor he taught me how to shoot black & white film develop and print over the years. I eventually got my first 35mm camera from him a Kiev 4 rangefinder and over the years shot 1000s of images and my very first transparency film a roll of Kodachrome II a 25 asa film.
Mixed emotions but lots of happy memories have been created for me with photography in my life
 
My first camera was a Pentacon FM, which was a later version of the Contax S, the world's first "modern" SLR. The camera is long gone but some of the images remain...

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My most significant camera was a Yashica electro 35. I was stationed in Herford, Germany in 1960. I’d been interested in photography for a number of years but up until that point only used roll film. An army buddy was posted elsewhere and left me his camera. Though 35mm didn’t match roll film for detail, I liked the convenience of it, up to 36 frames for a kick off. It went down hill from there. 37 vintage cameras of various makes, formats and all in working order. The oldest being a Kodak folder made circa 1928. Plus a fridge full of film.
 
My most significant camera was a 1930s folding Agfa with half the folding viewfinder missing. I bought it in a junk shop when I was 17. The significance was that it taught me that I didn't need to take photographs of things but could use the camera to create pictures- obvious perhaps but a major enlightenment to me.
 
My most significant camera was my first “proper” one - a Canon A1 that I got when I was 16. Not only did it teach me about lots of photographic “stuff” it also taught me a valuable life lesson as it took most of the summer working two holiday jobs to be able to afford it - you appreciate things so much more when you’ve had to put in a decent amount of effort to get them.
 
My most significant camera would have to be my first interchangeable lens camera, the Exakta V bought second hand from our doctor. Along with the VX that I bought new a couple of years later, I acquired an appreciation for the feel and sound of mechanical precision that has influenced every purchase since.
 
It has to be my Pentax MX. I learnt to take photos with it, and to this day I still shoot manually. And, on ocassion I still find my thumb winding on an imaginary crank. :p
 
Krisstiffer said:
My most significant camera was my first “proper” one - a Canon A1 that I got when I was 16. Not only did it teach me about lots of photographic “stuff” it also taught me a valuable life lesson as it took most of the summer working two holiday jobs to be able to afford it - you appreciate things so much more when you’ve had to put in a decent amount of effort to get them.
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I can still remember the freezing cold morning when I went to buy my Canon A1 after saving up for it. See post #18. Do you still have yours?
 
Mr Badger said:
Do you still have yours?
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Yup still got it - though mainly for sentimental reasons now - haven’t used it in ages (got an EOS30 in case the Velvia itch ever needs scratching!!)
 
This, an MTL 5, not a great camera but it was the one I had during the years I spent with my second wife Marilyn, she got ill and died, we had been together for just over four years, so all the images I have of her were taken with this camera, this makes it special to me.

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Even used it with a Tamron 500mm Cat, surprisingly good.
 
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Another Pentax MX user here. Really brilliant camera, fully manual & mechanical. I learnt so much with it, & part if me still wishes I had it.
 
Having had a sequence of cameras over many years ...

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And on into the digital era - but we all know what those look like, don't we?

But each of those cameras has had equal significance! Both connected with the period of my life during which I had it, and also with the images it produced.
 
Mine has to be my Canon EOS 20D, which I bought as a reward for handing in my uni dissertation in 2007. Before that I liked taking photos, but the 20D made me a "photographer". I still have it, although currently without any lenses.
 
For me

Practica MTL50 You never forget your first love
Bronica SQAI Amazing camera but the value dropped like a stone 12 months after getting it (thanks digital)
Canon 20D I had the 10d before but the 20D was a huge step forward in AF especially moving subjects.
Canon 1DX Loved that camera and used it for years.

I currently shoot Sony A9 A7RIV and A7iii but they do not make the list.
 
Craikeybaby said:
Mine has to be my Canon EOS 20D, which I bought as a reward for handing in my uni dissertation in 2007. Before that I liked taking photos, but the 20D made me a "photographer". I still have it, although currently without any lenses.
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I had a Canon 20D for something like 7 years. A 5D replaced it.
 
TVRTim said:
This, an MTL 5, not a great camera but it was the one I had during the years I spent with my second wife Marilyn, she got ill and died, we had been together for just over four years, so all the images I have of her were taken with this camera, this makes it special to me.

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Even used it with a Tamron 500mm Cat, surprisingly good.
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I cannot think of a better reason for loving a camera than yours. Memories are what it's all about.
 
