Your camera history?

[Pookeyhead]

I've gone through quite a few cameras in the past few weeks (long story), and it got me thinking to what cameras I've owned.. so spent some time wandering down memory lane. I'm not a gearhead by any stretch of the imagination, but I really enjoyed revisiting some old friends (and enemies).

What's your history?

This is what I’ve owned.. as in bought with my own money, and excluding hired equipment or work equipment.

For me it all started here.

Earlier cameras may not be in chronological order....



Pantacon Pentona. I had this camera as a small child. I wasn't interested in photography then.. but it was technically my first camera.

-----------------------------

Pentax MV - My first SLR camera and the one that sparked my passion for photography. Best Christmas present ever!

I loved this camera!! The ability to see through the lens really fired my interest in the medium, and this is where my obsession with capturing what I saw, and creating the image in the viewfinder that lasts to this day comes from.

----------------------------------

I outgrew the Pentax system, and hankered after full manual control (The MV was aperture priority only), and for some reason, decided on Nikon, which has been my mainstay for 35mm format cameras ever since.



Nikon F301.. lovely little camera. I had this for ages and used it as a lightweight travel camera and spare body when bigger and better gear took over for main use.

---------------------------------------

Nikon F3. Quite possibly the best camera ever made. Regret selling.

--------------------------------------

Replaced the F301 with a F90X

--------------------------------------


Nikon F4. Big, chunky… lovely layout. Great camera… crap AF.

---------------------------------------



Nikon FM2. Took over from the F90x as my spare body, but loved using this camera. Small, light, fully mechanical. I regret selling this one too… had it until 2003.

I had the MD-12 drive for it. The FM2 and MD12 is perhaps the most famous sounding camera in the world. Often dubbed into films whenever a generic driven camera sound is needed. Sampled on the start of “Girls on Film” by Duran Duran.

The F3, F4 and FM2 were my 35mm weapons of choice for some time

--------------------------------



Olympus OM2n....for some reason, I was talked into getting this . I could never get on with it's idiosyncratic controls though

 

[Pookeyhead]

Mamyia RB67

“Ker Thwack!” If you’ve owned one… you’ll understand


Still own an RB to this day.


---------------------------------


Bronica SQAi

Nice.. light.. 6x6 square goodness Fragile though.


----------------------------------


Nikon F5 – The Daddy of 35mm SLRs. Had this until 2003 when I stopped shooting 35mm film almost entirely and only used 120 and large format.

-----------------------------------


Linhoff Karden 45S

Perhaps the most solidly built monorail 5x4 camera ever. Once you locked off those standards… NOTHING will move them! Still own this camera.


------------------------------------


I used film exclusively for anything even remotely important until around 2007, but around 2004 I wanted a small, light, snapshot SLR for travel and holidays, I opted for my one and only foray into the murky world of Canon.


EOS 350D

Hated it… but loved it as well. From this day on I vowed never to own a camera that didn’t have full manual controls ever again! How ANYONE can use a camera where you have to press a button, hold it, and then turn the command dial just to change aperture is beyond me! Very fragile.. broke several times. Great image quality for its time though, and really made me start to take digital seriously.


------------------------------------


Nikon D2x


First digital camera that was viable as a working tool IMO.

Had 2 of these for 3 years.. hammered them… not a scratch, not missed a beat. Digital came of age with this camera if you ask me. I’m sure Canon owners would disagree… but what can you do


---------------------------------------


Around 2006/7 (can’t quite recall now) I replaced the Canon 350D with a Nikon.. the D80… as a casual shooting camera.

I was still mainly shooting film for anything serious until 2007…..


-------------------------------------


….when Nikon released the D3

As you would expect.. served me well. Film was relegated to studio only from this point on unless large prints were needed... but by this time, I was hiring, and also had permanent access to medium format digital gear. Film's future with me was almost over... except for personal work.

 

[Pookeyhead]

The D80 was replaced with a D7000 around 2010 as a casual body… but soon realised that the gap between higher end pro-sumer models and pro models was narrowing very quickly. Loved this camera and owned it until 2012 when I got rid of the D3s (that’s plural.. not the D3S).

