Your camera history?

[Tirpitz]

after a short while i was able to get hold of my first Pro body in the shape of a D2Xs & was immediately smitten by the handling

Handling aside the limited DR & ISO limitations saw me drawn towards using a full frame sensor & a D3 found its way into my bag
still love the D3 now. total game changer

on a bit of a whim last year i bought a D800. something i haven't really even used so far! hopefully this will change once it stops raining (if it ever does)

along the way i picked up another little Lumix to keep in the car, an LX5 that (i think is in the bottom of a bag somewhere?)
these LX series are lovely little compacts & cheap too on the used market..

also i picked up an old classic, much like a classic car ie something to use on a sunny day when you're not in a hurry
a Leica Digilux 2 which is the Leica branded version of the Lumix LC-1 that got me interested in photography again.
i love this camera as it looks awesome & it has an amazing vario summicron lens.
i really need to use this more..

i have since also inherited my grandads old cameras that were found when we cleared out my Nans place when she moved out
an Agfa Super Silette

and his pride & joy Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta 532/16 that i will resurrect someday. it needs a repair to the aperture blades. the shutter mech seems fine

pretty sure that just about sums up my on & off forays into camera ownership over the years with most of the away time directly blamed upon awful camera choices. so bad i gave up lol

 

[ancient_mariner]

My first real camera - probably around '69 or '70 - was something with 'empire made' stamped on the top plate, took 35mm film and required setting of aperture since I'm fairly sure shutter speed was fixed. I have no idea what it was, other than images weren't impressive (were always about 2"X3" B&W too).

Next up, my parents gave me a Cosmic Symbol - nasty Russian made rangefinder camera, 35mm again, some interesting parallax issues and compulsory soft focus whatever you did to the lens. That kept me going until my early 20s, when it ruined one set of holiday pictures too many.

Courtesy of a bit of fencing work I was able to finance a Brand new Pentax P30 - just launched to replace the M series cameras Pookey loved so well. I knew no better, it had PAM controls, came with the Pentax 50mm f2 lens and suddenly I could take photos that looked like photos instead of some kind of artists impression.

It was plasticky and you couldn't use either a remote release or expose for longer than 1sec, but I could & did fit different lenses, and the holiday pics from the next year were also a darn sight better. I loved it, but found it to be limiting because of metering modes (centre-weighted only) and various other limitations as one would expect from a beginner camera. It did encourage me to learn the 'mechanics' behind photography, and gave a good start.

Next up was a Minolta 7000 - the worlds first effective autofocus camera (Canon's T80 really didn't count).

I bought a used one, together with 50 f1.7 and 70-210 f4 lenses, and over the next few years worked the thing to death. It was very intuitive and quick to use in contrast to a friend's Canon EOS (how do you do that Martyn? Errrr.... where's the manual) and had all the useful functions we take for granted now, like spot metering, built in motor drive, adjustable self timer and automatic detection of film speed (no more forgetting!). Focusing manually with this camera was a revelation, because the viewfinder was bright and incredibly clear after the small, murky Pentax finder, and it was a real joy to use - the AF was un-necessary. I shot my first wedding with it - we all had to start somewhere! I still have it and all the lenses, though the body is non-functional now

Talking of which, as I was starting to get more work it was time for something a bit more professional: enter the Bronica ETR.

I found a used metal-bodied ETR plus eye level finder, speed grip, 75mm and 45mm lenses used at a price I could afford and shot weddings, portraits, interiors and a band using the Bronica and Weston light meter (always bringing a backup, never needing it!) though I did buy a WLF for it too. Big ole' lump, the speedgrip made it handle well and I still have it, though I may well move it on sometime as I don't plan to do any more film photography now.

Another friend had been going on about TLRs, and not having money for a Mamiya, nor sense to remember what my old Cosmic Symbol was like, I bought a Lubitel 166.

The word 'Junk' is not too unkind, but I did do one professional job with it for a local girl who wanted to become a fashion model. We went over the Kelsey Park in Beckenham one freezing November day, and because the squirrels were very tame I suggested see try to entice one close. The squirrel got too close, and ran up her bare leg, leaving a series of long, bleeding scratches - the girl deserved to be a pro though, because she carried on! The shutter had an imaginative sense of timing and lens quality wasn't of the best either. No idea what happened to this one, but think it was donated to charity.

There's then a bit of a gap, where I moved out of London, got a high-pressure/long hours job and dropped photographic work. Various nasty PAS jobs came & went before I picked up a Samsung S850 compact in 2007.