Canon T70 - my first 'serious' camera. After that would be my first digital, after a few years away from photography, a Canon Ixus 500, which reawakened my interest, and then the Canon 50D which was the start of my dslr journey, which I am still travelling today.
 
My first camera was an Olympus Trip 35 very similar in shape to my current X100V - perhaps that's why I love it!
 
This was my first proper camera (after using a Kodak Box Camera & a Kodak 126). Bought it 2nd hand for £60 when I was 21. Lasted a good 30 years and whilst not a all-singing all dancing camera was a pretty reliable one.
 

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woof woof said:
I had a Canon 20D for something like 7 years. A 5D replaced it.
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A 5D was the logical next step, as it was identical handling etc. I had both for a number of years, although rarely used the 20D.
 
I suppose my first "real" camera that led on the photography road was my Olympus Trip.
Before that, I had been using my Dad's Petri 7 but he wanted it back so I bought a 110 film camera which was terrible!!
The quality of the Trip was out of this world by comparison.

Once I grew out of that I got a load of Canon gear from my parents neighbour who was in the Merchant Navy but never used it again when he retired.
There started my love affair with Canon which lasted over 30 years before jumping ship to Sony via Olympus.
Now my love affair is with Sony :D
 
My most significant camera is my newish and very modest Nikon DSLR 3500...it's my first and probably last DSLR.
After 60 years of shooting I hope that each camera I have purchased has been more capable...and therefore more significant than the one before.
For many years I was quite an 'audiophile' and after a long time I learnt how to listen to the music and not the speakers...a lesson I carry over to photography as a contented amateur. ;)
 
My most significant camera would almost certainly have to be my first. I believe it was a freebie with some offer my parents took up when I was maybe 6/7 and was a 110 film jobbie where the camera body clipped in between the two ends of the cassette (probably the wrong terminology :) ) The view finder consisted of two squares of plastic that flipped up and the only controls were the winder and shutter button. I still have a few albums of prints I took and not one is even close to being a recognisable image but it lit a spark that’s stayed burning ever since :)
 
I also had one of those, probably in the late '80s.
 
EJB said:
my newish and very modest Nikon DSLR 3500...
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It's a sobering thought that your "modest" D3500 is far beyond what any photographer could have imagined in 1967, when I started taking pictures. :wideyed:
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
It's a sobering thought that your "modest" D3500 is far beyond what any photographer could have imagined in 1967, when I started taking pictures. :wideyed:
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Very true Andrew...but are the images really better....I'm sure the answer is Yes and No in equal proportions?
 
EJB said:
Very true Andrew...but are the images really better....I'm sure the answer is Yes and No in equal proportions?
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I can only say that I'm happy with a larger proportion of pictures from my digital cameras than from my film cameras. I put that down to the cameras getting the technical aspects the way I want them, leaving me to concentrate on the image.
 
My parents had a couple of 126 p&s compacts that I used while I was growing up (for school trips mostly) but I only progressed to 35mm compacts after I moved out. It wasn't until I was 22 and planning a backpacking trip that I thought about getting a "proper" camera. I went to a local store and asked what they'd recommend.

I walked out with a Nikon FG and 50mm f/1.8 lens from the secondhand cabinet. Cracking camera and the right size to be comfortable in my sausage fingers while still being small and light enough to carry around all day. The image quality was amazing compared to what I was used to, even in the automatic P mode that I could fall back on when I wasn't sure what settings to use.

I'd still use that camera now but was stolen in a burglary along with my EOS100 and a bunch of lenses and accessories a few years later. I bought another FG a couple of years ago but it never felt the same and I moved it on. I still get a manual Nikon fix from an FE2 though. :)
 
Probably my cosina 35mm SLR with a 50mm 1.7. (I think it was a CT1, could be wrong..)

Not being able to afford to do as much processing and printing as I wanted got me to persuade the school to build a darkroom and buy me the stuff I needed to buy bulk film (and re-sell it to my mates, with a small profit :D ) and print my own photos. I did all the school event photos, covering my bar bill through sixth form and sailed through art A level alongside my 'proper' sciences.

Thank you, Mrs Jeffries, for giving me a storeroom in the art department and helping me get money for it. As well as learning something I still love, it was a teacher-proof room once the red light was on outside and [hopefully] you have no idea what we got up to in there :D

I scanned some in from it a few years ago - someone else's art A level was fabric, she made a dress we took to the local park for some photos::

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(edit - I know I've blown the highlights and focussed on the face instead of the fabric :D )
 
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