-----------------------------------------


In 2012, I got the D800.

----------------------------------------


Nikon D600 arrived for a second body.

----------------------------------------


Part exchanged the D600 for another D800.


----------------------------------------


Bought a D610

it’s used as a Astro-photograhy camera mounted to my telescope. Or it WILL be… not had it long, and it’s been abysmal this winter, so not actually used it yet.


----------------------------------------


Sold one of the D800s and replaced with D800E

----------------------------------------


Will be replacing the one remaining D800 with a D610 as spare/second body.




That brings us up to now.


In many ways, I loved every one of these cameras.. except the Oly OM2 and the EOS35D.. who's controls just got in the way of creativity. In many ways, I wish I could have kept them all... but you can't get sentimental about tools... and they are just that... tools. SOme of them though were special. The Pentax MV for getting me started. The FM2 for being a legend, the F3 for being a classic and the last of the old school F cameras... and the RB67, which is the best studio film camera ever made. I miss medium format film, but cost, processing and fewer and fewer E6 films being made are making it a pain in the ass.


As much as I love the newer 35mm digital gear... it has no soul compared to the older stuff. They're like white goods... just stuff you need.

 

[posiview]

I saw a guy on a recent meet at Glencoe with a Linhoff Karden 45S, had a chat with him and it was a wonderful looking camera.

Cheers.

 

[kendo1]

An interesting read and some great cameras.
Thanks for sharing your memories.

 

[Pookeyhead]

I saw a guy on a recent meet at Glencoe with a Linhoff Karden 45S, had a chat with him and it was a wonderful looking camera.

Cheers.

Oh it is. Sadly, not used mine in a long time now

An interesting read and some great cameras.
Thanks for sharing your memories.

You're welcome... I enjoyed putting that list together... far more than I thought I would

 

[LauraJ23]

A nice set of cameras there David! I started off with a vivitar zm80 compact film camera, will have to make a list up for the rest.

 

[MWHCVT]

No point listing the film PAS as frankly I was only a kid and secondly I don't actually know the names of any of them....

So my digital history is:

Starting with a PAS 1MP Kodak DC215Zoom I even spent some £250 on some frankly atrocious adapters to this camera for increase reach and wide angle shots seriously I think all told I spent about 600 notes on this camera including over £100 for a 64mb CF Card

Then it's my 450D which was my introduction to proper photography where I actually controlled the camera not the camera driving itself...I still own and use the 450D

The my 3rd and current Digital camera my beloved 5D3 I love this camera, it does all I could want from a camera the eventual 5D4 is going to have to be seriously revolutionary for it to tempt me away from my camera...the only thing I'll only ever want is even better ISO I'm an ISO junkie

Now looking at film again, I did buy on impulse a Canon EOS750/700 a few months back as I do want to shoot a little bit of film simply for the fun of it, but and this is all my own fault that will not be with the 700/750 as its a pile of rubbish its a PAS in SLR form it has no controls of any real sort so I will have to find something I can actually control before I can start that adventure

 

[woof woof]

I started with fixed lens fixed focus cameras and shot with them for over 15 years and then bought a 35mm Nikon SLR.

I shot with that and just one pretty basic lens for about another 15 years and I picked up some quality compacts and RF's before going digital in 2003 with a Fuji Finepix 602. It frustrated me so I moved to Canon DSLR's and picked up some digital compacts along the way. I ditched DSLR's at the back end of last year and now have a Sony A7 and manual legacy lenses plus some digital compacts and a film camera or two I've kept for the memories.

What I shoot has changed over the years.

I started off shooting family, friends, days out and holidays and anything that caught my eye. With my SLR I shot all of that and added gig photography. Try that with ISO 1600 film and an f4 lens Also shot lots of cars.