Looks just like another PAS, but this had a full manual mode - exposure AND focus - and a similar size 8MP sensor to Canon's G series professional compacts, giving much lower noise than most other compacts at that time. Optics weren't near SLR standards, but fine for what it was, and I wore out the first one before buying a second for £35 on ebay with just 200 shots under it's belt.

Then last year we were due to visit friends in Africa. I juggled back & forth between buys a DSLR or bridge camera and, unfortunately, the bridge camera won: Fuji HS30. It has a great lens coupled to a lousy, noisy sensor and dodgy focusing. Having a 720mm equivalent lens was great for the wildlife and all the friends there who had (canon) DSLRs at the same time didn't take obviously better images, but frankly image quality was almost unbearable, and worse than the old Samsung. I did a deal and let it go after less than 6 months.

And so the current main camera - Sony Alpha 58.

Yes, it's a plastic beginner's camera, and SLT into the bargain, but it takes the old Minolta lenses I had which were good (and the SAM II kit lens if decent stopped down) and has more control available easily than a film SLR of 25 years ago. The sensor seems genuinely good, and I'm impressed with how much detail one can squeeze out at 100ASA. I've already sold a couple of canvas prints of images taken with it, so maybe it will help pay for further kit.

Note - all images taken from Wikimedia commons.

 

[James J]

I started with digital! First camera was a fuji 4mp thing that was amazingly slow to operate and the pictures werent exactly superb due to lack of control over exposure, but for the time it was pretty good. Got me into photography back in 2001.


My first digital camera by jjohnson2012, on Flickr

I had to wait 10 years before getting a DSLR due to rubbish jobs, debt and other priorities! In 2011 I bought a Nikon D5100 and enjoyed going on walks with it around the woodlands near me taking shots, but I craved better depth of field that only full frame would give after about a year.

-sadly no pic of this!

I upgraded to a canon 5D mk ii which I quite enjoyed shooting with. I was after a nikon D700 but they had sold out everywhere due to the imminent arrival of the D800, which was way out of my price range at the time. The camera was pretty damn easy to use but was very large and hurt my right hand after a while of holding it due to its less than ideal ergonomics!


New photography gear! by jjohnson2012, on Flickr

However, I missed the ergonomics of the nikon system and needed better autofocus for wildlife photography, so swapped my canon kit with a fellow forum member on here for a nikon D300s and numerous lenses. This allowed me to be far more consistant with my wildlife shots due to the big upgrade in AF performance, opening up new possibilities. However, the body was a meer stop gap to a nikon FF when I could afford one.


D300s back by jjohnson2012, on Flickr

The nikon FF camera I upgraded to after some serious saving was the nikon D3, which I bought second hand from mpbphotographic. Absolutely lovely piece of kit and felt quality from top to bottom. I really enjoyed the image quality from it and the speed of it for everything.


New toy by jjohnson2012, on Flickr

Sadly, my partner at the time pretty much forced me to sell my entire photography gear to fund other things!

However, now that shes out of the way and I consolidated my finances, I went for my dream camera and after selling loads of old and unused pc and general stuff, I bought a Leica M9.


Leica M9 by jjohnson2012, on Flickr

Now own numerous lenses for it, all which I treasure. It couldn't be any different in terms of approach to the other camera's I've owned as you need to know what you want from the image before taking it on the camera, instead of the sheer amount of automation you forget about on modern DSLRs. As for the future, possibly an M when the second hand prices become reasonable, otherwise I'm happy with what I have.

 

[Pookeyhead]

Next up was a Minolta 7000 - the worlds first effective autofocus camera (Canon's T80 really didn't count).

Ahem......

1983 for this bad boy....

 

[kendo1]

A camera only a mother would love...
Interesting to see, not something I'd want to be seen with though there are some really ugly cameras out there.
I'll have to put my ones up- they're all pretty!

 

[s162216]

Ahem......

1983 for this bad boy....

...and 1981 for this, the world's first AF 35mm SLR:

The Pentax ME-F, basically an ME-Super with a contrast detect autofocus grafted on which interacted with a special 35-70mm f2.8 autofocus lens that had the motor built in (and only took 4 AAA batteries!)!

 

[pmac]

Never realy had much of an interest as a kid. I did play/use my mum and dads stuff which look though this thread consisted over the years of one of those funky long 110 cameras, an un known electric type film camera (crap) and of course a Polaroid.

After that I had a few point and shoot cameras growing up. But nothing worth remembering.

