What was your first SLR?

[cjm]

I was browsing through some photos on my computer and came across my first roll of film. (I only began taking photos a few years ago.) I started with a Zenit ET and 58mm F/2 Helios 44m. It was my first 35mm camera and it was purchased for about $20 on ebay (including shipping from Ukraine). I was still unsure about how to use the camera but luckily, this was one of the few photos that was correctly exposed.

Its all been downhill since then!😱

 

[dmr]

First SLR was a Pentax Spotmatic, black "press" model.

Kept it for many years and traded to a K1000, which I still use regularly.

 

[EcoLeica]

some sort of phenix SLR from china...student camera package. My little brother still has it and it is a dog of a thing to use......thank god for my Nikon FE

 

[CK Dexter Haven]

Minolta XG-M, for my 14th birthday. But, i was very attracted to the Nikon FG in the ad i clipped from Popular Photography magazine. Never did get the FG, although i thought about buying one recently, for 'sentimental reasons....'

 

[Jason808]

Canon AE-1 I "stole" from my mother (she never used it and let me just borrow it for the past 20 years). Still have it but it needs a CLA. Cosmetically it's 95%

 

[xayraa33]

a Praktica, with a very nice 50mm Tessar lens.

 

[projectbluebird]

My first SLR was also my first "serious" camera, my mother's old canon AE-1. It had been sitting on a shelf for close to a decade when I needed a "manual camera" for my first photography class. All it needed was a new battery, I've still got it.

 

[drewbarb]

When I was 12 or 13, my Dad got me interested in photography. I remember looking through one of George Tice's books ("Urban Romantic") and I had one of those epiphany moments- "This is cool. I want to try." I had been saving my birthday and Christmas money for years, and my Dad helped me buy the right camera- a Nikon FE2, and a 50mm f1.4 lens. I carried it everywhere for many years, and shot with it until the electronics in it died a few years ago. I still have it, sitting in a crate sadly gathering dust with several other dead cameras and unused parts. I keep meaning to find someone who can fix it; but then, since getting into RF's ten years ago, I haven't used my SLR's very much at all.

 

[drewbarb]

When I was 12 or 13, my Dad got me interested in photography. I remember looking through one of George Tice's books ("Urban Romantic") and I had one of those epiphany moments- "This is cool. I want to try." I had been saving my birthday and Christmas money for years, and my Dad helped me buy the right camera- a Nikon FE2, and a 50mm f1.4 lens. I carried it everywhere for many years, and shot with it until the electronics in it died a few years ago. I still have it, sitting in a crate sadly gathering dust with several other dead cameras and unused parts. I keep meaning to find someone who can fix it; but then, since getting into RF's ten years ago, I haven't used my SLR's very much at all.

 

[stuken]

Nikon FM with a spiratone 20mm f/2.8 and a vivitar 2800.

 

[mfunnell]

An Olympus OM-20 and Zuiko 50mm f1.8, some 20+ years ago. I still have them, and while they don't get much use they still work fine.

...Mike

 

[fuwen]

Mine was a Praktica BC1 with a 50/1.8 Pentacon. Back in around 1990.

http://www.fuwen.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=64&Itemid=125

 

[etrigan63]

Yashica TL-Electro with a 50mm f/1.8 lens. Traded up to a Canon AE-1 and later a Canon T90. Sold the T90 and bought and EOS 10S (my first autofocus SLR) which I still have. Jumped to digital with a Canon D60, sold that and bought a 1DMk2 which I still have. Bought the Leica M8 last year and have used the DSLR only once ever since.

 

[migtex]

A Nikon Ftn given by my old man when I was 14!
accompanied with the words "we (family photo business) got two weddings next weekend, so my son, you have have to practice" and that was 32 years ago. What a joy!

 

[SolaresLarrave]

0y mother's camera, a Canon EX-Auto with a 50/f2.8 lens. She paid for it, but I was the "designated photographer" at just 14.

The first camera I purchased (SLR) was a Minolta X370s with a 35-70 zoom (very slow). It's in Alaska now. And it feels so long ago, but it was just in 2001...

 

[Bob_McBob]

My dad's old Canon AE-1. I ended up buying an A-1 for myself not long after. Then a Bessa R and an M2 and a Holga and a Kiev and a 30D and an R-D1S and a 40D and an M6 and a... 😱

 

[Philippe D.]

I bought my first SLR 1966 in Germany, an Edixa Mat Reflex B-L
Short after i add an Edixa Prismat CDS with an external CDS meter.

 

[Uwe_Nds]

My first SLR was a Revue ML - a re-branded Praktica MTL 5 - with the 50/1.8 lens.
Had it for some years, used and abused it like throwing it into the back of the car, taking it on a 3-1/2 week trip to (then) Yugoslavia until someone stole it from the car here in Germany.

Best regards,
Uwe

 

[HuubL]

Petri V6 with a petri 55/1.8 lens. I got it from my girlfriend (wife now 😉 ) for my 20th birthday. It had an external lightmeter that coupled to the shutter speed dial in much the same way as the MR meter to a Leica M2, 3, 4. I made some very nice photos with this set.

I sold it when I got a Canon EF! Stupid - I regretted it the moment I sold it. How I could sell my first camera, a present from your wife, is beyond me now! A few years ago I got a "new" one from the bay. It needs a CLA for the slow speeds, but the cosmetics is mint (see my collection at Flickr). When I hold it, it brings back the seventies.

 

[Peter_Jones]

Praktica Super TL 🙂 Had a couple of Zeiss lenses but didn't know what I was doing (some might say I still don't 😀