When going digital I tried to shoot the same things with the Fuji F602 but it was just too slow and it therefore quickly made way for DSLR's. With the DSLR's I shot all of the usual stuff but I stopped doing gigs along the way. New to me with the DSLR's were endless flower shots which I love and still take. I use my digital compacts for just the everyday stuff such as family, friends, days out and holidays.

I still sort of miss the simplicity of the fixed lens fixed focus film cameras and I do have a digital compact that shoots like that but the image quality is pretty poor and to be honest my old phone takes better pictures when set up to shoot fixed focus. These days though images are often viewed on screen at much bigger sizes than the prints I had in the old days and the not quite there fixed focus is easily spotted.

 

[Musicman]

I've been rather more conservative with my primary use cameras over the years.

Started out with a Kodak 110 Instmatic when I was about nine or so some time in the late 70s.

That got replaced a couple of years later with my first 'proper' camera for my 11th birthday, a Prakitca PL Nova 1 with a Meyer Domiplan 50mm f/2.8 and a Vivitar hand-held light meter. It went 'clunk', weighed a ton, but served me well to learn the basics.

It got sold to help fund its replacement, but I picked up a nice example, identical to the one I used to own, for £11 a couple of years ago for old times' sake.


Praktica PL Nova I by cybertect, on Flickr

When I was fifteen, the Praktica went in favour of a Canon AV-1, which had a built in meter and aperture priority auto-exposure. There was no exposure compensation - but after I while I figured you fool the meter by simply tweaking the ASA dial. About the same time my dad, brother and I built a darkroom in the loft and I discovered you could buy Ilford FP4 and HP5 in bulk cans. I put a lot of rolls of film through that camera.

The AV-1 remained my main camera for nearly 20 years. I didn't really need much more than that and autofocus never really appealed to me much.

I had a play with medium format in the shape of a Lubitel 166B that cost £15 new in 1987 (perfectly priced for a student budget) - my dad always used Rolleiflex while I was growing up, sold it, regretted that, bought a Rolleicord, didn't like it and then ended up with a Yashica 124G.

While I was still taking pictures, photography generally took a bit of a back seat to playing music as a hobby.

While working for a computer retailer with a specialist photographic division in the mid-90s I got to play with some of the earliest DSLRs available on the market but at that time they were frequently tethered by wires to a hard disk and cost upward of £10,000. I saw it was the future, but it was way outside my price bracket and the other primitive digital cameras I was selling, like the Apple QuickTake, didn't really satisfy me as photographic tools. However, I set myself a personal bar a that time that I would buy a digital camera when I could get a DSLR camera with 2 megapixel resolution for under £1,000.

Some time not long after 2000 some serious amounts of gunk from decomposing foam seals on my AV-1 got onto the focusing screen and I discovered that attempting to clean it resulted in black smears right across the viewfinder.

I also discovered that the Canon A-1s I had lusted after when I was fifteen were going for silly prices, so I bought one and a couple more FD lenses that were also going for amazingly cheap prices compared with ten years earlier.

About the same time, I finally gave in and dabbled with digital: I picked up a 2 megapixel HP Photosmart 318 compact while on a business trip to New York a few months after 9/11. I think I cost about $150, so I wasn't going to worry too much.

As a camera it was awful, frankly, but instant photography did have some kind of appeal. With a bit of coaxing, it was possible to persuade it to take some kind of half decent images.


Stratified by cybertect, on Flickr

A couple of years later most of the guys I was in bands with suddenly started getting married and having kids, which meant arranging rehearsals became tricky and I found I wasn't doing up to a hundred gigs a year, which left me with a lot more free time on my hands. I began looking hard at second-hand 3.1 Mpx Canon D30s that were going for around £1500 at the time.

Conveniently enough, though, Canon released the 300D in August 2003, which provided a SIX megapixel DSLR under the magic £1000 bar I had set myself nearly ten years earlier. I thought about it for a a couple of months, and in January 2004, I jumped in and bought a 300D with kit lens, a 50mm f1/1.8 and a 1 GB Hitachi Microdrive CF card (which was actually a miniature magnetic hard disk).