Then in about 2007 I was wanting to buy an action camera, like a contour to film shooting that I do. At this time they were just out and cost about £500. My wife wasnt keen as it would only get used once a month and she advised I buy a dslr so we could take better pictures of our just born daughter aswell...bet she regrets that now.
So I bought a d90. Move on about a year and a half and I was hooked. Upgraded to a used d700 then 2 years after a d800 then to an E six months after due to a fault with the standard d800 and no stock.

 

[cosmicma]

my passion for photography started in the early 80s my first proper slr camera was the pentax me super which was a great little camera
next was the minolta 7000 and then onto a canon 1000n slr
on the digital side of things my first digital camera was the sony mavica fd that took 3.5" floppy disks around 97/98
next was a philips badged esp80 with a nikkor lens ( ricoh rdc 4 ) 1.3 mp compact camera and then onto a minolta dimage 5 ( couldn't afford the 7 ) the focus could be a tad lazy and got it wrong on quite a few occasions but i did like that camera
after the dimage 5 i decided i wanted a Dslr and with already owning the canon 1000n and a few lenses the decision to go canon was made.
around 2005 i bought the canon 300d which lasted for just over a year before the shutter gave up so on to the 350d then the 450d then the 40d a short while later the 50d
my curiosity for full frame had began by now and a 5d mk1 was added to the list then the mk2 as you can see there's a little bit of GAS going on here and it was getting a bit silly
the next purchase a 1dx has finally put and end to the body upgrade path ( till the next one ) but there's always lenses

 

[ancient_mariner]

Ahem......

1983 for this bad boy....

Maybe I should have said 'mass-market'

As I recall from the time it was being described as the first effective AF camera - I have no real idea as to whether the Nikon version worked usefully. I did once get hands-on with the Pentax, and no, it wasn't really useful, taking a couple of seconds to find focus. From all I can find online the Nikon was slow to focus and not particularly good at doing so, so I guess I'd stand by my 'first effective' comment.

 

[redhed17]

My first camera was a Zenit E. I don’t know why I bought it, as nobody I knew was into Photography, and we didn’t do it in School. I must have just wanted to take pictures. I think it was about £20.

I got given a Nikon FE and EM. The FE I used a lot, the EM not so much. They came with the MD12 motordrive, which was used occasionally because of the cost of film. And talking of cost, it was enough to stifle my progress, and to put me off taking pics for about 10 years.

Roll on 2003. I hadn’t taken that much of an interest in Digital cameras because they were quite expensive, and the image quality was quite poor at the start. I decided, after much research to get a Fuji S602Z Pro. What would now be called a Bridge camera, but at the time it was a lot more than the compacts about, and gave something of the control of a D/SLR. It took two memory cards, a Smart Media and Compact Flash. The camera came with a 16mb SM card. However the camera could use the Tiff format, and one file was 18mb (from 3mp). I decided to get a 1gb Microdrive, which was £150. It was a great camera, and stoked the interest again, but the frustration with the EVF, plus a limited number of apertures had me longing for a DSLR.

So 18 or so months later I decide to get a DSLR, it was between the Canon 300D and the Nikon D70. Whilst I was trying to decide Canon announced the 350D, which looked the better deal. I was working in John Lewis over the Christmas though and had the chance to try both cameras. The 300D was too small, and my knuckles rubbed on the lens, and the 350D would be a similar size. So D70 it was.

I had the D70 for about 18 months, and was very happy with it, but fancied more fps, 100% viewfinder, more pixels, and an over all better body, and so bought a D200 via import. It was a great camera and better than the D70 in every way. I was again very happy with it. The D200 felt better in the hand than the D70, and all the controls let you work quicker.

As I said, I was very happy with the D200, but had a bit of money and was seduced by the D300. It was a big jump over the D200 imho. And anyway, I was under the influence GAS. The AF alone was worth the upgrade for me, but the high ISO performance was a plus too.

I had the D300 for 2 years, and there was no need for anything else as it did almost everything I wanted. I was just considering getting a D700 as an extra camera for landscapes and low light pics but then got broken into and lost the D300, two lenses, (plus another lens that wasn’t mine) and the Fuji S602Z Pro. (and a Fuji F31fd too)

I definitely wanted another D300, but by then the D300S was out, and there was nothing, price wise, between getting the D300 and D300S, so I got the D300S. It was a silver lining to an upsetting time. That was in early 2010, and I have not needed anything else, and imho, as an all round camera, there is nothing better than it so far for a reasonable price. I gained video (not that I use it, but Liveview and the extra memory card slot and an extra frame per second.

If Nikon, Canon, or anyone else doesn’t bring out a camera significantly better, and with features I think I need, then the D300S will be enough for me from now on. My GAS days are over, thankfully.

