What purchase changed your life?

[Roger Hicks]

Wrt photography, the MTL-3 in 1983, and thr R-D1 in 2009.

But more importantly my SIII Land Rover, bought in 1999. Without which I would never have met my wife, and not had my two children, which when all is told, is the meaning of life.

YES!

Which somewhat raises the point of how important ANYTHING else is, outside love and marriage. I know quite a number of unmarried camera addicts who do their very best to pretend that they're happy on their own. Perhaps they are. Who am I to judge?

When Frances and I were married in Bristol in 1982, she found my Series IIa too difficult (wide) to drive in the UK, so I sold it. Back in the UK in 2001, we were driving into Canterbury when she said, "Turn around. I've just seen a red-and-cream Land Rover for sale."

She put it on one of her credit cards.

I am a very lucky man. By the sound of it, so are you.

Cheers,

R.

 

[emjo]

Photographically it would be the Mamiya 645 with a 80/2.8. Those negs started something. I'm into 4"x5" now.... Otherwise installing FreeBSD for the first time was a revelation🙂

 

[Ezzie]

Thank you Roger. I am. Happy for you too.

 

[Particular]

Well, I had a girl that looked like grimace from McDonald's try to put the moves on me in the color darkroom... which has no safelight. I escaped... but not without some minor scrapes and bruises.

So, if I understand it John, she was magenta and you were cyan?
In hindsight, a little electrocution was perhaps not so bad after all.

As for the question by the OP? I haven't changed much, I'm still mostly the same.

 

[Godfrey]

YES!

Which somewhat raises the point of how important ANYTHING else is, outside love and marriage. I know quite a number of unmarried camera addicts who do their very best to pretend that they're happy on their own. Perhaps they are. Who am I to judge?

When Frances and I were married in Bristol in 1982, she found my Series IIa too difficult (wide) to drive in the UK, so I sold it. Back in the UK in 2001, we were driving into Canterbury when she said, "Turn around. I've just seen a red-and-cream Land Rover for sale."

She put it on one of her credit cards.

I am a very lucky man. By the sound of it, so are you.

Cheers,

R.

Marriage ... naa. It's never been important to me.
Love: sure. ;-)

My partner thought I was nuts when I bought my Freelander in 2003.
He thoroughly approved my replacing it with the Toyota Prius in 2006.
He's now accepted that I'm crazy by replacing that with a '00 Mercedes SLK 230.
He's said nothing about the vast lot of photo gear that's come and gone in the past decade ...

What's important? I dunno. I like driving the SLK and doing photography though.

];-)

 

[kdemas]

That I bought myself, hmmm.

I'll have to go with the 1st Leica I bought myself (had used Dad's screw mounts for years), the M6 TTL. I rediscovered the joy of rangefinder shooting and though the M6 was short lived (got an M7 months later and sold the M6) it re-ignited my passion for street shooting.

Today, that's my area of relaxation and joy.

 

[Dave Jenkins]

In 1969 I was contemplating the purchase of my first really good camera. Brown's Camera in Miami had a used but pristine Leica M3 with a 50mm Summicron for $275. But instead I bought a Nikon F with the Photomic prism and two Tamron lenses -- a 35 and a 135, both f2.8.

I will always wonder how my photographic life would have gone if I had begun serious photography with the Leica.

 

[bwcolor]

My house.
Depreciated like a digital camera.
Completely changed my photographic purchasing habits.

 

[semilog]

Kodachrome.

 

[Rangefinderfreak]

hehe, buying a renault alpine 5 group 2 racing car. After that I knew why my name is Vatanen ( if you are european and follow motor racing, you know why) No, I am not Ari, just have the same blood in my veins...

 

[Merumeni]

The purchase of an E-P2 in 2009. Got a Leica M adapter and got quite curious about working with light. Before that I took snaps. Since then I try to be aware of the snaps I am taking. For now I have to get rid of the gear bug – too much stuff around here …. Seems to be far too common between the members of this forum.
Anyway: what was meant to be my “last” camera opened a door to a new dimension.

 

[sepiareverb]

Hewes reels-- the only perfect photography product.

+1 to this one.

 

[Dylan Hope]

Dead Rising (And I guess my xbox 360 by extension). I so much enjoyed the photography component of the game that I picked up the family point and shoot and gave it a shot. Picked up a dSLR after a year of saving, wondering why anyone would ever buy a Leica M8 - it doesn't even have autofocus, I said to myself. Five years later, here I am 😀

 

[semi-ambivalent]

Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. It is the input that formed me, photography is output.

These days the only safe sex is someone else's

 

[lcpr]

A copy of Gran Turismo 4. The game had a photomode that was pretty in depth, it set me on the road to real photography.

 

[f6andBthere]

A forty five dollar Fed 2.

I don't use it any more as it quickly developed all the FSU quirks that get in the way of photography but it opened a very large doorway to film photography for me.

 

[tekst]

Crazy hearing about people getting into photography via playing video games! I love it! I too always enjoyed photography elements in games, like shooting sequences in the Skate series etc.

 

[John Bragg]

My first darkroom kit and more importantly my first black and white film and developer. I started out developing transparencies but didn't learn much until that first roll of FP4 and I was immediately hooked on black and white. Lately my purchase of a film scanner has brought me back to more active photography. That single purchase has breathed new life into my passion as I have no room for a full on darkroom these days.

 

[back alley]

i'd say that the rd1 was the most impactful photo related iten that i have bought to date.

i have been an rf guy since my first camera...and the rd1 showed me that digital was ok...before that i really hated digital. (surprised?)

 

[Roger Hicks]

meh.. marriage is overrated.. Last year of high school my parent gave me their sport mercedes and I got a lot of girls that year it was a nice year.. the summer was memorable too..

Try 30+ years with the right woman. Beats any car I ever drove. And I've driven some nice ones. Come to think of it, I can think of at least three or four girlfriends that I'd not have swapped for any car ever made.

Cheers,

R.