I have to confess that camera changed my relationship with photography hugely. Compared with the A-1 it was an inferior photographic tool, agricultural controls and a tiny viewfinder, but somehow having the result available instantly crystallised a lot of the knowledge I'd accumulated over the years shooting film; making me understand it far more clearly than I had before. Stuff that I had enjoyed but had been relatively complex on film, such as long exposures at night where you have to take into account reciprocity failure with your exposure times, became suddenly quite straightforward with digital. I began to do a lot more shooting at night with a tripod.

I was now itching to get a full frame DSLR with a proper viewfinder, and set another personal bar that I would buy one when I could get such a thing for £1500.

Two years later Canon obliged with the 5D (just a couple of hundred above that limit anyhow) so, naturally, I a 5D in May 2006.

What I discovered after buying a few 'L' lenses and a number of primes was that

a) I didn't really like autofocus that much after all.

b) the 5D with a 70-200 f/2.8L IS weighs a heck of a lot

I started going back to film - resurrecting the A-1 and buying a series of fairly light and compact 35mm cameras like an Olympus XA, Rollei 35B and a Yashica Electro 35 GTN and even buying into another system when I found an Olympus OM-2n for a good price. The tiny OM lenses also found their way onto my 5D via an adapter.


Rollei B35 by cybertect, on Flickr


Yashica Electro 35 GTN by cybertect, on Flickr

In the meantime, heading in completely the opposite direction, I bought a Mamiay M645J and then a 1000S body (for mirror lock up as much as the faster shutter) for 645 film work when I wanted more resolution than 35mm or my 5D could deliver.


Mamiya M645J by cybertect, on Flickr

...and then my father gave me his old Yashica 124G, which he was no longer using.

A couple of years ago, however, in search of a more compact digital solution that I could carry with me more often, I bought a Panasonic G2 and mated it up with my old FD lenses. Revelation! It was about the same size and weight as my A series Canon FD cameras, but digital. The EVF wasn't brilliant, but it was not much worse than the 300D had been and actually more accurate for focusing when you could zoom on on your focus point.

I had initially intended to use the Panasonic for family snaps, but I found myself leaving the 5D at home more often and taking the G2 out with me more.

Still, I hankered after full frame to make proper use of those FD and OM lenses, and a bigger, better viewfinder. I found myself waiting yet again for technology to catch up with what I wanted; this time a full frame mirrorless system.

Anyhow, at the end of last year, Sony came up with the goods. The EF 70-200 2.8 was sold shortly before Christmas, and a couple of days later I bought a Sony A7, which I am enjoying immensely.


New Toy by cybertect, on Flickr

After a few years of living (albeit uneasily) with AF, it's taken a little time to convince myself that I can go back to manual focus exclusively, but I'm there. That particular safety harness is gone, and it's rewarding working without it. The A7 is not perfect (what is) but it's good enough for my purposes.

They always say to put your money into your lenses - I know my Canon FDs well as I've been shooting with some of them for 30+ years. Now I have a digital body that I can use them with properly, and indeed any of my other lenses from other systems.

 

[Pookeyhead]

It's good to see older manual lenses getting used again. Some of the ones I used to have, and would like again, are so hideously expensive now due to being snapped up by "film makers"... who ironically, use them on Canons Who'd have thought it huh?

What I liked about film cameras is that they had no influence on image quality whatsoever. They were light tight boxes that kept your film flat. There was no upgrade nonsense... no idiotic chasing the new and latest. Nikon used to release a pro model "F" camera perhaps once every 10 years or so Can you imagine that now?

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

I've gone through quite a few cameras in the past few weeks (long story), and it got me thinking to what cameras I've owned.. so spent some time wandering down memory lane. I'm not a gearhead by any stretch of the imagination, but I really enjoyed revisiting some old friends (and enemies).

What's your history?

This is what I’ve owned.. as in bought with my own money, and excluding hired equipment or work equipment.

For me it all started here.

Earlier cameras may not be in chronological order....



Pantacon Pentona. I had this camera as a small child. I wasn't interested in photography then.. but it was technically my first camera.