Although if Nikon replace the D300S or Canon replace the 7D with anything significant….

 

[droj]

My GAS days are over, thankfully.

That is so refreshing to hear! I feel rather similar in that respect.

I began when aged about 10 with a point and click - an Ilford Sporti. Black & white 120 film. The results were as muddy as my judgement of light, which was non-existent.

Next - I was probably 15 - was a Minolta Uniomat - 35mm RF with a built-in selenium match-needle meter. I used colour slide film in it. The results have long-vanished but were reasonable enough (I claim).

At about 18, in the days when many a chemist's shop still sold cameras & film, I saw & bought a used Praktica FX-2 body (35mm film slr - chest level vf with flip-up hood and magnifier). To go with it I managed to get a plasticy Japanese hand-held exposure meter, and a 90mm click-stopped Tele Ennalyt which was my only lens for years. I soon became adept, after focussing at full aperture, at stopping it down whilst looking through the viewfinder by rotating the aperture ring and counting the clicks. The lens was distinctly less sharp than the designs emanating from Japan (eg Nikon, Pentax).

Quite some years on, and unable to fund the Nikon FM I wanted, I settled for a new Pentax MX. Lovely in the hand, and a good lens, but the build quality of the body was atrocious.

Eventually I got a Nikon FM2n. The proper business. A workhorse.

As the computer age encroached, I got a Coolscan multi-pass film scanner at great expense - its resolution was in advance of the digital slr's of its day. But you know how in this digital era things gallop on ...

I stilll have the FM2n, and also a DSLR whose identity I refuse to share, because it's not about the gear ... it's about what you struggle to do with it ... which might be to express your life ...

 

[PJ S]

Not a terribly exciting list, but still…..

Panasonic FZ10 – imported from the States for Xmas, as Panasonic UK wouldn't confirm if they'd be doing it. Turns out they did, but I still had mine 4 months before official imports were available, and it was cheaper too – double bonus!
Panasonic FZ50 – replaced the FZ10 above, that went "missing" after a so-called friend's dad had borrowed it whilst on loan to him.
Sony A65 – sort-lived as the shadow noise was dire, even at low ISOs.
Fujifilm X-S1 – back on familiar territory (long zoom bridge cameras), but not making the most of the zoom feature now, so it's likely to go.

Long fancied a Pentax K-5, more so the new K5 IIs, and have been thrown a curve ball just recently with the Fujifilm X-E1. Not sure which route to take, and no, both isn't an option!

 

[James Blonde]

Maybe I'm going to stretch the limits with my number of images, but.... My first camera, circa 1986, was like one of these little beauties:

until my soon-to-be stepdad got me what I think was one of these...

I really couldn't use the thing either!!! Too much, too soon, combined with crap eyesight making focusing a challenge, and I didn't have the means or cash to learn! However when my stepdad leant me his

http://www.mir.SPAM/rb/photography/companies/nikon/htmls/models/images/F401Big.jpg

for my first airshow at Leuchars. Wow!!! What a camera! The fact it had auto focus and I *think* auto exposure modes, meant that my hit rate went through the roof and meant I wasn't worried so much about wasting shots. The F401 went down to the Falklands with me for 6 months, only was damaged about 3 months into a 6 month tour with the screen below the pentaprism becoming detached, meaning I couldn't see much through the viewfinder, and autofocus was hit and miss. I was beyond gutted, but did still get some photos. On returning I got it fixed, but that didn't last long, as my flat was flooded and the camera written off by the insurance.

The insurance replaced it with one of these:

which was a fine camera, but my last film camera. I got my first digital in 2003, and it was one of these...

which went on my fake honeymoon with me, took some fantastic photos that I'm still proud of and have on my website, but it quickly became very clear that a 3mp compact just wasn't enough for me!

So back to Nikon for...

Ahhh home!!! my first digital SLR that I took on my real honeymoon to Italy! If only I knew about RAW when I got it and not years later and on my next camera!

After a couple of years, it was supplemented with a Panasonic TZ10 that I could happily shove in my pocket and take skiing to take movies and take photos without having to drag a rucksack and risk smashing my SLR, but still, it couldn't touch the D70 in terms if speed and responsiveness, so it was passed on to my wife, and the D70 continued to come skiing with me. Alas, my D70 met it's maker in 2008, and was replaced with one of these...

which was a MASSIVE step forwards, and the camera I decided to start investing time and effort into, as well as expanding with some decent new lenses and filters. As well as normal photography, I started to experiment with infrared photography with it, which was very hit and miss with long exposures and cokin slide in filters (and the light leakage that came with it!!) However again my hit rate went up massively when I bought a Hoya R72 and last year I made the decision to go the whole hog, and permanently convert my D90 to IR. This also meant that I'd need another body for colour work, so I plumped for one of these:

after a lot of deliberation! It came down to whether or not I was ready for full frame and the investment that would go with it. The problem was, I'd invested in DX lenses, so I decided to postpone the change to FF and stick with cropped whilst I changed my lenses. However I'm really loving the D7100!

 

[Bebop]

I still have my Pentax MV - my first (and only) SLR I could never afford more than my one 50mm lens.

My first camera was acquired in the 60s by eating a lot of bubble gum and saving the Bazooka Joe comic strips in each pack to get it. It was plastic and used 127 film.

When I was 11 I was given a Kodak instamatic and 10 years later the Pentax MV. I also purchased an Olympus XA11 - they were good little compact film cameras - I still have that too.

Then digital... I've had a Sony a200, Canon 550D and now a Canon 5DIII.

 

[ChrisHeathcote]

My first camera as a child was a Halina 110 cartridge camera, when I inherited a B&W darkroom kit this was replaced by a Canon Sureshot Zoom, which kept me entertained for many years. I finally experience digital in the shape of the Olympus Camedia C860L which had a whopping 1.3 mp. Which was great but the zoom range was a little limited. This was then replaced. Y a Fuji S5000. I lovely bridge camera but I wanted more control over the settings so along came the Canon 350D, which I still have and occasionally use, although my son uses it most as I now have a Canon 60D and, to satisfy the FF itch, a 5D mark iii. Both these live in my bag, the 60D is mainly used with my 150-500 for wildlife.

 

[Gremlin]

I started out with a Kodak Brownie bought 2nd hand as a christmas present.
Moved onto a SLR later bought with 2 lenses from a work colleague who thought
I needed to move on from the more modern P&S I had at the time, really can't remember
what it was and I never looked back.
My first digital was Fujifilm bridge camera for convenience, never really liked it
hated the shutter lag and still loved film, so carried on with that for a long time
When finances allowed I bought my first Nikon DSLR a D50 and boy was I blown away,
just outgrew it very quickly, so went back to the shop to upgrade and they let me play
with the D200, love at first sight hardly surprising as I had use top end nikons
prior to that. Since then I have upgraded the D50-to-D80-D90 for kids to use and more recently
to D7100 as a 2nd body D200 to D300, still love and use it often
Trouble is with time I have become fussy and when it comes to lenses I do prefer branded
so most of mine are Nikon with the exception of the Sigma 150/500
All of my gear is either Nikon or Sigma, I had a couple of sigma lenses in my
film days and loved them.
I rarely use manual, I did that most of the time till I got the D200 now I really can't see the point
my cameras seem to do an admirable job for me, I set the shutter speed and adjust the ISO for aperture
works well with what I do, I never use auto ISO

 

[Blank_Canvas]

There are some great cameras there, i have owned three of them. My first camera was a Russian Lubitel 120 mm at the age of about 12. After that I pretty much stuck with Nikon FE, FM2, F301 (which was an innovative carers in its day then F4, I have also had a 5 x 4 MPP and Bronica ETRS.
Recently I have been using a D7000 and Fuji X10. I think my next venture will be a return to the top plate controls. I'm really impressed with the quality of my Fuji X-10 but the new Fuji X-T1 is looking very appealing......

 

[fatphotographer]

Great idea for a thread.

Hobby days
1993-1994
Canon T80

Part Time Pro Days
1994- 1995
Canon EOS 10
Canon EOS 5

Pro Career
1995-1999
Agfa Action Cam (Minolta RD 175) (4 of them)
Minolta Dynax 5 (used for weddings and commercial)
Minolta Dynax 7 (used for weddings and commercial)

1999-2000
Nikon D1 (4 of them)
Nikon F5 (2 of them) (used for weddings and commercial)

2000-2003
Nikon D1H (4 of them)
Nikon F5 (2 of them) (used for weddings and commercial)

2003-2006
Nikon D2H (4 of them)

2007-2008
Canon 1D mk111(4 of them) (the reason I swapped to Canon, and also the reason that I swapped back to Nikon)
Canon 1D mk11n (used because Canon couldn't provide a mk111 that focused on bikes at speed in bright sunlight)
Canon 30D (used as backup)
Canon 40D (used as backup)
Canon 50D (used as backup)

2008-present
Nikon D3x (2 of them)(current camera)
Nikon D300 (one year)(used as backup)
Nikon D300s (one year)(used as backup)
Nikon D700 (one year)(used as backup)
Nikon D800 (current camera)

Future Purchases
D7100 for backup and for the 2x crop
D4x

 

[Noah_]

I loved reading this thread, I'll definitely be making time to share my own history of photography. Thanks!