-----------------------------

I find this one of yours the most interesting.... because I have never come across it before and that is quite rare for me ... same sort of specification as my first camera except that was a folding 120 camera of unremembered make. Your pentona came out when I was a Photo student, so probably would not have interested me at the time.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

I've gone through quite a few cameras in the past few weeks (long story), and it got me thinking to what cameras I've owned.. so spent some time wandering down memory lane. I'm not a gearhead by any stretch of the imagination, but I really enjoyed revisiting some old friends (and enemies).

What's your history?

This is what I’ve owned.. as in bought with my own money, and excluding hired equipment or work equipment.

For me it all started here.

Earlier cameras may not be in chronological order....



Pantacon Pentona. I had this camera as a small child. I wasn't interested in photography then.. but it was technically my first camera.

-----------------------------

I find this one of yours the most interesting.... because I have never come across it before and that is quite rare for me ... same sort of specification as my first camera except that was a folding 120 camera of unremembered make. Your pentona came out when I was a Photo student, so probably would not have interested me at the time.

 

[Pookeyhead]

The Pentona was my Dad's.. who.. if I remember, bought it in Hong Kong while he was on National Service in the 50s. It was developed by Zeiss and released in 1956 I think.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

The Pentona was my Dad's.. who.. if I remember, bought it in Hong Kong while he was on National Service in the 50s. It was developed by Zeiss and released in 1956 I think.

Even more interesting... I was with the artillery in Hong Kong in the mid fifties. I bought an Agfa solinette ll while I was there. ( it fitted a battledress pocket.) I came home in 1955. so that makes me a little older than your Dad.

 

[OldCarlos]

Started as a kid with those cheap cassette jobbies.
Used my Dad's old folding Kodak, then his Polaroid instamatic.
Yashika rangefinder (minster D, I think) loved that camera!
Nikon EM
Nikon FM

Then came digital;
Nikon Coolpix (pocket size, can't remember which one)
Nikon D7000
Nikon D700
Nikon D800E

btw, how many of us remember using those little flash bulbs & `cubes`?

 

[Chipper]

Hmm - first was an AGFA rapid- my dad gave it to me - small compact with strange film cassettes - think it is in the attic… then can't quite remember but the first SLR was a practika… then a Pentax SP1000 then a Canon AE1… then a Canon A1 then EOS5 which I still have in a drawer… think the first DSLR was a 350D……..had a few of those xxxDs but then a 5D which I eventually traded up to a 5DII whilst also having a 7D. They aren't getting the use they should due to shoulder injury altho did go and look at the floods in Ross this morning. I suspect if I was able to get out and about I might have had a GAS attack and have a 5DIII - maybe when the next version comes out. This list ignores the compacts… got a Fuji X20… Canon G1X at the moment o and a little 115 that really does fit in a pocket.

 

[Deleted member 67219]

This was my first camera. It used to print a turtle in the corner of each picture.

I remember my Mum telling me off because I used a whole roll of film to photograph my bike - a sign of things to come!

 

[modchild]

I had a couple of 110 cartridge cameras, and even a couple of 126 cartridge cameras too before I bought my first digital camera in 1996 which was an Olympus Camedia C800L which was 0.8 megapixels. I went through a succession of compact digital bodies before I got a Panasonic FZ10 bridge camera in 2003 which was a revelation in quality compared to the compacts. It was a 4 Mp sensor with a 12x optical zoom (35-420 equivalent) and a f2.8 lens and was fantastic compared to anything I'd had before.

I then had a succession of bridge cameras, each one an improvement in some way to the previous model, until I finally got a dslr for Christmas 2010. I decided to go for a Canon Eos 550D, without even seeing it in the flesh, and I was blown away with the quality even when coupled with a kit lens. I'd had it for around 9 months when I was left some money in a will so I decided to invest some of it in some better gear. I got a Canon 7D and a 5D2, along with my first L lenses (100 macro and 100-400), and gave the 550D to my wife as I liked it too much to sell it. I've since had a 60D, another 7D, a 1D3 and I've now got a 70D, a 5D3 and an Eos M kit with 22m and 18-55mm lenses and the EF adapter for my lenses. The wife has also updated from my beloved 550D to a 650D when it was released and I finally sold the 550D last year. I've also got a bunch of quality lenses to go with the bodies I have and I'm absolutely happy with the gear I have now and don't see me updating much more in the near future.

 

[craigjardine1]

that's is a lot of cameras. For me, I started with a bridge camera when I was 12, was a lumix, can't remember the name. got my first dslr when I was 15, a 500d, then got a 50d, then second (still got the two, sit behind the goals at football now) and now got 2 7d bodies.

 

[Steve Smith]

My first camera was an Agfa Isolette which I had when I was about ten years old. A few years later, my father gave me an Edixa Prismaflex with a couple of lenses.

Towards the end of high school I got a Nikkormat FTN which was soon replaced with a Nikon FG. I still have the FG and the Edixa and both are working.

For many years, the FG was the only camera I used. Then in 2003 I made the mistake of buying a Nikon D100. It was a lot of money which could have been spent better elsewhere - especially as it took me just a few months to realise that I hated sitting at a computer processing images on screen.

At about this time I started collecting film cameras, as did my father. I have now inherited my father's collection and the two collections combined make up more than 70 cameras.

I won't list them all here but my favourites are a couple of Nikon Fs with a selection of pre AI lenses, Four Mamiya TLRs + lenses, a Rolleicord V and my most recent addition, a Bronica S2. I also have a wide angle 6x12 format camera which I built and I have a folding 5x4 field camera currently under construction.


Steve.

 

[big soft moose]

I started with a Kodak 110 as a kid , then I had an Ilford (can't recall which one), then I inherited my granddads Konica SLR. - Then I discovered alcohol and girls and lost interest for quite some time.

About 20 years ago I restarted the hobby with a Pentax MZ6 (and assorted lenses) and a MZ30 as a second body , then I got an MZ-S. in 2004 I rolled a floating hide over killing the MZ-S and my long lens.

With the insurance claim from that and money gained from selling the rest of my pentax gear I went to Canon and partly digital with an EOS3 , an Eos 30 and a 300D (I briefly had a 10D as well but I killed that by falling out of a rhib while photographing gannets off grassholm) - in 2006 I sold the Eos 3 and put the money into getting a 20D.

That remained my system until 2011 when I bought a second 20D and sold the 300D

In 2012 I bought a 40D and sold one of the 20Ds

and bringing up to date I am just about to buy a 50D and sell the other 20D (unless I keep it for IR conversion )

Along the way I've also got back into film and acquired a Mamiya 645, a pentax ME Super, an Olympus OM10, and various other impulse buys from ebay. I also have a Fuji F10 which stays in the glove box of my car , and a Panasonic TZ35 which is for walking around when I don't want to carry a DSLR

 

[stupar]

Great thread David and a good read about your history and everyone elses

I started with this Canon sure shot 105 - It was a present for graduating from University (my first entry into 35mm film)

I then had a Canon 300X - (My first step into SLR's - I soon got bored though with the whole waiting to expose a role of film before developing etc)

then moved to a Canon 1000D - (my first step into the dark world of digital)

Then onto a Canon 50D - (I loved this camera compared to the 1000D, to me it felt like a monumental step up but I soon got hacked off with noisey images at the slightest hint of a high ISO)

Now currently with a Canon 5D MkII - (I love full frame and everything about this camera. My work horse and play toy I would be truly lost with out it!)

In between the 50D and 5D MkII I was gifted this from my Mother-in-law. A Zeiss Ikon 513/16 (6x6) - (a chunky sturdy beast but I never had time to run film through her so I sold it and gave the proceeds back to the M-in-law)

 

[Pookeyhead]

This was my first camera. It used to print a turtle in the corner of each picture.

I remember my Mum telling me off because I used a whole roll of film to photograph my bike - a sign of things to come!