 

[welshwizard645]

Sorry no pics but here goes.

Boots 126
Kodak Retinnette
Kodak Retina Reflex S
Chinon CP7m
Pentax Z10
Pentax Z20
Pentax Z-1p
Mamiya 645 pro
Pentax Z-1
Pentax Espio 638
Pentax MZ-S
Canon G5
Pentax *ist D
Pentax *ist DL
Pentax K10D
Pentax K20D
Nikon D3
Pentax K-5

I still have the Z-1s, D3, K5 and M645 in regularuse... I still have the Kodaks but neither work.

 

[arclight]

Halina 35X
Practica SLR
Nikkormat FT3
Nikon FM2 + FE2
Pentax K200d
Pentax K20d
Nikon D700 + D300s
Nikon D800E

 

[SimonF01]

Fuji ST605

College and work
Olympus OM1 ( still around )
Olympus OM2 x 2

Work
Nikon F4
Nikon F801 ( Backup )
Mamiya 6x7
Horsman 5x4
Nikon F90s x 2 ( 1 still around )
Bronica ETRSi

Post work
Nikon D70
Canon Sureshot 3?
Nikon D70

and an early Nikon Coolpix that was so irritating that I am still trying to forget it .

 

[Cagey75]

Nice idea, unfortunately I'm so bad at remembering makes and models of devices, I can't even search for images, let alone remember the exact list.

It was basic enough for me; A range of random, cheap, p&s film cameras from about 5yrs old up to my teens. Agfa, Kodak etc ... whatever happened to be laying about the house I'd make use of. I always had a camera of some sort, there was a Polaroid instant in there at one stage too. Bought a new PC some time in the mid 90's and it came with a free "digital camera" - it wasn't even 1mb, didn't have a screen, just a counter, and I'd take 100's of pictures imagining they'd turn out amazing when I uploaded to the pc ... of course they were horrible, but I loved the freedom, no need for rolls of film, or worrying about how many shots left. From there on it was a dozen fuji digitals, from 3mp to 8mp, then a 10mp 10x zoom fuji bridge, the first camera I tried being 'artistic' with, and people started noticing I had some kind of flair for it I guess. It was the [basic] manual controls that offered that started me yearning for a dslr. Got a used Sony A200 from a local adverts site, that sort of ... fell apart after a year or so. The sensor 'dropped' or something, so the view through the finder was off. That was excuse enough to sell it off as slightly busted, and go for a bargain D200 I spotted on same site. Simply D200 --> D90 --> D800E since, and a tonne of lenses, I'm forever buying and selling.

 

[Noah_]

My first cameras were disposable film cameras.

At 14 I finally got a Canon 400D which was my first proper camera with manual controls. For a long time I didn't understand the manual controls & then I picked up the instruction booklet & began reading it, teaching myself basic white balance, ISO & aperture, then studied Photography at school.

View attachment 6349

After my introduction to manually controlling exposures I began basic film photography & immediately fell in love! & so came the Phenix DC303K! A bargain at £10 that came with a tripod & three lenses. It works beautifully.

View attachment 6351

I carried on studying traditional photography at college. After realising I never used any form of automatic setting anymore I decided to invest in a Canon 5D MKII body at the age of 18. My love of portraiture also pushed the decision in an upgrade.

View attachment 6352

Photography is my hobby, not a profession so I love to experiment. I made a pin hole camera which worked beautifully. I still own it! & For Christmas 2012 I got a Polaroid 600 camera.

View attachment 6353

I also currently own a Sony DSC-W690 compact camera for parties & casual social events, can't fault it for what it's uses are! The only camera of these that I no longer own is the much battered Canon 400D, I donated it to a close friend that expressed an interest in photography & I'm pleaaed to say that he's used it well.

 

[Joeturner11]

No pics sadly but this is my list starting about 5 years ago.

Canon Powershot S50
Nikon D5000
Nikon D7000
Nikon D300
Nikon D700 x 2
Nikon D800 + D700 Currently

 

[Kaolin]

I can't remember the dates but I think I was given the Practica ~ 25 years ago.

Practica MTL5
Olympus OM10
Olympus OM2sp (the only camera I really regret selling)
Canon Sureshot
Olympus OM1
Olympus OM4T
Canon G2 (with the microdrive that cost almost as much as the camera)
Nikon D300
Olympus ZX1
Nikon D700
Nikon D70 - IR conversion

 

[Lazyboy]

So my history is not that colourful as some of the others.