Bet post in the thread so far

Strangely... I want this camera If only you could still get 110 film.

CAN you still get it anyone? I have an old Pentax 110 SLR... anyone remeber that?

Didn't include it in my list as it's pretty useless.... but I'd love to have another play with it so many years after the fact.. actually use the crapness of the 110 format for something.

 

[Deleted member 67219]

Bet post in the thread so far

Strangely... I want this camera If only you could still get 110 film.

CAN you still get it anyone? I have an old Pentax 110 SLR... anyone remeber that?




Didn't include it in my list as it's pretty useless.... but I'd love to have another play with it so many years after the fact.. actually use the crapness of the 110 format for something.

You can get 110 film from the lomography store.

 

[big soft moose]

if you are silly enough to pay the premium you can http://shop.lomography.com/gb/films/110-film

 

[Steve Smith]

Nikon used to release a pro model "F" camera perhaps once every 10 years or so

The original F was made from 1959 to 1973 so 14 years. Production of the F2 started in 1971 but because people still wanted the F, they were both available for two years.

Imagine that - preferring to have the older model!


Steve.

 

[Pookeyhead]

The original F was made from 1959 to 1973 so 14 years. Production of the F2 started in 1971 but because people still wanted the F, they were both available for two years.

Imagine that - preferring to have the older model!


Steve.

yeah... I know but the gap from F2 to F3 was 9 years, and F3 to F4 was 8 years, as was F4 to F5, and F5 to the pretty much ignored F6. On average... it's actually less than 10 years... but still a whole lot better than the seemingly once every 10 minutes lately


As for 110 film... SEVEN QUID??? Maybe I'll not bother just now.

 

[Steve Smith]

And my Nikon Fs have all the features I need fifty years later. No need for an upgrade!


Steve.

 

[LCPete]

Very interesting great idea for a thread
My first proper camera was a Pentax ME Super loved it but had quite a few problems with it it was the only camera that I've had go wrong
I think though that the fact that I carried it on the back of motorbike didn't help I didn't have a car then

My dad bought me a second hand Canon A1 which was great

My first digital was a 350D it revolutionised photography for me for the first time I could instantly see what I had photographed and it helped me learn so much
I never found mine fragile it's still going strong albeit a bit battered

Then came a 40D which had fantastic image quality and the controls were much better than the 350D

I then bought a 550D but quite quickly got a 7D as I had forgotten about the crappy controls on the entry level canons
The only thing that I'll change the 7D for is the MK2 when it comes out

 

[big soft moose]

As for 110 film... SEVEN QUID??? Maybe I'll not bother just now.

Its lomography - of course its expensive... how else are you going to impress the chicks with how hip you are :roll:

 

[Pookeyhead]

Very interesting great idea for a thread
My first proper camera was a Pentax ME Super

My friend at the time I got the MV had that. I was so jealous because he had manual control.. his was better than mine etc... (I was only 13). IN retrospect though, I probably learned more from not having it, as I had to find ways around it by using the ISO dial to compensate. In order to do that, I had to get to grips with reciprocity law.

I loved that series of cameras... MV, ME, ME Super, MG, MX etc. Great design.

 

[Pookeyhead]

Its lomography - of course its expensive... how else are you going to impress the chicks with how hip you are :roll:

Now now... that could be misconstrued as insulting ..... still funny though

 

[big soft moose]

alternately only 4.79 here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FOTORAMA-...25?pt=UK_Photography_Film&hash=item23320a7dcd admittedly it expired 25 years ago but hey

 

[Deleted member 67219]

Its lomography - of course its expensive... how else are you going to impress the chicks with how hip you are :roll:

Guys dig my mutant turtle camera.

 

[Pookeyhead]

Guys dig my mutant turtle camera.

You're right.. they do

You could also annoy the Lomos by saying in a air-headed voice.... "Look guys... I have a camera with a plastic lens like you!"..... watch their beards explode

 

[Steve Smith]

I loved that series of cameras... MV, ME, ME Super, MG, MX etc. Great design.