Started about 15 years ago with this magnificent piece of technology:

Then had a couple of bridge cameras - nothing important. In 2010 I've decided to enter the world of DSLR without any knowledge about it. So I bought D3000

after 3 months decided that I need something better so got D300s

Last year decided to enter FF world by getting D600

3 months ago bought additionally D3 for sport

Also playing sometimes with my 3 other toys: Yashica 44LM, Nikon F65 and Nikon F601

http://www.mir.SPAM/rb/photography/companies/nikon/htmls/models/images/F601Big.jpg

Sorry for big images

 

[DNH]

I still have most of the camera gear that I have ever bought. Collector/hoarder I guess.

In started with a used Zenit EM in around 1983. I still have it.
In 1985 I got a Praktica BC1 (Gave it to a friend in the end)
In 1986 I got a Nikon FA

Was dormant in my camera buying until around 10 years ago then I started buying camera stuff again. Started using the cameras that I had more & as film camera prices were low on ebay thanks to the onset of digital, found myself unable to resist some bargains. Since then & roughly in this order I have bought:

Nikon F3
Nikon F65 (Had a detached retina & was struggling to focus manually for a while so got an AF camera)
Nikon FM2
Nikon FE2
2x Nikon EM's (No longer have them)
Olympus OM10 (Just decided to give one a try. Sold it on ebay as didn't like it)
Nikon F80 (Nikon had stopped making film cameras at this point & there were being sold off cheaply & I took my last chance to buy a new Nikon 35mm SLR. F6 is out of my budget)
Nikon F301 (Gave this to the same friend along with a couple of lenses that I gave the Praktica BC1 to as a replacement for the F301 he had lost when he split with his ex)
Nikon F (Tried to get myself one from the year of my birth, 1968 as a 40th birthday present. Had to settle for a 1969 one in the end)
Nikon F5
Nikon D3000 (Time to try a DSLR. Nice, but not as much fun to me as a film camera)
A second Nikon F3 (Really like F3's & have two now)
Nikon F2
Nikon FG
Olympus OM2 Spot Program (Decided to give Olympus another go as I fancied one of these new back in 1986 but got a Nikon FA instead & this one I quite like)
Praktica MTL5 (Didn't trust the old Zenit & wanted to make use of the M42 lenses that had been sitting unused since 1986)

Going through the list not real logical progression improving bodies, although the F5 was quite a leap over any other of my other film cameras in ability.

At a rough count there are approximately 30 lenses that go with the collection.

 

[Noah_]

I still have most of the camera gear that I have ever bought. Collector/hoarder I guess.

Hahaha I'm the same, I keep any camera's I come across but there are many I've never pressed the shutter on.. I doubt they even work. Collector of pretty but broken camera's I think!

 

[LauraJ23]

A pretty big list from me, well it seems like it anyway!

Vivitar zm80 compact film camera.
Minolta x370s
I then started to get into canon FD kit and collecting all sorts of bodies.
2 f1n both with 55 1.2
A1
Ae1
Av1
T90
T80
Eos 50e
Eos 300
Eos 620
Eos rt
Eos 100
Eos 30
Minolta dimage 7i
Nikon coolpix 3200
Canon 350d
Canon 30d
Canon 50d
Panasonic g5
Samsung nx300.
I sold off most of my FD kit in the hope of buying an omd, that didn't work out as the money went on the house!

Really miss the manual FD bodies and lenses, I loved them. Still have the t90, but it has the ee error.
T80 is still in a bag as is the 620 and I think I still have the rt somewhere. Not shot a film in years.

Currently in a don't know what to do period with my latest kit, 50d, g5 and the samsung nx300.

 

[RumpFace]

First "proper" camera was a Minolta X300, this was stolen and after a quote and claim was replaced with a Canon EOS 100 which i still use, then i bought an EOS 5, the command dial broke on this and it found a new home. Then came an underrated EOS 33 (i like it and use it for slide) and lately a used EOS 40D. I have the 40D to thank, ironically for getting me interested again and now i often shoot film and digital side by side.
I also have an EOS 1000f which i got in a job lot and a lovely Olympus 80g that usually lives in the glovebox with poundland Agfa in. That was a mighty £2 at a carboot.

 

[LauraJ23]

First "proper" camera was a Minolta X300, this was stolen and after a quote and claim was replaced with a Canon EOS 100 which i still use, then i bought an EOS 5, the command dial broke on this and it found a new home. Then came an underrated EOS 33 (i like it and use it for slide) and lately a used EOS 40D. I have the 40D to thank, ironically for getting me interested again and now i often shoot film and digital side by side.
I also have an EOS 1000f which i got in a job lot and a lovely Olympus 80g that usually lives in the glovebox with poundland Agfa in. That was a mighty £2 at a carboot.

That reminds me, I had an eos 5 as well and the same thing happened to mine.

 

[BBR]

Praktica slr, canon ftb, Canon ae1, Canon ae1 program, Nikon d80, Nikon d200, Nikon d3.
Even today I think nothing beats a film camera for learning about photography.

 

[Noah_]

Even today I think nothing beats a film camera for learning about photography.

Completely agree & I'm someone whose only grown up in the digital age. I'm envious of some of these film SLR's listed, I think I'm due a new one! haha.

 

[Johnytuono]

Two from my past.....an Olympus XA3 and an Olympus mju Zoom 140



Two Olympus' by Johnytuono, on Flickr

 

[LongLensPhotography]

I started with EOS 5 then quickly moved on to 30D, then 2 years later - 40D. That got replaced with 1Ds II (lovely beast!!!) and I added 1D III as a backup. Last year I got the 5DIII - completing the round circle of EOS 5s.

 

[ianmarsh]

OM10 (25 years ago) then a pause for 15 years then a Ricoh P&S that rekindled the passion, then Sony a100, Minolta 5D, Minolta 7D, Sony a700, Canon 5D, 1Ds, 40D, 1D2, 7d, 1D2 again, 1D3, 5D2, Fuji x100, Fuji X-Pro1*, x100 again, OMD-EM5, Fuji X-E1*

* are what I still have

 

[Yv]

cant remember what half of the were...

ok, started with a 110 film camera at 11yrs old as a xmas present
then worked through various 35mm film compacts, none of which are memorable
in my late teens dad bought a Praktica BX20 SLR and having used that a lot, I got my own in my early 20's, which the ex then sold on several years later to buy more booze with
so I divorced him
couldn't afford a camera then for a few years, so took up watercolour & acylics painting to feed the need
eventually bought a tiny little compact digital thing, some completely unheard of thing from the far east about 18mths into the digital revolution.
replaced that less than a year later with fuji bridge camera, a Finepix S304, which I loved
That was replaced with a Nikon D70s [which I still have, daughter did her Alevel photography with it]
Then came along a D200
That moved out for a D300
D700
another D700
a Fuji X10

..and somewhere in amongst all those nikons, mainly thanks to either donations, or what Yves Geza had hanging around the house, also have Kodak Retina, Rettinette, duoflex and autographic, plus a pentax p30, a nikon F80...I think thats it...

 

[DaveS2]

Halina 35x (now I'm showing my age )

Canonette S (fixed lens rangefinder)

Canon AE-1 Programme (SLR)

Canon 300V (SLR)

Canon 300D (DSLR)

Canon 30D (DSLR)

Canon 7D (DSLR)

Canon 5D Mklll. (DSLR)

The camera I owned for the longest was the Canonette S with a f/1.7 lens. I reckon that I had this for around 25 years, using it mainly for 35mm colour slides. It always produced cracking results, and worked faithfully for 25 years, until I dropped it onto concrete, and it was then beyond economical repair.

Dave

 

[fatphotographer]

Praktica slr, canon ftb, Canon ae1, Canon ae1 program, Nikon d80, Nikon d200, Nikon d3.
Even today I think nothing beats a film camera for learning about photography.

I agree to a point, my first digital camera was a step back in time from my film cameras, and even more restrictive! Still to this day, I thank the awful spec of the Minlota RD 175 for where I am in my career.

1.75 million pixels (interpolated) – so no adjustments by cropping the image in Photoshop after it had been taken - every pixel counted

A max aperture of f6.7 - regardless of what lens you put on it. Putting a 50 f1.4 was pointless as the camera wouldn’t let you past f6.7

A fixed ISO of 800 - when the light decreased, so did the shutter speed. That certainly kept me on my toes at 5pm on a wet Wednesday under the trees at Cadwell Park.

A frame rate of 3.5 ...........seconds per shot! – that’s gallons to the mile, not miles to the gallon, so no machine gunning from the hip and picking out the best shot from a burst of a dozen.

As for people claiming that film was the disciplinarian, I do agree, but at the time I wished my digital camera had the spec, flexibility and performance of the film cameras I used previously. As the prisoner said in Life of Brian “Oh, what I wouldn't give to be spat at in the face. I sometimes hang awake at night dreaming of being spat at in the face!”