The MX seems particularly nice. I was given one with a selection of Pentax lenses by a work colleague. I gave it to a friend's daughter who is taking photography classes at school and is very interested in using film.

It seemed a shame to give it away - I had to remind myself of what I already had and that I really didn't need it!


Steve.

 

[Pookeyhead]

I'm looking at a very nice black FM2n on Ebay right now There's need... and there's want. I'm not going to start collecting cameras, but I'd love another FM2. Such an elegant, simple camera... I mean.. it's mechanical.. it's CLOCKWORK and has a 1/4000th top speed and a 250th flash sync speed. That's still respectable today... and it's bloody clockwork!

Proper engineering.

 

[Nod]

But David, let's face it, very few of us really NEED a camera at all, we all have stuff we WANTED though!

No pix - never bothered taking pictures of things to take pictures of!

110 Kodak.
Pentax S1a joined by an SP1000 (IIRC, might have been a 500 though).
Like Pete, discovered cigrettes'n'whisk(e)y'n'wild'wildwomen and fell by the photographic wayside for around 2 years with a few P&S 35mm and APS cameras until holidays needed better memories than the joggers that the P&Ss gave.
Nikon F65, joined by an F80 (both of which I still have) which got me back on the hook and well invested into the Nikon system (the F65 simply fitted me better than any of the other brands, something that Nikons still seem to do for me.)
Eventually, the D70 became less unaffordable than DSLRs had been before and the timely coincidence of a couple of special offers got me a digital body to match my lenses.
A D200 followed a couple of years later but I still used the film bodies since I missed the wide angles that the crop factor had eaten into.
A couple of Russian rangefinders are around somewhere - one inherited (with a knackered shutter - wound on in the wrong sequence by the previous owner I think) and one bought for long exposures (star trails being the main intended use) and an OM10 from the same benefactor, although that isn't used these days.
I'm now lucky enough to be able to afford FF bodies so I bought a D700, using the D200 (which I never really fell in love with) to help fund it. Followed that with a D800 which has hardly been used and is going to fund an X-Pro 1 system soon.
There have been and still are an assortment of compacts and CSCs, some of which are snappers and some (most) of which are capable of "proper" photography.

I still sometimes wonder about an MF system but film takes too long to come back from the lab and I won't afford (although I could) an MFD system - I prefer travelling much lighter these days! Same with LF.

 

[Tirpitz]

my history started as a 9 year old in 1977 with a Kodak Brownie Cresta 3, given to me by my grandad who was also responsible for developing my prints in his darkroom.
he was a founder member of my local club & his name is still listed in the history section of the club up on their website today

after that i was given an Agfa Silette but struggled to get on with it without help as my grandad sadly passed away before my 10th birthday.

so i started using a Hideous Halina 110 that i thought was much more futuristic & obviously mush better..

i then had a gap of a few years before i was hypnotized by something even more futuristic than my Halina! the Olympus IS-1000
think superzoom/bridge/automatic/film/slr!
big ungainly & hideous, used expensive batteries at an alarming rate & got left home, a lot. (still in a drawer somwhere!)

after this i had another break for a while until i tried my first digital back in 2002/3 with a Minolta D'image 2300
this was awful, it was only usable in the kind of light you would get by actually being on the sun & slower than a week in jail. it also went through batteries at an alarming rate (luckily just AA's)

this was so bad i wasn't interested for another few years until i borrowed a Panasonic Lumix LC-1 for a couple of trips abroad in 2008
the LC-1 was already about 3 to 4 years old then but wow it was great. much faster response than the minolta, great colours straight out of camera & an amazingly sharp lens
considering i'd not shot anything at all for years the keeper rate was amazing

after this i decided it was time to buy myself another camera. after much reading i decided on the lovely little Lumix LX3
great little pocket camera with an amazing dynamic B&W mode

i quicky discovered the limitations of the tiny sensor & decided i had to go down the DSLR route
as i'm a human & my digits operate in the conventional manner i went for the tactile & intuitive Nikon D200

to be continued..